A Separate Peace Synthesis Essay
Your task: In a well-written and organized essay, you will write a synthesis essay about one of the
themes you see in A Separate Peace. Your essay must include support from at least three other sources
and, of course, from the book itself.
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Please note, Sparknotes, Cliffs Notes, shmoop, gradesaver, enotes, 123HelpMe, etc. are not
considered proper sources. I expect educational, critical support that backs up not so much your
choice in theme, but rather the small details that are the meat of your backing.
Objectives: This essay is designed to have you think outside of normal constraints for “designed” essays,
as you will be expected to do next year and in college. From here on, teachers and professors will rarely
provide you with a specific topic, but will rather wait to see what critical thinking you yourself can gleam
from the class discussions and reading itself.
Developing your thesis: Possible thesis topics include friendship, morality, teenagers with a lack of adult
supervision, discovering oneself, etc. You might look at a single character and analyze his traits and
development, like Phineas’s naive refusal to see Gene’s darker side, or Leper’s desire to overcome his
own nature. The themes you discuss may also revolve around the writing, rather than the plot, if you
choose to write this essay from a more rhetorical viewpoint, such how Knowles chooses to develop the
character of Gene. These are only some possibilities. I’m sure you have many others you can analyze, as
well. If you need further help developing a thesis statement, please see me!
Scoring: You’ll be scored according to the scoring guide I handed out in class. This is similar to how I
score you for other essays (and is how the state scores you). It is proficiency-based. A score of 4 in any
category meets proficiency, though the possible points are 30, which means scoring all 5s. If you score a
6 in any category, it will qualify as beyond excelling and function as “bonus” points.