A Separate Peace

Advance English Final Test




A Separate Peace
By John Knowles


Story Map

* Title: A Separate Peace
* Author: John Knowles
* Genre: Coming of age story or tragedy
* Time and place: New England 1957-1958
* Narrator: Gene Forrester
* Point of View: First Person
* Tone: Past Tense
* Time: 1958 (story begins) but flashes back to (1942-1943)
*Place: The Devon School a New England academy
* Major Conflict: Gene feels love and hate for Finny; by resenting Finny’s athletic and moral superiorities
* Rising Action: Gene’s envy of Finny grows; Gene becomes jealous of Finny’s seeming incapacity to be envious but he feels that he is morally superior person; Finny suggests that the boys climb a tree together.
* Climax: Gene jounces thelimb of the tree, making finny fall and shatter his leg.
* Falling Action: Gene feels guilty about Finny’s fall so he and Finny become even more intimate; the boys put Gene on the trial of the accident; Finny falls down the stairs and breaks his leg again; Finny dies during the operation on his leg.
* Themes: Codependency’s threat to identity; the creation of inner enemies.
* Motifs:Transformation; athletics
* Symbols: World War II; the summer and winter sessions at Devon; Finny’s fall.

Character List

1. Gene Forrester: A man in his mid 30’s; at the beginning of the novel he visits Devon School for the first time in years. He is intelligent and thoughtful with a competitive nature and a tendency to brood.
2. Phineas aka Finny: Gene’s best friend, he isdescribed as honest, handsome, disarming, extremely likeable, the best athlete in the school and he is self-confident. He gets frequently gets into trouble but he has the ability to talk his way out of almost any predicament.
3. Leper Lepellier: A classmate of Gene and Finny; he is a mild gentle of from Vermont who adores nature and he engages in outdoor hobbies like cross-country skiing.
4.Brinker Hadley: A charismatic class politician with an inclination for organization and orderliness. He is straight-laced, conservative and he as complete confidence in his own ability and has a tendency to carry his ideas through with startling efficiency.
5. Cliff Quackenbush: The Manager of the crew team, he briefly assumes a position of power over Gene when Gene volunteered to be an assistantcrew manager the students of Devon never have liked him.
6. Chet Douglass: Gene’s main rival for the position of class valedictorian he possesses a sincere love of learning and he is an excellent tennis and trumpet player. He enlists in the Suicide Society.
7. Mr. Ludsbury: The Master in charge of Gene’s dormitory.
8. Dr. Stanpole: He is Devon’s resident doctor. He operates on Finnyafter both of his accidents. He is a caring man who laments the troubles that afflict the youth of Gene’s generation.
9. Mr. Patch- Withers= the substitute headmaster of Devon during the summer session.
10. Phil Latham: The Wrestling coach who assists Dr. Stanpole when Finny falls the second time. He offers to talk with Gene about Finny’s accident but Gene changes the subject.
11. Mr.Hardley: Brinker’s Father.
12. Mrs. Lepellier: Leper’s mother.
13. Bobby Zane: He enlists in the Suicide Society.

Multiple Choice

1. The Narrator describes the tree when he visits it years later as
a. An old friend
b. Still a “grotesque demon”
c. A shrunken giant
2. Gene puts on Finny’s clothes to
a. Become Finny
b. Celebrate the bombing of Central Europec. Play a trick on him
3. Finny reacts to Gene’s first visit to the infirmary after the investigation
a. With relief
b. Passively
c. With anger
4. Gene realizes Finny is not jealous of his studies
a. When they go to the beach
b. Several years later
c. Before the accident
5. Brinker resigns from the presidency of the Golden Fleece Debating Society because....