A Separate Peace
Notes: Chapters 1-7
Chapters 1-3
Page 9
O The place is a museum, it is preserved,
lacquered-Changed
O The Ego of Childhood-what does this mean?
Page 10
O Fear-preserved
O He was unaware of the Fear at the time
O
O
O
O
because there was so much of it…example?
To see the fear was enmeshed in…shows
change
Uncontrollable Joy like the Northern LightsWhat causes this?
Two fearful sites?
Description of weather…why significant?
Page 11
O Failing ivy and stripped
O Marble stairs, old, yet worn places not deep-
very hard. Why is this important that he
notices how hard they are???
FORESHADOWING!!!
Page 12
O The buildings live in “contentious harmony”-
What literary element is this?
O Change of buildings?
Page 13
O “Doomed shoes,”-What does this show
about Gene’s mission?
O “Mud tries to trap him”
O In his YOUTH, he sees the tree as an artillery
piece and a huge lone spike. What
contributed to this vision?
Page 14
O In ADULTHOOD, the tree appears shrunken
and no different that the surrounding trees.
How does this compare to his youth? What
does this show us? Think of things that
seemed huge as a kid.
O Gene is very “thankful” to have seen the
tree and the change it has made. Why?
O True solace in the fact that nothing
ENDURES
Page 14…again
O How has Gene changed?
O The tree takes us back to the past and we
see that we will be looking through a child’s
eyes. What does this entail?
O Voice like a Hypnotist
O Finny never admits intimidation…he is a
symbol for ____________.
Page 15
O Seniors known as “draft bait”
O “Do you want to go first?”
O Gene’s Sarcastic Summer in ’42.
O His defense mechanism
O Allows him to be tough!
Page 16
O Gene thinks Finny has a hold over him
O Does he?
O What evidence supports or refutes this?
Page 17
O “Unthinking unity of movement”…who is this
quote about?
O Finny says, “Gene backs away from things”
and Gene is upset because…
Page 18
O Gene resents the bell-What does this tell us
that is a bit unusual? Why is it unusual?
O Conforming as a theme…
Page 19
O Finny is a paradox, he breaks the rules yet
wants to be good
O The boys remind the masters of what peace
was like
Page 23
O First mention of Gene envying Finny BUT not
the last. Why is this moment important?
Page 27
O Gene becomes excited to see Finny fail at
the party. What does this tell us?
Page 28
O Disappointed when Finny doesn’t get in
trouble. Is this friendship? What other
relationship is it more like?
Page 29
O “I don’t believe we bombed anyone do you?”
O Hard to imagine war in their “separate
peace” ding…ding…light bulb goes off…yes
that is the title!
Page 31-32
O Gene is saved by Finny
O What emotions come with that?
O What does this tell us about Finny and Gene?
Page 33
O Gene seems to feel less than gracious
towards Finny. What does this tell us about
his character?
Page 34
O “I always jumped. Otherwise I would have
lost face with Phineas, and that would have
been unthinkable.” What does this tell us
about Gene and Finny?
O “Finny’s life was ruled by inspiration and
anarchy.” How is this the antithesis of
Gene? How did Finny follow some rules?
Page 35
O Finny has “Commandments”. How does this
make Finny appear even more God like to
Gene?
O “You always win at sports.” How is this
possible?
Page 36-37
O “Although he was rarely conscious of it,
Phineas was being watched, like the
weather.” How are Finny and the weather
both constant and not?
Page 38
O “There aren’t any teams in blitzball…we’re
all enemies..”
O How does this parallel life at Devon?
Teenage life?
Page 39
O Finny creates a game that is so in tune with
him that he was naturally the most gifted.
Page 40
O “Finny could shine with everyone, he
attracted everyone he met. I was glad of
that too. Naturally. He was my roommate
and my best friend.” Does this feel natural.
Pages 40-42
O How does this war tangent relate back to the
novel?
O How does the war concept relate to life at
Devon?
Page 42
O “Finny had tremendous loyalty to the class
as he did to any group he belonged to,
beginning with him and me and radiating
outwards past the limits…”
Page 43
O Finny had “a controlled ease about his
stance” when he is about to swim. Why
does this feel weird?
Page 44
O “Perhaps for that reason his
accomplishment took root in my mind and
grew rapidly in the darknedd where I was
forced to hide it.”
Page 45
O “It made Finny seem to unusual for not
friendship, but too unusual for rivalry.”
Page 47
O “I noticed that people were looking fixedly at
him,” Everyone is looking at Finny but Finny
says “Everybody is staring at you,”
O Why?
Page 48
O Finny has just called Gene his best pal and
Gene doesn’t respond but thinks… “Perhaps
I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper
than thought, which contains the truth.”
O WHAT?!?!?!
Page 49
O Chapter 4 was originally titled “The Fall”
What is it the fall of???
O “More dead than asleep”
Chapters 4-7
Page 50
O “as pure as the shores of Eden. Phineas,
still asleep on his dune, made me think of
Lazarus, brought back to life by the tough of
God.” The fall of man=the fall of________?
O How does Gene “flunking” his test become a
catalyst?
Page 51
O “Nobody at Devon has ever been surer of
graduating than you are.”
O “You never waste your time. That’s why I
have to do it for you.” How is Finny ½ of
Gene?
Page 52
O “We would be even”
O “I’d kill myself out of jealous envy”
Page 53
O “Up like a detonation went the idea of any
best friend…up went the hope that there
was anyone in this school-in this worldwhom I could trust”
O “You and Phineas are even already. You are
even in enmity”
O Gene uses words like deliberate, except,
blabber…how has he changed?
Page 54
O “The deadly rivalry was on both sides after
all.”
Page 55
O “ I discovered myself throughtlessly slipping
back into affection for him again.”
O Finny and Gene are at war BUT only Gene
sees it that way.
O He uses the word hate…strong emotion
Page 56
O “I didn’t want Finny to understand me as I
understood him.”
O “And I had detected that Finny’s was a den
of lonely, selfish ambition. He was no better
than I was, No matter who won all the
contests.”
Page 57-59
O THE FIGHT
O Gene gets all cray-cray
Page 59
O Gene finally gets it:
O “He had never been jealous of me for a
second. Now I knew that there never was
and never could have been any rivalry
between us. I was not of the same quality as
he.”
O How is this worse?
Page 60
O THE FALL
“With unthinking sureness I moved out on
the limb and jumped into the rived, every
trace of my fear of this forgotten”
Page 61
O What was shattered besides Finny’s bone?
O Gene now refers to himself as Finny’s
roommate and NOT his best friend.
Page 62
O “I decided to put on his clothes…”
O “I was Phineas, Phineas to the life”
O ENOUGH SAID
Page 63
O Finny refers to Gene as his “pal”
O “Sports are finished.”
Page 64
O “Most of all I cried because of kindness,
which I had not expected.”
O “Phineas would say nothing behind my back;
he would accuse me, face to face.” he still
sees the worst in Finny
O “His eyes studied me as though I were the
patient.” Finny still more worried about
Gene
Page 65
O “To drag me down too.”
O “You look like it happened to you or
something.”
Page 66
O Finny apologizes for ever considering his
best friend would hurt him!
O New rule… “Never accuse a friend of a crime
if you only have a feeling he did it.”
O “And I thought we were competitors! It was
so ludicrous I wanted to cry!”
Page 67
O “irresolutely suspended” What was and
why?
Page 69
O “There’s loyalty for you.” IRONY!!!
Page 70
O “It struck me then that I was injuring him
again. It occurred to me that this could be
an even deeper injury than what I had done
before.”
Page 72
O Peace=Finny
Page 73
O Knowles repeats the word “same” Why?
Page 76
O Naguamsett and the Devon
O Compare and Contrast
O What could they be symbolic for?
O “He had no nickname, not even an
unfriendly one.” Why is that important?
Page 79
O Who is Gene really punching Quackenbush
for?
Page 83
O Roommates are roommates. How can this
be extended to what Gene did?
Page 85
O “this must have been my purpose from the
first: to become a part of Phineas”
O CREEPY!!! It puts the lotion on it’s skin…