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What are some similes and metaphors in A Separate Peace?

The dominant symbol in A Separate Peace is the tree limb from which Phineas fell. At the "trial" it is compared to a piston, with the first part triggering the movement of the second. Of course this was Gene, who in "the blind impulse" of a split second shook the limb and made Finny fall. This represents the delicate balance of their friendship upset by Gene's sense of rivalry; it also shows in a very vivid way Gene's betrayal of Finny's trust when he makes him fall.

Other symbols are subtle but important to the themes of the story: the swimming race which Finny "won" without needing any recognition demonstrates his absence of need to perform; the day the two boys spend at the beach reveals their true complicity - it is a sanctuary of sorts from the need for "rules" or competition; Finny's getting away with using the school tie for a belt demonstrates his disarming nature even before authority; the games he invents show his comradeship and need of escape from the reality of war; Leper's mental fragility and eventual breakdown reveal the vulnerability of all the boys.

Another vital symbol as important as the tree itself is the long flight of marble steps leading to the building where the boys hold trial for Finny. This represents justice, which in its aim to make things "fair" often destroys the victim instead of the culprit. This happens when Finny falls for the second time and later dies from his injury.

In reply to #1:

The figurative language in the novel is rich. The similes and metaphors start on page 1 and don't stop coming. Here are a few that appear within the first 6 pages:

the "glossy new surface [of Devon] . . . made the school look like a museum"

Gene though Devon "blinked out like a candle" when he left

Gene said that preserved along with the school "like stale air in an unopened room" was the fear he had lived in at school

Gene described fear as an echo he felt

Sometimes at school, joy broke out "like Northern Lights across black sky"

Gene says the tree "loomed in my memory as a hughe lone spike . . . forbidding as an artillery piece, high as the beanstalk."

When the novel's flashback begins, Knowles writes, "The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river."

It is hard to find a page in the book that doesn't contain vivid similes and metaphors.