Where and when is A Separate Peace set?
The fictional Devon school in rural New Hampshire, 1942-3 The setting of A Separate Peace – both time and place – are integral to the story and its meaning. As you’ll read, well, everywhere in this guide, the backdrop of World War II establishes a series of parallels with the daily lives of the boys at Devon.
Where does the novel A Separate Peace take place?
Set at a boys’ boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete.
What time period is A Separate Peace set in?
World War II
A Separate Peace, novel by John Knowles, published in 1959. It recalls with psychological insight the maturing of a 16-year-old student at a New England preparatory school during World War II. Looking back to his youth, the adult Gene Forrester reflects on his life as a student at Devon School in New Hampshire in 1942.
What is the main plot of A Separate Peace?
Gene Forrester is a careful, studious young man, full of fear of the future. As America is about to enter World War II, Gene attends summer school at Devon in New England. There he meets a remarkable young man whose love for life defies the reality of draft boards and battleships and challenges the adult world.
What is the major conflict in A Separate Peace?
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the World War II setting is an obvious external conflict occurring in the background, but the main conflict is the internal battle that the protagonist, Gene, is fighting with himself.
Is A Separate Peace a flashback?
A Separate Peace is a novel told entirely in flashback, by a narrator—Gene Forrester—who is our only source of information regarding the events that he recounts. Similarly, Gene’s narration becomes dispassionate at the makeshift trial when it becomes clear that his secret crime will be revealed.
Who is the main character in A Separate Peace?
Gene Forrester
Gene Forrester The narrator and protagonist of the novel. When A Separate Peace begins, Gene is in his early thirties, visiting the Devon School for the first time in years. He is thoughtful and intelligent, with a competitive nature and a tendency to brood.
What is lepers role in A Separate Peace?
A quiet, peaceful, nature-loving boy, Leper shocks his classmates by becoming the first boy at Devon to enlist in the army; he shocks them again by deserting soon after. Leper’s descriptions of his wartime hallucinations constitute one of the novel’s darkest moments.
How did Finny died?
Later that day, in an operation to set the leg again, Finny dies when some marrow from the broken bone enters the bloodstream and stops his heart. Gene accepts the news without crying, because he feels as if he has died, too.
What are the themes of a separate peace?
A Separate Peace Themes
- War and Rivalry. John Knowles’s A Separate Peace is a novel about violence and rancor even though Gene, its protagonist, never actually faces battle.
- Identity.
- Change and Growing Up.
- Optimism, Idealization, and Denial.
- Friendship and Honesty.
What does a separate peace mean in a separate peace?
Separate peace. The phrase “separate peace” refers to a nation’s agreement to cease military hostilities with another, even though the former country had previously entered into a military alliance with other states that remain at war with the latter country.
Who is telling the story in a separate peace?
A Separate Peace is a novel told entirely in flashback, by a narrator—Gene Forrester—who is our only source of information regarding the events that he recounts. As the story develops, the initial trust that exists between reader…
What is the story a separate peace?
A Separate Peace Story. A Separate Peace is a remarkable story about the relationship between two young students, Gene and Phineas . Their friendship develops through the formation of secret societies and late night card games.
When was a separate peace?
Although first published in 1959 in England, A Separate Peace is about an earlier period, specifically the early 1940s when the United States had declared its involvement in World War II.