A Separate Peace retrospectively tells the coming of age story of two New England preparatory school boys shadowed by the impending World War II. Roommates and best friends Gene and Phineas must face a friendship beset by jealousies, violence and the effects of a new war as they struggle to find their own kind of peace.
A Separate Peace - John Knowles - 1959
Introduction
A Separate Peace is John Knowles's most famous work and has been a popular secondary school text since its first publication in 1959. This is...
Read more
A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
John Knowles was born in 1926 and attended the prestigious New England boarding school Phillips Exeter Academy in the early 1940s. The following decade Knowles wrot...
Read more
Biography EssayJohn Knowles, the third of four children of James Myron and Mary Beatrice Shea Knowles, was born in Fairmont, West Virginia. He has an older brother and sister who are twins, and a youn...
Read more
[This entry was updated by Hallman Bell Bryant (Clemson University) from the entry by Robert M. Nelson (University of Richmond) in the Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, volume 6, pp. ...
Read more
John Knowles' novel A Separate Peace is based considerably on the time he spent himself at Philips Exeter Academy. John Knowles was admitted to the academy in September 1943. The summer session of 19...
Read more
"Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him...The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinte...
Read more
"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress."
-Martin Luther Kin...
Read more
The imagery in the book A Separate Peace written by John Knowles was manifest through his use of similes and symbolisms. The imagery brought out by Knowles enhanced the flavors and colors of the story...
Read more
A Separate Peace is a captivating novel compounded by a genius. This brilliant author, John Knowles, not only wrote a wonderful story, but he smothered it in symbolism. The comparisons tha...
Read more
"It wasn't the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special a...
Read more
In his book "A Separate Peace", author John Knowles deals with the life of four young people and their conflicts, which occur at Devon School during the last years of the Second World War. The novel s...
Read more
Does Finny Equal Fun and Brinker Discipline"
A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is about a boy, Gene, who spent his summer at The Devon School along with his best friend Finny. The summer is...
Read more
Loyalty to Friendship
Gene Forrester the narrator of A Separate Peace, never failed a test until his roommate Finny challenges Gene's conformist viewpoints. Gene accommodated Finny, by following his...
Read more
A Separate Peace
Not guilty is when you're innocent from what you are being accused of. In A
Separate Peace, Gene was blamed for killing Finny, which is not true. Gene was
charged for killing hi...
Read more
Main Characters in "A Separate Peace"
The four main characters in A Separate Peace are Gene Forrester, Phineas (Finny), Leper Lepellier, and Brinker Hadley. All of the characters change in one way ...
Read more
Two Sides of the Story
The rivers in A Separate Peace by John Knowles play an important part of the plot. It is a river that stands between life and death when the boys jump from the tree,...
Read more
A Piece of A Separate Piece
In John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace, there are a number of themes: competition and jealousy, the effects of denial, and how the combination w...
Read more
In most books the author creates a theme to the book. In The book A Separate Peace, many themes were used to get across the point of the story. Among these themes were: escape from reality, conformit...
Read more
Gene has a natural reserved and conforming personality. He would rather go along with what each and every person is doing than it is for him to show his own style. Gene never expresses his precise fe...
Read more
The story of Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4 is a classic example of jealousy and rage. The story goes that Cain and Abel, brothers and sons of Adam and Eve, bring offerings to the Lord. God look...
Read more
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Phineas is the main character who looms larger than life in that he is charismatic, caring, and true to heart. It is necessary for Phineas to die at the end of th...
Read more
In A Separate Peace, the main characters are foils of one another. The plot is pushed along by the changing dynamics of their friendship. Their relationship begins to drift apart when their personal...
Read more
The story starts off with Gene, the narrator in this story, who tells us about his past at Devon School and all of his teenage memories. Gene's best friend and roommate during his life at Devon School...
Read more
The decision of what to do and make of life usually confronts most people in adolescence. At two private schools, boys learn that choices can affect their lives for years to come. In A Separate Peace...
Read more
"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone... you have ceased to live" (Mark Twain). A person often creates illusions to make the world just right for himself. In A Separate Peace, by John...
Read more
John Knowles' A Separate Peace is a young boy's struggle to discover personal identity in an ever-changing world. Gene develops an intense resentment towards Finny because he embodies charisma, talent...
Read more
In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene and Finny are two friends with very different character traits. Finny is more laid back and would rather have fun than work. Gene is a very hard wo...
Read more
Gene Forrester is an ordinary American Citizen faced with the turmoil of the 1940's. During this time, his enrolment at Devon school for boys alters his life entirely. Throughout his four-year atten...
Read more
"..I lost a part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first to become a part of Phineas." A Separate Peace, a novel written by J...
Read more
What is inhumanity? The definition of inhumanity is the lack of pity or compassion; a cruel act. In the novel, A Separate Peace, there are many inhumane actions displayed. The main character, Gene ...
Read more
Quotations From Text
Conflict
"This tree flooded me with a sensation of alarm all the way to my tingling fingers. My head began to feel unnaturally light, and the vague rustling sounds from the near...
Read more
Gene and Finny greatly differ from each other. They both have different qualities and traits. Some of them may be bad and some of them may be good. Once you understand Gene and Finny's role in A Se...
Read more
Today in our society many people think it's an admirable thing to have complete control of another's mind and what they do with their actions. For instance in high school guys are supposed...
Read more
The main character, Gene Forrester returns to visit the campus of Devon School, an all-boys elementary school in rural New Hampshire, which he attended fifteen years ago. Two locations have a mysterio...
Read more
In the book, "A Separate Peace," Phineas, or Finny, was a rebellious, yet modest, and charming young man. He was well-liked by most people. These characteristics make him a very interesting person.
...
Read more
John Knowles is a known author based on his most famous novel "A Separate Peace." "A Separate Peace" is not merely a title or phrase, but is in concordance with how the main character Gene gains fr...
Read more
World War II was a frightening and chaotic time in history. In great distress, many people found a way to ignore and distance themselves from the war. The novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, se...
Read more
Throughout chapter four of A Separate Peace, there are many biblical allusions. In particular, the story of Eden, and the resurrection of Lazarus are mentioned as ways of presenting the similarities ...
Read more
The book "A Separate Peace" contained many different and unusual, yet original relationships between the many characters in the book. There are many exciting and emotional relationships that occur i...
Read more
Everyone needs a friend in their lives. A good friend is one who can be trusted, obliging, and will be there when one needs them the most. A friendship is either a good relationship or a bad one. A Se...
Read more
Question # 8
Many claim that Finny can be a very manipulative person. He uses this power to make people do whatever he wants them to. I feel that Finny uses this power too often towards Gene and hi...
Read more
A Separate Peace, a novel by John Knowles, opens with the narrator revisiting the Devon School located in New Hampshire, the school he attended fifteen years ago. Visiting sites such as the marble s...
Read more
What do you do when you're jealous of your best friend? Why? Is it because they're funny and likeable? Is it because they don't choose sides; they're on everyone's team? It because they seem to get aw...
Read more
Soldiers all look the same when they are marching to the front line with guns on their shoulders and helmets on their heads. However, the faces under their helmets show the "differences." By "diffe...
Read more
A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, tells the story of two boys at a boarding school and how they discover their true selves. Throughout the book, many themes become apparent, one being the th...
Read more
One example of symbolism John Knowles' A Seprate Peace is from page one. As Gene visits Devon School, he finds it looking oddly newer than when he was a student there fifteen years before. Gene notic...
Read more
A Separate Peace; Does Jealousy Destroy a Friendship"
It was once said that jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies, but what about being jealousy of a friend? Does jealousy ...
Read more
"My war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there" (204). When Gene Forrester stated this quote in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, he ...
Read more
A Separate Peace
Literary Analysis
In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, friendship is a major but complicated theme. This idea is expressed through the relationship between two boarding...
Read more
A Separate War
In John Knowles' novel A Separate Peace, like most other literature, conflict resides within the main character himself. Throughout the course of the novel, Gene Forrester struggles to...
Read more
In the novel A Separate Peace by, John Knowles, takes place during the time of World War Two at a place called Devon High School. The characters in this novel are pressured to go into the war. The mai...
Read more
In Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the characters are incredibly unique and have various sources of motivation. Some of the characters are intrinsically motivated, they motivate themselves and do not...
Read more
A Separate Peace
The war is a constant environment for the boys at Devon they become used to it surrounding them. One boy in particular is getting interested in the war not so much interested but no...
Read more
In our lives, we grow each living day. When we are born, we are helpless and innocent, simply living though the day with no complex thoughts. As adults, we are sure and confident of ourselves as we pr...
Read more
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is the story of two seemingly best friends, Gene and Phineas. Tension and competition grow between them throughout the book, causing jealousy and hatred. Gen...
Read more
Everything seemed perfect about Gene and Finny’s relationship with each other; however Gene went above and beyond the limit of “idolizing”. Competition arose. A little competition b...
Read more
When does one need protection from his life? This could be answered in many different ways. One person can need protection to hide from an experience that's been haunting their lives like a death in t...
Read more
Growing out of the adolescent stage at a time period when your country is on the brink of the Second World War, and you are overly sheltered by the confines of a private school, you can definitely be...
Read more
Disparity vs. Equality
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, takes place in a New England boarding school during World War 2. The two main characters, best friends Phineas and Gene, go through trials a...
Read more
"Because I've Suffered"
"Because I have suffered." Those were the words Finny said that shocked Gene. Perhaps it was because he really was mad Gene for knocking him out of the tree. However, that...
Read more
War and Peace
Three scores and six years ago, deep inside the heart of Europe, a great tension which has been slowly mounting for decades finally detonated. The Axis Powers, led by Hitler and Mussol...
Read more
The novel, A Separate Peace, revolves around one character more than any other. The name of this complex character is Gene. John Knoweles presents these complexities many times throughout this great p...
Read more
Around 5000 B.C.E. the Greek historian, Herodotus, had proclaimed Egypt " the gift of the Nile" because all the floods that were happening there had turned Egypt into a productive agricultural region ...
Read more
Competitive Friendship
The book, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles was written about the friendship of two teenage boys during the time of World War II. The two boys are very much alike, but at the...
Read more
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a grown man named Gene Forrester reflects on his past experiences at Devon School in New Hampshire. He narrates his high school memories and describes the interes...
Read more
A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about two boys who grow and learn from each other. Gene and Phineas are two completely different people, who dissimilar personalities compliment each other. One ...
Read more
The Enemy Inside
The saying, "our greatest enemy is ourselves," is shown in A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. The novel takes place during a time of war, but at Devon, an exclusive New England prep ...
Read more
In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a tragedy known as World War II strikes America, and impacts the lives of the boys at Devon School. Each character in the book deals with the w...
Read more
A Separate Peace Book Notes is a free study guide on A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Browse the summary below:
Author Biography / Context of the Work
One-Page Plot Summary
...
Read more
A Separate Peace - John Knowles - 1959
A Separate Peace
John Knowles
John Knowles
A Separate Peace