1
NAME:
S. Adams
DATE:
A Separate Peace -ASP
Unit Packet & Assignments
Each student is responsible for the following work, each of which will be
graded separately:
 Take notes & answer study questions after reading each Chapter.
 Study Guide & Literary Analysis Questions
A. Study Guide questions are graded as HW or a QUIZ grade.
B. Poem Analyses
 ASP Assignments -Each assignment will be graded separately.
A. Meaningful Quotes Didactic Journal
o
o
You will keep a running list of important quotes (Chapter, page, quote,
significance) that depict any the following.
You will analyze at least 3 quotes per chapter.
1. Setting/
3. Mood/
5. Character –
7. Irony –
Imagery
Tone
realism/
verbal/dramatic
romanticism/
Dynamic-ism
2. Symbols 4. Conflict –
6. Theme/
8.
symbolism
internal/
Moral
Foreshadowing,
external
Parallels
B. Group Project –Devon School Yearbook/Newspaper/Magazine
(maybe)
Mock Trial
C. Movie Comparison Analysis & Essay
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Name
Meaningful Quotes Didactic Journal -template
English 10H –Adams
A Separate Peace –John Knowles
Meaningful Quotes Didactic Journal
Chapter 1 (date: 11/19/10)
Quote#1 / page#/
Significance to 8 categories explained,
analyzed, connected to self (reader)
Sample:
Symbolism
“It [the tree] had loomed in my memory “spike” & “artillery” similes to weapons
as a huge lone spike dominating the
of war (WW2);
riverbank, forbidding as an artillery
Did a battle take place here?
piece, high as the beanstalk.” Pg 13.
“The more things remain the same, the 7 Irony –verbal
more they change after all.” Pg. 14.
How can things change and stay the
same? Depends on viewer’s maturity
3 Mood/Tone
Gene used French to get the sentiments
right; serious & somber; this is an old
accepted adage; foreshadowing the past
conflict he will tell in flashback
“Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, 5 Characterization/ Viewpoint
not even a death by violence.” Pg. 14
Realism; foreshadowing the past
conflict he will tell in flashback
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B. Devon School Yearbook
Project & Presentation
ASP –Assignment C
Due: day after finishing Chapter 13
Your group will compile a Devon School Yearbook, Devon School Magazine, or
Devon School Newspaper. Choose from the following & complete the
assignment. Everything must be authentic and appropriate for a school
publication (no errors), and typed and neat for your presentation.
 include all of the major events that happen
 Create a title for the yearbook, magazine or newspaper
 Organize/ Plan an effective layout. (This means that when you are finished, your paper


should be as large as a real yearbook, magazine or newspaper.)
Each article/piece should be at least 100 words in length. This project is at your
discretion and you may choose the characters to cover and the events to write about.
They must be different in content, and you must have 10 pages total.
This project must look like a real yearbook, magazine or newspaper completed with NOT
just the articles alone!!
Some suggestions are a combination of the following:
1.
Detailed Portraits –draw artistic renderings & a paragraph with thorough explanation
of details




2.
Gene
Brinker
Quackenbush& Chet Douglass
Mr. Patch-Withers & Mr. Ludbury
● Finny
● Leper
● Dr. Stanpole & Mr. Prud’homme
Detailed depiction of a Major scene or symbol w/ captions –maintain a third person
narrative or from a student writer from ASP
Symbols
a) 2 Rivers/beach
b) 4 main places: First Building, Tree, The Cage & Field
Wearing
c) Blitzball
d) The Super Suicide Society
e) Winter Carnival
f) War
g) A “Separate” Peace
h) Vermont
i) Stairway
j) death
Events
1. Phineas’ Swim Record
2. Phineas’ Emblem
3. Studying & Conflict
4. G visits F
5. butt room
6. war effort 1-harvest
7. war effort 2 –railroad
8. Leper’s House (Ch. 10)
9. Mock Trial
10. The Fall
3.
Choice: Storyline article, 20-lined poem, OR narrative of events through one character’s point of
view/ perception
4.
(Yearbook) Shout outs/Final words from combinations from character to character
Gene to Finny, Leper, Brinker
Leper to Gene, Finny, Brinker
Finny to Gene, Brinker, Leper
Brinker to Finny, Gene, Leper
(#5-8: Must be original work with a myriad of fonts and sizes for the reason and the explanation)
5.
Top Ten reasons to hate or love Phineas Smith/ Gene Forrester/ Brinker Hadley/ Elwin
(Leper) Leppelier with brief explanations for each reason
6.
Senior Questionnaires for each character: Name, Nickname, Likes, Dislikes, Hobbies,
Ambitions, Quote(s), Boosters –special thanks, a quote to live be or one life-lesson
learned by the character
 Gene
7.
● Finny
● Leper
● Brinker
Class Superlatives: (class survey taken mid-year -BEFORE reading Ch. 9), Create-yourown 10 Categories: i.e. Most Likely to Succeed, -to Join War, Best Role Model, Best
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Citizen, Best Friend, Best Personality, Most Genuine, etc.(type up categories by Chapter 8
and I’ll copy it & distribute it for you in class; you can tally & make the results look pretty on a page with pictures,
graphic charts & visual charts)
8.
Design an original cover & title for the yearbook with Title of book, author, fictional
school’s name, School Year, Your Class, Ms. Adams, and this year on it
9.
Design a quality crest/shield w/ details w/ explanations for each separately
10. Create an appropriate school motto(s) w/ explanations for each separately
11. Create major advertisements and likely sponsors of the setting (war effort, Devon Pride,
upcoming playoffs/Olympics of Extracurricular -Sports Events
Remember, a magazine focuses more on characters’ influences –think People, Time Magazine or
UsWeekly. A newspaper focuses on both with an emphasis on events –think local papers like
Newsday or Long Island Post. And the yearbook is a celebration of the school of a particular
year, graduating class and senior students –think Patches (Hewlett HS Yearbook).
***Any form of PLAGIARISM will result in an automatic ZERO for your
grade.***
AFTER READING
C.
Dead Poet’s Society –Movie Analysis & Comparison
After reading the novel and finishing the first 2 assignments, we will be
watching the film and analyzing it for literary connections to the novel. You
will be expected to write an essay composition for this assignment.
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NAME:
A Separate Peace
DATE:
Study Guide/ Literary Analysis
Chapter 1
1. What details of setting are we given? Place? Time? Special circumstances?
2. Why has the narrator returned to Devon?
3. The character Phineas is introduces. What do we learn about him? How does the
narrator feel about him? What is their relationship?
4. Can you detect any foreshadowing? Where?
5. Imagery, contrast and symbolism will play an important role in this novel. Do you
not any recurrent images you might want to keep in mind?
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Chapter 2
6. In what way is the summer session different from the regular school sessions?
How does the master treat the boys?
Winter
Summer
7. What picture of Phineas is emerging? What words would you use to describe him?
What specific examples is there that illustrate Phineas’ character & personality?
Words
Examples that portray his personality
8. How does the narrator feel about Phineas (Finny)? Where & what evidence
supports these feelings?
Feelings
Support
Chapter 3
9. What athletic events are connected w/ Finny? What do they show about him?
Athletic events Significance
10. Describe the day at the beach. Was it lawless (unruly) or idyllic (peaceful)?
Lawless
Idyllic
11. Why doesn’t Gene respond to Finny’s honest statement at the end of Chapter 3?
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Chapter 4 & 5
12. In chapter 4, Gene’s attitude toward Finny undergoes two dramatic turnabouts.
He goes from feeling _________________________ to feeling __________________; then
he realizes he’s been wrong and feels ______________________. Explain.
13. At the end of Chapter 4, what is Gene most scared of ?
14. What is the significance of Gene trying on Finny’s clothes? (Chapter 5)
15. When Gene visits Finny at home, how is what we know about Finny’s character
reinforced?
16. What do you think will be the result of Finny’s refusal to hear the truth about what
Gene did?
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NAME:
A Separate Peace
DATE:
Romanticism vs. Realism
Directions: Get together with your assigned group mates and compare and contrast the two
philosophies and outlooks on life using character references.
1. Define Romanticism/ Idealism
vs.
Realism
2. Which characters represents which of the above? Explain.
3. Cite a quotation w/ page reference that supports your assertion of question 2.
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Chapter 6 & 7
17. Contrast the Devon and Naguamsette Rivers & their significance to
characters/story Devon
Naguamsette
significance
18. Contrast the summer & fall sessions at the school
Summer
“Fall”
19. What is the purpose of Gene’s fight with Quackenbush?
20. What is the irony in Mr. Ludbury’s accusation that the boys had taken advantage
of the summer?
21. What do you think Gene means in the last line of chapter 6?
22. What is the irony of the scene in the Buttroom?
23. a) What two ways do the boys participate in the war effort?
b) What is the difference between the two occasions?
24. Is there any pattern between the characters, the changing sessions and the events
in the book?
Fall
Winter
Summer
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Chapter 8
25. How does Finny’s return to Devon affect Gene?
26. Read the last paragraph on p. 109 beginning, “So the war swept over…” How do
you interpret the metaphor of the wave? Explain thoroughly.
24.
27. What is Finny’s interpretation of the war? Is this interpretation consistent with
Finny’s outlook on life? Is it a good way to see things? Why or why not?
28. Analyze and be prepared to discuss the early morning scene when Gene is
practicing for the Olympics. What is Gene realizing?
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Name:
A Separate Peace
S. Adams
Setting Affects Mood & Characters
Do Now: Partner Up
1. Discuss assigned SQ’s for Ch 8
2. Then analyze connections between the metaphors of the changing seasons parallels
changes in the setting with characters’ transformations or shifting moods, and Gene &
Finny’s rocky relationship.
HW = Read Ch 9.
CONTRAST
Parallels: Summer
Fall
(transformations)
Physical Setting
Mood/Atmosphere
Characters’
Behaviors
Gene & Finny’s
Relationship
Winter
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Chapter 9
29. What is Leper’s theory of survival?
30. Why does Leper enlist?
31. a) How do the boys react to Leper’s enlistment? B) Why did they react this way?
32. a) Why does Finny come up with the idea of the Winter Carnival? B) In what way
does it become a typical Finny creation?
33. What has been happening to Brinker during the winter months?
34. Copy & explain the last sentence on p. 128.
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35. What ends the Carnival for Gene?
NAME:
A Separate Peace
DATE:
Study Guide/ Literary Analysis
Chapter 10 -Quote Analysis
Directions: locate the following quotes in Chapter 10 as you read. Analyze the
quote’s
a) setting –specific location described
b) establishment of a mood and its relationship to
c) character’s psyche/ thoughts/ state of mind
d) what important action goes on in the setting described.
(Look for symbolism & connections to the title and the main theme.)
1. “He lived far up in Vermont, where at this season of the year even the paved main highways are
bumpy and buckling from the freezing weather and each house executes a lonely holding action
against the cold. The natural state of things is coldness and houses are fragile havens, holdouts
in a death landscape, unforgettable comfortable, simple though they are, just because of their
warmth.”
2. “I followed him into an under furnished dining room of high backed chairs, rugless floor, and
cold fireplace.”
3. “I could never see a totally distinguished winter field without thinking it unnatural…I knew that
nothing would ever grow there again. We roamed across one of these wastes, our feet breaking
through at each step the thin surface crust of ice, and I waited for Leper, in this wintry outdoors
he loved, to come to himself again.”
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4. The crust beneath us continued to crack and as we reached the border of the field, the frigid
trees also were cracking with the cold. The two sharp groups of noises sounded to my ears like
rifles fired in the distance.”
5. Find one meaningful quote that conveys the same theme in Chapter 10 on your own.
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Chapter 11
36. Explain what happened after Gene gets back from Leper’s house. What was Gene feeling?
-about Leper
I
-about the war?
I
I
I
37. Brinker staged and instigated a trial. A) Describe what happened. B) Why did Brinker do it?
38. A) At the close of the trial, who calls whom a fool? B) What did he mean?
Chapter 12 & 13
39. Why is the scene in the infirmary between Phineas and Gene so important?
40. In these closing chapters there are many references to the theme of Gene and Finny being a
part of each other. Find these (3) references and note the page numbers. (Pgs. 193-203)
1)
2)
3)
41. How can you explain Finny’s death symbolically?
42.a) What is the purpose of the scene with Mr. Hadley? B) How do Gene and Brinker differ
from Mr. Hadley in their view of war?
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43. What does Gene eventually come to understand about the nature of war?
44. Gene says he killed his enemy before he ever put on a uniform. A) Who is his enemy? B) Is
there more than one? –Can there be something else?
45. Make a list of the following with specifics from the story.
Symbols
& Symbolism
Themes & Lessons Learned
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NAME:
A Separate Peace
DATE:
Symbols & Symbolism
Directions:
Get together with your assigned group mates and compare and contrast
your assigned topics by discussing the symbolism behind topics 1, 2, 3 or the meaning
and symbols for topics 4, 5, 6.
Symbolism –Discuss the possible (hidden) meaning behind each element.
1. Ocean
vs.
Lake/Stream
a. Traits of nature
b. Effect on individual character’s feelings/ emotions/ mood
2. Summer
a. Seasonal traits
vs.
“Fall”
b. School sessions’ atmospheres
c. Effect on individual character’s feelings/ emotions/ mood
3. Summer
a. Seasonal traits
vs.
Winter
b. School sessions’ atmospheres
c. Effect on individual character’s feelings/ emotions/ mood
Symbols –Discuss the traits of each element and identify a symbol for the ideas each element
expresses.
4. War
vs.
Friendship
5. Honor/ Patriotism
6. Envy
vs.
Duty/ Responsibility
vs.
Jealousy
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Poetry Supplement –A Separate Peace
If I Could Only Live at the Pitch That is Near Madness
by Richard Eberhart (1904 – 2005)
If I could only live at the pitch that is near madness (1977)
When everything is as it was in my childhood
Violent, vivid, and of infinite possibility:
That the sun and the moon broke over my head.
Then I cast time out of the trees and fields,
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Then I stood immaculate in the Ego;
Then I eyed the world with all delight,
Reality was the perfection of my sight.
And time has big handles on the hands,
Fields and trees a way of being themselves.
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I saw battalions of the race of mankind
Standing stolid, demanding a moral answer.
I gave the moral answer and I died
And into a realm of complexity came
Where nothing is possible but necessity
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And the truth waiting there like a red babe.
1. Discuss the theme of the above poem as applicable to that of the novel.
Decide upon a theme and a point of comparison from which to develop the
discussion.
2. Margin note poetic devices used to convey that theme.
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20
Name:
Date:
S. Adams
A Separate Peace –Themes & Theses
A. Directions: Make a list of themes presented by ASP & one poem:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B. Directions: Using ASP & one poem, analyze your assigned topic by providing a complete
thesis statement, literary analysis, and 1 quote from ASP.
Literary Analysis consists of an evaluation of the texts(s) and the author(s)’ use of literary
elements and techniques to convey the ideas to you.
1.
Friendship  A) Provide a thesis statement about friendship:
B) Detail relevant aspects of the text(s) in outline form that support your thesis here &
label the corresponding literary techniques & elements used or presented:
Literary Devices 






Quote from ASP
Details in text(s)
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2.
War/ Reality/ or Adulthood  A) Provide a thesis statement about war/reality/adulthood:
(ignorance, lack of experience or intrinsic paranoia)
B) Detail relevant aspects of the text(s) in outline form that support your thesis here &
label the corresponding literary techniques & elements used or presented:
Literary Devices 
Details in text(s)






Quote from ASP
3.
Internal or External Conflict  A) Provide a thesis statement about internal/external
conflict:
B) Detail relevant aspects of the text(s) in outline form that support your thesis here &
label the corresponding literary techniques & elements used or presented:
Literary Devices 






Quote from ASP
Details in text(s)