A Separate Peace

By John Knowles

“Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence.”

A Separate Peace A Separate Peace is a classic story of a young man’s

emergence from adolescence. The novel is somewhat autobiographical, as it is based on Knowles’s own

experiences as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire during World War II.

John Knowles

Author John Knowles

• Born in 1926 in West Virginia

• Best known works are set in New England

Knowles’ Childhood

• Parents were originally from Massachusetts.

• Knowles spent many summer vacations there.

• At the age of fifteen, Knowles applied to an elite New Hampshire boarding school, Phillips Exeter Academy.

John Knowles continued…

• Knowles expresses his affections and fond memories for his boarding school memories in A Separate Peace.

• Soon after Knowles entered Exeter, the U.S. declared war on Japan and entered World War II.

• Knowles went into the military after he graduated from high school and trained to be a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force Aviation Program.

• When the war ended, he attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

A Separate Peace

• The novel was first published in England in 1959 and in the U.S. in 1960.

• It proved to be such a success that Knowles was able to resign from his job and devote his time to writing and travel.

• He wrote many other novels, none as successful as A Separate Peace.

• He lived in Fort Lauderdale, FL, before passing away in 2001.

Character List• Gene Forrester is the

novel's narrator, and he tells the story as a flashback, reflecting on his days at the Devon School from the vantage point of adulthood.

• Finny energetic and vibrant, Finny is a tremendous athlete; friendly and verbally adroit, he is able to talk his way out of any situation.

• Elwin “Leper” Lepellier is a quiet, peaceful, nature-loving boy.

•Brinker Hadley is, in many ways, a foil to Finny. Also charismatic and a leader of the Devon boys, Brinker wields a power comparable but opposite to Finny's.

Internal ConflictsAccording to Knowles, the major concern of the novel is to expose and explore the 2 conflicting psychological forces

within the “American Character”:1. One is a creative and expressive force, “a germ of wildness”

2. The other, is a more conservative force that identifies with established institutions such as governments, academic

settings, and accepted values.

In ASP this conflict is symbolically represented in the personalities of the 2 main characters. Gene Forrester,

the narrator, is “the cautious Protestant” who is both attracted to and frightened by the “germ of wildness”

he sees in the powerful personality of his roommate, Phineas. Over time, each boy acquires traits from the

other. Although the focus of the novel is on Gene’s resolution of his conflicts with Phineas, it is apparent that

Phineas also achieves a “separate peace.”

Setting

• Devon School in New Hampshire

• The central story begins less than a year after December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.

WWII

• World War II: September 1939 to September 1945.

• Called the “World” war because a majority of the world’s nations split into one of two opposing sides:– Allies- included Russia, U.S.A, United Kingdom,

and China.– Axis- included Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and

Imperial Japan

World War II• The most devastating

war in history.

• Loss of human life estimated at 72 million.

• Two-thirds of victims were civilians.

• Holocaust victims numbered in the millions.

U.S. Involvement

• The U.S. entered the World

War after Pearl Harbor.• Fear of war caused many Americans to turn a blind

eye to the conflicts overseas.• Pearl Harbor changed everything.• 1940 brought the first peacetime draft in the nation’s

history.– Men 21-35 years of age were required to register for

military service.

– Age then lowered to eighteen.

Patriotism• Many young men couldn’t wait to be drafted;

patriotism was at an all-time high.• Teenagers often felt it was their duty to enlist.

Patriotism and Change

• The war brought changes to the American economy and lifestyle. – Need for weapons created jobs.– Americans attended rallies, bought war bonds, conserved

fuel and rubber by car pooling, and planted “victory gardens.”

– Society also began changing and adjusting due to the “man shortage”.

• In short, American life, as it had been, changed “for the duration”- a phrase that meant “until the end of the war.”

External Conflicts

• The most important aspect of the novel’s background is WWII and its impact on the lives of young Americans. World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. ASP is set during the years 1942 and 1943, when it seemed that the fighting might continue indefinitely.

• The virtual certainty of young men being drafted into a bloody war upon graduation from school informs the background of A Separate Peace. The United States drafted more than ten million men for service in World War II; of these, more than five hundred thousand were killed or wounded. Students nearing graduation-like Gene, Finny, and Brinker-knew they would face the draft very soon. Some students sought to avoid dangerous service in the infantry by volunteering for special programs before being called-for example, Leper Lepellier’s enlistment in the ski troops and the plans Gene and Brinker discuss in Chapter 13.

• World War II resulted from the threat of aggressive expansion in Europe by Germany and in the Pacific by Japan. Upon the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, America finally declared war in both Europe and the Pacific. By 1942, the year in which ASP is set, Germany had overrun Norway, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands in the west, and had thrust deep into Russia in the east.

• During the period covered by the novel, the US was just beginning to make its presence felt by joining British bombers in air attacks over Germany. The final phase of the European war began on June 6, 1994, when the allies announced a massive invasion of Normandy. After intense fighting across the European continent, the war ended Europe on May 8, 1945; the Japanese surrendered some four months later.

External Conflicts • Another important item in the story’s cultural

background is its setting –– a private preparatory school modeled on Phillips

Exeter and similar institutions in New England traditionally prepared an elite group of young men for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other Ivy League colleges. Privileged by wealth and family connections, their students joined exclusive clubs in college and then took places reserved for them in the business world and in the highest social circles. Such New England boarding schools have been the traditional training ground for America’s aristocracy. Today most preparatory schools are coeducational, but they still provide a rigorous education for a selected few.

Major Themes

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1. Understanding conflict within yourself is a necessary part of

growing up

• What kind of inner conflicts can a person feel about other people/events?

• How can an inner conflict be painful or frightening to recognize?

• Have you ever followed an impulse to do something that you later regretted?

• Have you ever decided not to do something that you later felt you should have done?

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2. Friendship grows through conflict, resolving differences,

forgiveness, and accepting strengths and weaknesses of each

other.• Do you think a good

friendship can exist without conflict?

• How can conflicts between friends be resolved?

• Do you agree that a person has to accept a friend’s weaknesses as well as strengths?

3. A person’s own insecurities may cause him or her to

misinterpret a friend’s actions or words.

• What kind of insecurities do young people feel?

• How is it possible to misinterpret someone else’s actions or words in terms of your own insecurities?

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4. Personal joys and pains are felt more strongly than even great

public events such as war.

• Do important public events such as local, national, or international political struggles seem to affect your personal life?

• Do you think the threat of war would influence the way you feel about your friends or classmates?

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Theme and Motif

• Theme: a broad idea in a story, or a message or lesson conveyed by a work – A work can have more than one theme.

• Motif: a reoccurring subject, theme, or idea in a literary, artistic, or musical work.

• Difference between theme and motif:– Theme are ideas explored by the text.– Motifs are reoccurring elements that represent

ideas.

Themes & Motifs & Genre in A Separate Peace

• Themes– Identity- The development of self in the face of peer pressure.– Man vs. Self- Even in times of war, the most difficult battle is

within the human heart.• Motifs-

– Transformation- the characters and the school undergo immense changes throughout the story.

– Competition- the competitive nature of athletics and of friendship.

• Genre- – A Separate Peace belongs to a genre of literature called Bildungsroman. This is a German term which describes a novel whose main character matures over time, usually from childhood. (The Outsiders, Harry Potter, The Giver)

What does it mean to “identify with” someone else?

• Have you ever experienced feeling so close to a friend that you shared

the same thoughts?

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How does who you are affect what you do?

•And how do you know who you are?

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