A Separate Peace

Grade Levels

Excerpt

Chapter Eleven Questions and Vocabulary – A Separate Peace

I. Vocabulary: Define the following terms, found in chapter one.

• a) vitality b) eunuch c) infantile d) deluded e) fortitude f) torpidly g) assent h) incarnate i) pointedly j) obstinate

II. Questions for Review: Answer in complete sentences. You should use references from the text to support each answer.

• When Finny tells Gene he thinks he can feel his leg getting stronger, why does Gene say “Thank God” and then correct himself?
• Explain the events leading up to this line: “Now the facts were re-established, and gone were all the fantasies, such as the Olympic Games for A.D. 1944, closed before they had ever been opened” (p. 158).
• Why does Brinker feel that Gene pities Finny? Why does he suggest they stop doing that?
• What makes Finny finally admit that the war is real?
• Explain how the Latin motto in the First Building relates to the characters in the novel.
• Why does Gene think that he could have saved the whole evening by telling Brinker to go to Hell instead of praying?
• What is Brinker’s justification for the “investigation” in the Assembly Room?
• Why does Finny look “reluctantly” at Gene before he tells the rest of them that Leper is at school?
• Why does Finny leave the investigation before it is over? Why do you think he is angry with Brinker?

For the teacher: Suggestions on Student Answers to Review Questions. NOTE: These are simply a guideline; individual student answers will vary.

• Gene feels that if Finny gets better, he won’t have to feel so guilty. But then he realizes that to say “Thank God” is to sound a little too invested in it; like it is an admission of guilt.
• Brinker has forced Finny to realize that he can’t be part of the war. His leg injury will never let him enlist. Once this happens, it becomes clear by the look on Finny’s face that he isn’t going to keep up the charade of the fake war any longer.
• Brinker thinks that everyone tiptoes around the issue of Finny’s leg, and tries to hide the truth. But he believes that Finny needs to face reality and move forward, finding out how to live with a bum leg rather than pretending he won’t have to.
• When he realizes that Leper really has gone crazy, he understands that only a real war could make a real person change like that.
• The motto is, Here Boys Come to Be Made Men. Throughout the novel, the boys do a lot of growing up. This happens through the incident in the tree, Finny’s other fall and death, Leper’s enlistment and defection, and the reality of the war that invades their lives slowly but surely as the novel wears on.
• He could have turned it into a joke before anyone really got started. If he had made it into a parody, they might have been able to laugh it off and leave without the investigation. But by agreeing to start with a prayer, they buy into the solemnity and severity of the event, thus pushing it forward.
• He says that they need to find out the truth of the situation because a soldier in their class has been taken out of the war before he even got a chance. He acts as if it is their patriotic duty to find out how this has happened. He also mentions that bringing out the truth will be the best thing for Finny, and for Gene.
• Finny knows that Leper will finalize the truth of the situation; that Leper will tell everyone that Gene caused Finny to fall. Finny doesn’t want to hurt Gene, even now, but he also wants to know the truth and he can’t seem to stop the proceedings from snowballing where they will go.
• After Finny really comes to understand the truth, he can’t stand to be there any longer. His best friend has betrayed him; this is deeper than any other emotion he has had to face. He can’t face his loss there, in front of all of the witnesses; he has to leave. He is angry with Brinker for forcing him to deal with this reality.

About

This is a review sheet for chapter 11 of A Separate Peace. It includes vocabulary terms and questions for review/discussion.