1 / 10

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Mrs. Douglas 10 th Grade Honors/ Gifted English. John Knowles September 16, 1926 - November 29, 2001. Applied for Exeter one day because he found a catalog lying around the house After the entrance exams, he was held back a year; but he was admitted.

connor-merrill
Download Presentation

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A Separate Peaceby John Knowles Mrs. Douglas 10th Grade Honors/ Gifted English

  2. John KnowlesSeptember 16, 1926 - November 29, 2001 • Applied for Exeter one day because he found a catalog lying around the house • After the entrance exams, he was held back a year; but he was admitted. • Graduated in 1945 • Attended school during WWII; had to help with the war effort

  3. Devon School • Phillips Exeter Academy is called Devon School in the novel • Knowles attended for two years, consecutive summers 1943 and 1944 • There really was a secret club in which members jumped from a tree branch into the river

  4. Characters • Knowles put a little of himself in all of the characters • He used classmates as models for the characters too • Some situations in the novel are similar to events he experienced, but the novel is NOT autobiographical • The only elements of A Separate Peace that were NOT present at Exeter were “anger, envy, [and] violence. There was only friendship, athleticism, and loyalty” while Knowles attended the school.

  5. Gene Forrester Phineas (Finny) Elwin Lepellier (Leper) Brinker Hadley Mr. Hadley Mr. Prud’homme Mr. Lundsbury Dr. Stanpole Phil Latham Characters

  6. World War II • WWII is the historical backdrop for the novel • During this time it was universally accepted that all men join the service when they turned 18, were taller than 5’, and weighed more than 105 pounds • Most men were drafted into the war. These young men saw the worst of the war. • The boys of Devon school (with educated, comfortable, respectable families) enlisted and served in more prestigious (safer) programs.

  7. Basic Training • Drafted and enlisted men both endured basic training • Individual differences were discarded to make way for group goals and a group identity • This transition from small prep school to military service was a HUGE adjustment for some young men

  8. 1950s Literature • During this post war period, fictional adolescents became the ultimate individuals • They constantly tested rules or were desperate to live without them • Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger and The Lord of the Flies by William Golding combined anarchy, tyranny, and structure to create new identities for young men

  9. “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” - Gene Forrester A Separate Peace

  10. Works Cited • http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3496.John_Knowles • http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4621.aspx • http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/separate_peace.pdf

More Related