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A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace. By: John Knowles. John Knowles. Born September 16, 1926 in Fairmont, West Virginia Reporter, editor, and novelist Attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire 8 months in U.S. Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program Bachelor’s Degree from Yale in 1949. John Knowles.

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A Separate Peace

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  1. A Separate Peace By: John Knowles

  2. John Knowles • Born September 16, 1926 in Fairmont, West Virginia • Reporter, editor, and novelist • Attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire • 8 months in U.S. Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program • Bachelor’s Degree from Yale in 1949

  3. John Knowles • Best known for A Separate Peace, his first novel • Able to travel and write fiction as a result of his success • Won Richard and HindaRoesenthal Foundation Award • William Faulkner Award for most promising first novel of 1960 • Explores greed and competitiveness in characters

  4. Foundation • Setting: New Hampshire during World War II • Point of View: first person

  5. Main Characters • Gene: protagonist, quiet, introvert, intelligent • Phineas: Gene’s best friend, bold, adventurous, influential • Elwin “Leper” Lepellier: quiet, peaceful, loves the outdoors • Brinker Hadley: political, represents law and order, responsible

  6. Additional Characters • Cliff Quackenbush: manager of crew team, takes out his anger on everyone else • Chet Douglass: Gene’s rival for head of the class • Mr. Ludsbury: in charge of Gene’s dorm, works to restore order • Dr. Stanpole: caring, operates on Finny after both accidents

  7. Overview • Grown Gene flashes back to teenage years at Devon • Close friends with Phineas (Finny) • Skip school for a trip to the beach • Make dangerous jump from the tree into the river • Form a secret club “Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session” • Gene convinced that Phineas is ruining his goals • Finny falls out of tree, breaks his leg badly • “There is no war”

  8. Overview • Gene gets his priorities straight • Befriends Brinker Hadley • Shovel railroad and decide to enlist • Finny is back at school, Gene forgets his priorities • Train for the 1944 Olympics • Leper enlists in the army, escapes and asksfor Gene • Leper knows the secret, Gene is frightened • Brinker investigates, Finny leaves and falls down stairs, breaks leg again • Tragedy, Gene and Brinker graduate and enlist

  9. Quotes • “But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in anything I wanted, anything I loved.” • “Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence.” • “The more things stay the same, the more they change after all.” • “Everything has to evolve or else it perishes.”

  10. Themes and Motifs • Codependence • Identity • Enemies (inner) • Athletics • Academics • Transformations (Finny)

  11. Symbols • Seasons: summer = freedom, winter = disciplined • World War II: conflict (Gene) • Finny’s fall: end to summer • Marble staircase: full circle

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