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A Separate Peace
In Chapter 6 of the novel, Gene discusses the changes at Devon. He begins by stating, "Peace had deserted Devon" (72). The lackadaisical feel of Devon's first summer school is gone, and the...
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A Separate Peace
The discussion about height is found in Chapter 1, early in the flashback. Gene says he and Finny were the same height, five feet eight and a half inches. Gene adds that he himself had been...
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A Separate Peace
Chapter 3 of A Separate Peace is a clear foreshadowing of the rift (and worse) which is to come between Gene and Finny. The two of them have sneaked off the beach for the day, and it turns into a...
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A Separate Peace
Finny's accomplishment in breaking A. Hopkins Parker's record in the 100 yards free style event without any practice or preparation is included in A Separate Peace as another illustration of the...
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A Separate Peace
Because of his injury, Finny no longer can enlist; he is no longer physically capable of doing so, nor will he ever be. Although he acts nonchalant, this reality is a source of deep bewilderment to...
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A Separate Peace
Gene plays along with Finny's assertion that the war is not real because it helps him escape reality, just as it helps Finny escape his own reality. Throughout the novel, the war moves ever closer...
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A Separate Peace
Finny telephones Gene because he wants to make sure that Gene is all right, and that their friendship is still intact. The last time Finny had seen Gene was when Gene had visited him in the...
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A Separate Peace
Perhaps Finny and the other boys call their club "The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session" in order to impress others with their daredevil antics, but Gene originally names it "The Suicide...
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A Separate Peace
Much like the residents who return to the war-torn homes as they try to salvage what they can, Gene Forrester of A Separate Peace returns as a man to Devon School, a man from the "forest" to...
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A Separate Peace
Gene happened to enlist in the war near the end, so he never went over-seas and he never saw any fighting. He was in a group that was moved between different places here in the United States to...
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A Separate Peace
While most of the Devon boys would think that the purpose of skiing is to enjoy the exhilarating feeling of speed on a downhill run, Leper says, "Skiing isn't supposed to be fast. Skis are for...
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A Separate Peace
Although there are many examples of irony in A Separate Peace, two examples are: 1) In many cases, Finny has power over Gene's actions. For example, he convinces him to go to the beach, resulting...
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A Separate Peace
This is a complex book and restricting myself to two or three adjectives is difficult! The first adjective I would choose is "nostalgic." This is a book about a man looking back on an important...
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A Separate Peace
One of the first descriptions of Gene Forrester is found when he is first confronted with peer pressure to jump out of a very enormous tree into a river. He describes himself as fearful in the...
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A Separate Peace
From the onset of the novel A Separate Peace, Knowles characterizes Finny as a charasmatic young man that the other boys admire and follow. Even Gene finds himself enthralled: "What was I doing...
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A Separate Peace
In the final chapter of his novel John Knowles's narrator, Gene Forrester concludes from his return to Devon School, Because it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their...
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A Separate Peace
The novel takes place in WWII, and the title refers to idyllic setting of a small, elite, all-boys' school in New Hamphire, even during a time of great upheaval and tragedy on the world stage. The...
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A Separate Peace
Gene takes a more serious stance toward school authority and rules than Finny does. Gene perceives school as an opportunity to further himself, and his ability to achieve academically is a point...
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A Separate Peace
The irony of Gene's war is that it does not involve World War II. Gene enlisted in the Navy and was headed to Pensacola, Florida for training after he graduated from Devon School. He hoped this...
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A Separate Peace
[Since your first question has already been answered and students can only ask one question at a time, your question has been edited to the second.] Gene's envy of Finny in A Separate Peace is what...
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A Separate Peace
In chapter nine of A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Finny does what he does best--he creates excitement and fun where there normally is none. It is winter at the Devon school, and Saturdays are...
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A Separate Peace
Finny is a poor candidate for military service because he doesn't have any evil in him. Gene means that Finny could not harm anyone if he tried. Notice in their rivalry how Gene is able to harm...
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A Separate Peace
All the enmity in the novel comes from Gene, not Phineas. It is Gene who wishes to find a petty motive behind Finny's actions. He suspects Finny of wanting to "finish me for good on the...
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A Separate Peace
At the end of chapter nine, Gene receives a telegram at Devon from Leper. His telegram only says that: I have escaped and need help. I am at Christmas location. You understand. No need to risk...
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A Separate Peace
There are details in the very first chapter that show how things have changed at the school. There had never been a summer session before the war, and Gene, Finney, and the other students on their...
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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
Jealousy depends on what is perceived by one person about another and then compared to one's self at an unachievable higher standard. In a growing up story like "A Separate Peace" many characters...
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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
Gene describes Elwin Lepellier (Leper) as one who didn't argue with others. In fact, he says that Leper could become inanimate at times (17). He's the type of boy who only exists near the other...
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A Separate Peace
In Chapter 2 of A Separate Peace, Gene comments that since some boys are too young to be drafted, that they and school itself are a symbol of peace, which is contrasted with the war. The idea of...
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A Separate Peace
Like most authors, John Knowles did draw from his own life experiences to write his most famous work, A Separate Peace. I've included a link to an excellent eNotes reference site below. I'll give...
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A Separate Peace
Stereotypically, Gene can be seen as the nerd and Finny as the jock or the "cool guy". Gene envies Finny's ease in social situations, his ability to be himself and not take himself seriously, his...
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A Separate Peace
What if you wrote to Finny and then to the other boys at the school who are close to Finny? Gene hurts this group the most. I would not say "Dear Phineas" because Gene almost always refers to...
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A Separate Peace
Each of the words on this list are, indeed, used in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. My space here is limited, but here goes: Capacious is a rather formal, or perhaps antiquated word which simply...
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A Separate Peace
I am guessing that what you want in response to this question is a treatment of other themes in this novel. You have already correctly identified one theme of friendship, which is an extremely good...
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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'm not sure where you are in the book, so I don't want to give anything away. Finny's injury ends up being very closely tied to his feelings on the war, and we discover this later on in the...
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A Separate Peace
Although no one believes that he will actually go through with it, Leper is the only one of the other boys who actually steps forward with the intention of jumping from the tree. Until that time,...
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A Separate Peace
The question is unclear as to how far past Chapter 8 it is asking about, so it is difficult to say exactly how Gene's situation has intensified. In Chapter 8, Gene describes the war as a "wave at...
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A Separate Peace
Gene is an interesting one, because one main point of the novel is that the war impacts him less than his experiences with Finny did. Gene gives an entire analogy at the end of the book where he...
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A Separate Peace
I assume you are speaking about the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session meetings. How Gene feels about these meetings is discussed early in Chapter 3. At the beginning of each meeting,...
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A Separate Peace
The best way to discover Gene's jealous feelings is not what he says to Finny, necessarily, but how he describes scenes that involve Phineas being athletic or creative; usually, he is both. Chapter...
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A Separate Peace
Gene's memory of his time at Devon begins in the summer of 1942. This was the last time the boys were really free to be young. When classes resumed for the fall session, many aspects of Devon were...
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A Separate Peace
Finny's influence over Gene certainly plays a role in Gene not doing well on his test; however, it is mostly Gene's fault. Finny did not force Gene to go on the trip to the beach--if Gene had just...
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A Separate Peace
This is an interesting question, because the idea of money or affluence is never really mentioned in A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. It is true that Devon is a boarding school and, presumably,...
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A Separate Peace
You need to check out the beginning of chapter 13. Brinker obviously from his experiences throughout the book feels the pressure to perform. He excels as a student and as an extra-curricular...
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A Separate Peace
We might describe the characters of Brinker, Finny and Gene as being parallel to the classic Freudian theory of the Id, the Ego and the Super-Ego. Finny is most like the Id, driven by impulse,...
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A Separate Peace
Besides Gene (who sees Finny as his competitor until Gene realizes that he is in competition with himself), Brinker always assumed that Finny and Gene were competitors. Brinker's assumption is...
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A Separate Peace
In literary terms, an epiphany is a moment in a character's life when there is a sudden enlightenment, or realization and insight. In Chapter Five of John Knowles A Separate Piece, Gene experiences...
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A Separate Peace
I think Brinker remains static. He doesn't change much throughout the story. He wants to see Gene confess his crime about Finny in the Butt Room in chapter 7, and then pushes it again in chapter 10...
