Characters
He narrates the entire story as a flashback of events.
Who is Gene Forrester?
This happens just before Gene jounces the tree limb and makes Finny fall.
What is Gene realized that Finny wasn't trying to sabotage his studies after all?
(Instead of making him feel better, this realization actuals makes him hate Finny more for being so perfect.)
The reason why Gene told Brinker he wasn't going to enlist with him in the military after all.
What is Finny came back to Devon (after being at home in Boston with his broken leg)?
When Finny offers to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics, Gene agrees for this reason.
What is Finny told Gene that since he could no longer participate in sports, Gene would have to play sports for him?
When Gene goes back to Devon as an adult, he uses this literary device when he describes the trees with human characteristics: "the giants of your childhood, [now] shrunken by age.... enfeebled, dry."
What is personification?
Like the Devon River, this character is smooth, fresh, and flowing with life.
Who is Phineas (Finny)?
If badminton can be seen as a symbol of conforming to school rules, this can be seen as a symbol of anti-conformity.
What is Blitzball?
In Chapter 1, Gene goes back as an adult to the school to look around. He sees the marble stairs that Finny fell down after Brinker's trial and says, "The worn moons in the middle of each step were not very deep. The marble must be unusually hard.... It was surprising that I had overlooked that, that crucial fact." What literary device is this?
What is foreshadowing?
Finny saving Gene from falling off the tree branch, only for Gene to purposefully make Finny fall from the tree branch, is an example of this literary device.
What is irony?
Leper is a dynamic character--he changes when he confronts the harsh reality of the war. This character also is dynamic because he changes when he confronts the harsh reality of his inner heart.
Who is Gene?
The other boys at Devon poke fun at him by making up stories of him fighting in famous battles of the war.
Who is Leper?
By the end of the novel, Leper becomes a symbol of this.
What is harsh reality of WWII and the real world?
After one of Gene's training runs, he finally finds his stride. Finny observes that Gene "didn't even know anything about yourself," and Gene says, "I don't guess I did, in a way." This represents this kind of conflict.
What is Gene's conflict with himself/his ignorance of himself?
At the end of the novel, Gene realizes that "wars [and conflicts] were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart." This was in Gene's heart (which he was not yet aware of) when he jounced the limb and shook Finny off.
What is his jealousy toward Finny?
A Separate Peace takes place during wartime, and although no shot is fired, Knowles emphasizes that war takes place in this area.
What is "inside all of us" or "inside the human heart."
This character puts Gene on trial for what happened with Finny.
Who is Brinker?
This celebration is a bit of peace "separate" from the harsh reality of WWII.
What is the Winter Carnival?
This literary device contrasts the character of Gene (he is a follower, academically gifted, has low self-esteem) with Finny (he is a leader, athletically gifted, has high self-esteem).
What are foil characters?
This is the "enemy" Gene is referring to when, at end of the novel, he reflects, "My war ended before I ever put on an uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there."
What is his ignorance of himself?
This theme is apparent when Gene causes Finny's fall, the students are affected by World War II, and the characters realize not everything in life is pleasant and agreeable.
What is coming of age/growing up and maturing?
The outcome of Finny's fall down the marble stairs is foreshadowed by this event in chapter 11.
What is a snowball fight?
[READ SCENE AT THE BEGINNING OF CH. 11]
Two events that show the meaning of the title A Seperate Peace.
What is Devon School (a safe bubble separate from the war) and the Winter Carnival?
(Also, Gene and Finny's acceptance about what Gene did before Finny died)
[READ END OF CH. 9; CONTRAST WITH CH. 10 GENE'S VISIT TO LEPER]
This quote from the last chapter of the book explains why Gene jounced the limb, making Finny fall.
What is "Wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart"?
[READ CH. 13, EXCERPTS FROM GENE AND BRINKER'S TALK WITH BRINKER'S DAD]
Gene and Finny are in conflict throughout the book (although Finny often denies it); this finally brings the conflict to an end.
What is when Finny accepts Gene's apology and realizes that Gene didn't hate him?
[READ SCENE AT THE END OF CH. 12]
In a literary piece, this is a recurrent image, idea, or symbol that develops or explains a theme.
What is a motif?
["COMING OF AGE" THEME IN ATHLETIC, TRANSFORMATION (Gene's unease with himself when wearing Finny's clothes, AND WAR MOTIFS]