Advanced 10th Grade English
Thanksgiving Vacation Homework.
I. On Monday, November 26th, the day we return from vacation, students should expect to take
the Literary Terms Post Test. It is a 30 question, multiple choice exam. To be fully prepared, students
should review their notes from the semester about the following terms:
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Alliteration
Antagonist
Climax
Dialogue
Exposition
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External conflict
Falling action
Internal conflict
Metaphor
Onomatopoeia
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Plot
Protagonist
Resolution
Rising action
Simile
Students should know how to define each term as well as provide an example for each.
II. Finish Reading A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Students should answer the following
study questions on chapters 5-13. The answers to these questions are due on Wednesday 11/28.
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Chapter 5:
Why does Gene put on Finny’s pink shirt?
Does Finney suspect Gene of causing the fall?
What revelation does Gene have in the hospital room?
How does Finny put up a protective shield when he talks to Gene at his home? What does Gene feel?
Chapter 6:
For Gene, why has peace left Devon?
Find a comparison between the fall and a pervious act by Finny (hint: look to p42). Why does Gene find this thought
refreshing?
Why does Gene sign on as the assistant crew manager?
What is implied in the following quote from page 43: “Quackenbush was studying me to see if he could detect a limp.
But I knew that his flat black eyes would never detect my trouble.”
What does Quackenbush say to Gene that mirrors his inner feelings about himself?
How does Gene want to compensate for what has happened to Finny?
Chapter 7:
Why does Gene feel threatened by Brinker?
What event accentuates the proximity of the war?
In this chapter, who is the nonconformist? Why? What does he do instead?
How does Gene decide that he is going to fit in again?
Chapter 8:
Upon his return, what shocks and upsets Finny? Why?
What literary terms are used in the following excerpt from p64? What does the last sentence imply?
So the war swept over like a wave at the seashore, gathering power and size as it bore on us, overwhelming in its rush,
seemingly inescapable, and then at the last moment eluded by a word from Phineas; I had simply ducked, that was all,
and the wave’s concentrated power hurtled harmlessly overhead, no doubt throwing others roughly up on the beach, but
leaving me peaceably treading water as before. I did not stop to think that one wave is inevitably followed by another
even larger and more powerful, when the tide is coming in.
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What literary term does Finny use to describe winter?
How does Finny’s view of the war reinforce his need to maintain a protective shield?
Explain the irony in what Finny says about the Olympics on page 69.
Why do Gene and Finny establish a partnership to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics?
Chapter 9:
What shocking decision does Leper make? Why?
How does the imagery of the season emphasize the world the boys inhabit?
How is the Winter Carnival the highlight of the season?
The title of the novel, a separate peace, appears for the first time on page 81. It is an allusion to the Ernest
Hemingway novel A Farewell to Arms. In the Hemingway novel, the protagonist speaks of a separate peace that he
makes with the enemy when he deserts to Switzerland. What does the term/title mean here? How is the allusion
appropriate to Knowles’s novel?
What event brings about the abrupt end of the Carnival?
Chapter 10:
Why does Leper feel threatened in the military?
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When Gene sees Leper in Vermont, how does Leper negatively characterize him?
What does Gene do that seems to prove Leper’s charge against him?
What change is evident in Leper?
At the end of this chapter, Gene runs off and leaves Leper babbling alone in the field. Why is Gene so upset?
Explain Gene’s reactions to Leper’s accusation.
Chapter 11:
What comment does Finny make that reveals he has finally acknowledged the reality of the war?
In the section on page 95-96, what does Brinker suggest about Finny’s leg?
What event precipitates the climax? Why?
Who gives the testimony that condemns Gene?
As he walks from the room after Leper’s testimony, how is Finny feeling? Why?
What happens at the end of the chapter? How does Knowles describe the event?
Explain the symbolism of holding the trial in “First Building”
Chapter 12:
What is Gene’s emotional state as he sees the doctor and the nurse work on Finny?
What happens when Gene goes into the infirmary to see Finny?
Find the irony in the last paragraph in page 111/first paragraph on p112.
Why has Finny been denying that there is a war going on?
What does Gene say caused him to shake the tree limb? What does Finny ask? What does this exchange say about
Finny?
What happens at the end of chapter 12? How does Gene react?
Chapter 13:
How has the war literally moved onto the Devon campus?
On page 121, Gene says “wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart.” What, from chapter
12, does this quote seem to echo or allude to?
On page 121, Gene sums up Finny’s special way of viewing life. What is Finny’s method, according to Gene?
What happens to everyone else who cannot do what Finny could do? (p121)
In the next paragraph, what is it that saves Finny and makes him, apparently, different from everyone else?
On p122, Gene says, “I was ready for the war, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute to it.” A few
paragraphs later, he says, “I never developed an intense hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever
put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” What, then, was Gene’s (and
presumably everyone else’s) enemy?
III. Download the Unit 4 Vocabulary words from the website. Vocabulary pictures are due Friday,
November 30th
IV. If you haven’t already done so, finish your graphic novel. Write a research-based paper on your
graphic novel using one of the topics below. You may use the research/articles that appear on my
website, or you may do research of your own.
Option #1: Should graphic novels be a part of the canon? Write a persuasive paper explaining why
graphic novels should or should not be included as a part of the canon.
Option #2: Consider your graphic novel that you read. Use your knowledge of literary terms to write a
persuasive paper explaining why your novel should be part of the English curriculum at Vista Murrieta
High School.
Option #3: Consider the four novels we’ve read this year: Of Mice and Men, A Separate Peace, your
independent reading novel and your graphic novel. Write a persuasive essay explaining how these
novels are transmitting cultural capital – and consider whether or not they should be.
Your essays will be graded using the 6 point scale. Typed, MLA-formatted essays are due in class on
Friday, November 30th for a peer-editing workshop.