A Separate Peace

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Chapter Twelve Questions and Vocabulary – A Separate Peace

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

a) stricken b) pontiff c) irreconcilably d) monotonously e) decrepit f) innately g) thronging h) impervious i) laden j) parody k) saltpeter l) pungent m) habitually n) aimlessly

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

• After Gene gets the blanket for Finny, he wishes that he could be the one to wrap Finny in it. Why do you think he feels that way, and what keeps him from doing it?
• Why does Gene compare Finny to a “stricken pontiff”? (p. 179)
• Why is it so out of place to Gene that Finny is just lying on the floor, injured?
• Why did Finny always allow Gene to help him after his fall, without feeling like it was accepting help or charity from others?
• Why do you think Gene considers stealing Dr. Stanpole’s car? Why doesn’t he steal it after all?
• Why does Gene say, “I had just control enough to stay out of his room, to let him struggle back into the bed by himself”? (p. 185).
• Why do you think Gene feels he never was and never would be a part of the world around him?
• How does Gene justify the day he tried to knock Finny out of the tree, on p. 188?
• What is the reason Finny gives Gene for his invention of a fake war?
• Why does Gene feel that Finny would have made a bad soldier, even without an injured leg?
• How does Finny forgive Gene? What reason does he give to justify Gene’s actions that day?
• Why does Dr. Stanpole believe that this will not be the first time Gene has to hear that one of his friends is dead?
• Why didn’t Gene cry over Finny’s death?

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

• It would have made him feel better, would have soothed his guilt, if he could help Finny recover from the fall. But he doesn’t do it because he’s afraid Finny will scream at him in front of all the other people.
• Gene has always looked up to Finny, as someone who was inherently good.
• Finny is supposed to be the one supporting everyone else, not needing support.
• Finny felt that Gene was an extension of himself; that their friendship was so close that to accept help from Gene wasn’t to admit weakness.
• It is an idle thought he has, to briefly take his mind off of his true purpose there. He wouldn’t actually do something like that, though (at least not without Finny’s prompting).
• Finny would no longer accept help from Gene as he has in the past. Gene knows this, so he stays out even though it is hard to watch Finny struggle.
• He sees now that he just watched the world go by, copying the movements of others but never truly living it like he should have, like Finny wanted him to.
• He says that his indiscretion pales in comparison to the major violence in the war. He tries to use the war to make his own violent act less significant.
• He wanted desperately to be able to enlist, but since he couldn’t do it, he wanted to pretend that there wasn’t a war. If there wasn’t a war, then it wouldn’t be leaving him behind.
• Finny is too good to go off and kill people. He is too independent to follow orders. Too special to be one of a million.
• He makes himself believe that it was just a momentary insanity rather than a show of true anger or animosity. He believes it was impersonal, not intentional.
• He knows that Gene and his classmates are headed into the war, and therefore will have to deal with death many times over the next few years.
• He feels like Finny’s death is like his own, and you aren’t supposed to cry when you die.

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This is a review sheet for chapter 12 of A Separate Peace. It includes vocabulary terms and questions for review/discussion.