10/29/15 3.2 WWII Notes +
Discussion
To start today’s entry, please describe a
book or a movie you feel uses setting in a
really strong way.
 Name the book/movie, describe the
setting, and then discuss some of the
ways in which that setting contributes to
the story.

10/29/15 3.2 WWII Notes + Discussion
MY SAMPLE (which means you have to
choose something else):
 J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series relies very
strongly on setting to create a magical world.
Hogwarts School has well-described
dormitories, a Great Hall with a ceiling that
changes, and is in a remote location that must
be reached by secret train. All of this
contributes to a story that seems both fantastic
and realistic at the same time.

Cornell Notes
Under this entry, please make some space
to take some notes.
 Make it look like this: (You’ll need just
about the rest of the page, maybe spilling
a bit onto the next)

Cornell Notes
Don’t worry so much about writing down
EVERYTHING on the slides.
 Focus on key words/phrases/dates for that
right column
 Left column: leave open for questions,
reflection, BIG ideas

A Separate Peace
by 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. (The school in
the novel is thought to be modeled after
this one. Picture a place like the school in
Dead Poets Society…)

John Knowles continued…




Knowles expresses his affections and
(somewhat) fond memories for his boarding
school 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.
World War II

Began in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland, and
officially ended in August 1945, when the Japanese
surrendered.
•
A Separate Peace takes place during the summer of 1942,
directly in the center of World War II.

In America:
•
In order to cope with the war, America instituted rations on
books, sugar, coffee, and other goods.
•
To conserve gasoline, a national 35 MPH speed limit was
implemented in many places, and driving for pleasure was
banned.
•
By the summer of 1942, many Americans realized that the
war was far from over.
WWII

Called a “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




One of the most
devastating wars 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. American
leaders were angry because Japan attacked after they said they
would not.
Cities that were devastated by the Atomic bomb: Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
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.
 The age was 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.”

In short, American life, as it had been, changed
“for the duration”- a phrase that meant “until the
end of the war.”
Imagine…
 Imagine
going to high school
while one of the deadliest and
most devastating wars in history
was happening.
 How would it affect you? Would
your life be any different?
The War in Iraq
 How
has the war in Iraq (and
elsewhere) affected you? (Has it
affected you at all?)
 Have the news stories and
pictures affected your life or view
of the world?
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.

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.
A Separate Peace

War is in the background of this “bubble” –
it affects the boys, but not directly
 Main
characters are juniors.
 They attend an elite private boarding school.
Flashback

a story in the present that refers back to
an event(s) that occurred in the past.
In ASP- starts in the present with Gene
returning to his school and remembering a
happening that occurred 15 years
previously.