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A Separate Peace
Finny is the epitome of innocence and fun throughout the novel. Initially, the boys at Devon do not have to experience the horrors of war and are relatively oblivious to the ongoing struggle...
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A Separate Peace
John Knowles's book A Separate Peace is similar to the movie adaptation of the story, but there are several important differences. Overall, the message is the same and the events unfold the same...
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A Separate Peace
At the beginning of A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene returns to Devon 15 years after he graduated high school. When he visits the First Academy Building, he narrates, In through the swinging...
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A Separate Peace
When the action of the book starts, Gene is a high school student faced with an identity crisis, and he is filled with fear. He writes of that time, "We were in shaky transit that summer from the...
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A Separate Peace
In the opening scene of A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene, the protagonist and narrator, visits the infamous tree from his high school fifteen years after the death of his friend Phineas....
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A Separate Peace
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene says "Peace had deserted Devon" at the beginning of chapter 6. He is referring to the fact that the summer session has ended, and everyone is back to...
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A Separate Peace
Asking how Gene was alienated in A Separate Peace is a bit of a tricky question because Gene is our narrator and we only get the events from his perspective. Not only are we getting it from Gene,...
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A Separate Peace
I believe this question is asking to describe what is physically different about Devon School in chapter 13. The answer to this question can be found in the early parts of the chapter. The reader...
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A Separate Peace
It is, indeed, ironic that Finny tells Gene in Chapter 11, "I know you better than anybody," because he truly believes that Gene is his loyal friend. Despite what others suspect and know, Finny...
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A Separate Peace
Before his leg breaks in chapter 4, Phineas talks as if he knows everything there is to know about the war. He does this because he is excited to enlist. After recovering from a broken leg at home...
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A Separate Peace
The resolution of a story is the final outcome after a conflict. There are two main conflicts facing the protagonist, Gene Forrester: coming to terms about himself regarding his friendship with...
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A Separate Peace
The war is a supremely important and serious event that everyone in Finny's life seems to be talking about. The entire world around him is focused on producing soldiers from his generation to fight...
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A Separate Peace
In the first few chapters of A Separate Peace, Gene shows how jealous he is of his best friend's charisma and athleticism. Gene is so jealous of Phineas that he searches his mind for examples of...
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A Separate Peace
In chapter 4 of A Separate Peace, Phineas and Gene argue about their differences rather than embracing them. The argument arises when Phineas wants Gene to stop studying and go for a swim with him....
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A Separate Peace
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, three boys who think, feel, and make sense of life differently inside than how society views them are Gene, Phineas, and Leper. Phineas (society) believes that...
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A Separate Peace
The definition of friendship can be different for everyone. Most people, however, value friends when they are loyal, which is exactly what Phineas is to Gene. Being loyal isn't one of Gene's...
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A Separate Peace
Adversity is defined as one or more unfortunate events, and in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene faces a few of them. Since the novel is a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age story, Gene must...
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A Separate Peace
Finny's whole world is sports. Without sports, Finny is just a swimmer without a pool, or a runner without a track. Phineas is average when it comes to academics, but that doesn't mean that he...
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A Separate Peace
After Finny's funeral in chapter 12, life continues in chapter 13 of A Separate Peace. Gene's class is graduating from Devon and preparing to enter the war effort. Meanwhile, in June, military...
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A Separate Peace
An allusion is a reference made to someone or something that the reader, or a character, might know or understand. This helps to extract familiar knowledge about a topic and apply it to the story...
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A Separate Peace
Gene returns to Devon in the fall fifteen years after he graduated. Autumn usually signifies age, or the process of aging, which also connects to the time since he's been at the school. As people...
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A Separate Peace
First, let's examine the quote you reference, which in its entirety is: "The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." There is debate about who originally said this, but it is...
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A Separate Peace
Based upon Phillips Exeter School in New Hampshire, which the author himself attended, Devon School is what was known as an elite boys' preparatory school, a private school that stresses athletics...
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A Separate Peace
Finny is the one who invents the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. To become a member in the first place, you have to jump out of the tree (once) and into the river below. Finny and Gene...
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A Separate Peace
This question is not so easy to answer. If I were to only consider Finny's feelings, I would say that the friendship is mostly unaffected throughout the novel. Then, the friendship is completely...
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A Separate Peace
The relationship between Gene and Finny in A Separate Peace is rife for metaphorical interpretation. Remember that both boys are studying and living in a relatively safe environment at Devon...
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A Separate Peace
The word innocuous means harmless or non-irritating. Since A Separate Peace is written from Gene's perspective, there are many times when he feels that Phineas is irritating or out to get him....
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A Separate Peace
Finny is the Devon school's star athlete. If we're speaking about his work ethic as an athlete and as a socialite among his peers, Finny's at the top of his game, no pun intended. He breaks the...
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A Separate Peace
When someone mentions the words "morality" or "moral rules," one might think of following a code of chastity, but that isn't really the topic at hand in John Knowles's book. As far as "moral rules"...
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A Separate Peace
Leper Lepellier is the oddball or misfit of the group of boys at Devon school in 1942-1943. He is very interested in nature and experiencing the outdoors in a peaceful way. He's usually in his own...
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A Separate Peace
In many ways A Separate Peace is about the loss of innocence through Gene's actions against Finny, which naturally cause a great deal of guilt within him. It's a coming of age story, and as Gene...
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A Separate Peace
Resiliency means that someone can bounce back to their original state of being after experiencing a traumatic event. The three boys who experience traumatic events are Gene, Phineas, and Leper....
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A Separate Peace
In chapter ten of A Separate Peace, Gene visits his friend Leper who has gone AWOL (absent without leave) from the army. The telegram that Gene received from Leper in chapter nine says that he...
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A Separate Peace
Leper is an introvert and a misfit at Devon school. He's a minor character who symbolizes what happens in the wake of Phineas and Gene's dramatic adventures. As Phineas and Gene are competing with...
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A Separate Peace
Allusions are cultural or historical references specific to the time period in which the book is set. For example, if you were writing a story set during the present time, you might reference...
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A Separate Peace
An allusion is a literary device used to make a connection between the story or characters to someone or something else known by the reader. Characters can also be aware of the allusion, as is the...
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A Separate Peace
When discussing Gene Forrester's internal war, he thinks it centers around him versus his best friend Phineas; but it's really a matter of man vs. self. As a bildungsroman (a coming-of-age story) A...
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A Separate Peace
Brinker impacts the other boys at Devon in a way that is completely opposite to the way that Finny impacts that boys. While Finny is spontaneous and free spirited, Brinker is more reserved. While...
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A Separate Peace
In 1942, Gene and Phineas are good friends attending summer school at a private school called Devon. Gene excels academically and Phineas is the athlete. It is curious that these two would become...
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A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace is written from Gene Forrester's (a character's) point of view. Any depiction of Phineas is described through his jealous, and sometimes sarcastic, filter. That being said, Phineas...
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A Separate Peace
The marble staircase is located in the First Academy Building on the campus of the Devon School. Gene describes it as having a red brick exterior, swinging doors, and a marble foyer preceding the...
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A Separate Peace
This quote "Everything has to evolve or it perishes" fits Phineas from A Separate Peace perfectly. Phineas is young, athletic, strong, and has a highly energetic personality. He looks forward to...
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A Separate Peace
By chapter 9 of A Separate Peace, the Devon School is blanketed with snow and most of the boys have the winter blues. This is the chapter when Phineas creates and holds a Winter Carnival which...
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A Separate Peace
Phineas and Gene are roommates and friends at a preparatory school called Devon School in 1942--nothing more, nothing less. The book starts with Gene visiting the school 15 years after graduation...
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A Separate Peace
Gene and Finny complete each other in the same way that the two halves of a Yin and Yang make a complete circle. Gene and Finny may be best friends, but they are very different in a lot of ways....
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A Separate Peace
One of the most significant aspects of Finny's death actually revolves around Gene's transformation into Phineas. He states earlier in the novel that he realized his purpose in life was to become a...
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A Separate Peace
Jealousy vs. resentment sounds like a good topic for a compare/contrast essay about A Separate Peace by John Knowles. One could first start by examining characters who deal with both feelings, such...
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A Separate Peace
In Chapter 11 of A Separate Peace, Gene has taped pictures which create the illusion of his having come from the gentry of the South: plantation mansions, old trees with Spanish moss hanging from...
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A Separate Peace
Part of the definition of the word "proud" on dictionary.com is "showing a high opinion of one's own dignity, importance, or superiority." With this definition in mind, Gene certainly does have a...
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A Separate Peace
The word "neurotic" isn't used in psychology circles so much any more because there are more specific words used to diagnose different mental illnesses these days. The word technically refers to an...
