A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
A Separate Peace
Study Guide
Directions: Before reading each chapter, look over both the
comprehension and discussion questions. You are responsible for
knowing the terms listed within their context of the novel – if you do not
already know, you will need to look them up. After reading each chapter,
answer the comprehension questions in writing and in complete
sentences. For discussion questions, think about your own answer and be
prepared to supply it in class.
CHAPTER ONE
Terms:
counterattack
Northern Lights
Comprehension:
1. What is accomplished by having Gene narrate the story?
2. What time setting (sequence) is established?
3. What images are used to describe Devon? Why does the narrator describe
Devon so carefully?
4. Why is the hardness of the stairs stressed?
5. What is Gene’s purpose in returning to Devon?
6. Why is the tree described as being awesome as an “artillery piece”?
7. What is the French expression Gene uses? What does it mean?
8. How does Knowles reveal that Gene has finally accepted what happened and put
the experience behind him?
9. How was the summer of 1942 at Devon different from what it would have been if
there hadn’t been a war?
10. Gene’s mental response to Finny’s suggestion that they climb the tree is an
angry refusal expressed in terms of hell and damnation. Why?
11. Why does Finny refuse to lie about his height?
12. Why does Gene stand on the tree as if on a troopship?
13. How are Gene and finny united after the jumps from the tree?
Discussion:
1. One of the themes in the novel is friendship. On what basis are friendships
established in real life? Is competitiveness a major factor in your personal
experience? What factors seem to be a threat to friendships?
2. How is the narrator surprised by the tree’s appearance? What does he mean by
saying he remembered it as “high as a beanstalk”? How does it seem now?
Have you ever had the experience of your memory of something and the
actuality when you see it later in life differing?
3. According to Finny, why was he “good” for Gene? Did Gene agree? Do you
agree?
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A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
CHAPTER TWO
Terms:
conservatory
seersucker
Comprehension:
1. Why does Finny say they “had to” jump out of that tree?
2. How does Finny explain his and Gene’s absence from dinner to Mr.
Prud’homme? How does Mr. Prud’homme react?
3. How is Finny identified with peace?
4. Why does gene reiterate that it is “perfectly natural” to envy a “best friend”?
5. What is the effect of the remarks about bombing hospitals?
6. What is significant in Finny’s remarks about Devon’s tie to the war?
7. What is Gene’s response when Finny “gets away with” wearing the pink shirt and
tie?
8. What does Gene reveal when he says 1942 was his sarcastic time, but that
sarcasm is the protest of the weak?
9. Why doesn’t Finny believe the bombing in Europe?
10. Why is the name “Suicide Society” appropriate?
11. What is significant in Finny’s instinctive move to save Gene?
Discussion:
1. Describe Finny’s relationship with his teachers. What does the teachers’ attitude
towards Finny suggest about his personality? How do you think teachers view
you? Your classmates? Do they have an accurate view?
2. As an adult looking back, the narrator thinks he understands why the faculty were
“looser” with students that summer. Why?
3. Why is it that the bombs in Central Europe are completely unreal to Gene and his
friends at Devon? Do you think that recent military actions are similarly “unreal”
to American teenagers today?
CHAPTER THREE
Terms:
Blitzkrieg
calisthenics anarchy
honky-tonks
Comprehension:
1. Why does Gene try to blame Finny for saving his life?
2. What rules does Finny keep faithfully?
3. What is the significance of Finny’s attitude towards sports?
4. What is a “blitzkrieg”?
5. Why does Leper refuse the ball?
6. What two remarks does Finny make in the context of sports which have other
applications?
7. Why is Finny described as being like the weather?
8. What is the world that Gene remembers?
9. What is the significance of Finny’s swimming achievement?
10. Why doesn’t Gene want to go to the beach with Finny?
11. What effect emerges when Finny says Gene is his best friend?
12. Why does Gene say Finny is too good to be true?
13. What is revealed as each boy assumes that the attention they attract is meant for
the other one?
Discussion:
1. What is the Super Suicide Society like? What does Gene think of it? What do
you think Finny would say if he knew Gene’s true feelings about it? Would you
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A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
join? Have you ever done something you didn’t want to in order to “belong” to a
group?
2. Why is Finny’s nonconformity accepted by the other boys, while Leper’s is not?
What real-life examples of this have you experienced?
3. Gene believes that blitzball is the perfect game for Finny. Think about how the
game is played. How do the rules of the game and the skills needed to play it
reflect Finny’s character?
CHAPTER FOUR
Terms:
Lazarus
paganism
Comprehension:
1. What is significant in the rebirth motif at the beach?
2. Why does Finny say that he has to waste Gene’s time “for him”?
3. What is significant in the mention of Finny’s broken ankle?
4. Why does Gene feel better when he thinks Finny has been sabotaging his efforts
to be head of the class?
5. What happens to Gene’s grades after he flunks the test?
6. How is Gene like Chet? How is he different?
7. How does Finny react when Gene finally asserts himself and says that he needs
to study? What is Gene’s response to Finny’s statements?
8. Why does the outdoor setting make it hard to hate Finny?
9. Why does Finny want them to jump side by side?
10. Why is Gene cleansed of all fear after Finny falls?
Discussion:
1. Is it Finny’s fault that Gene flunked the test? How does he feel about flunking?
Can you relate to his feelings? Do you think Gene would have become such a
good student if he hadn’t been so angry at Finny?
2. The author describes Chet as “weakened by the very genuineness of his interest
in learning.” Is there a difference between learning for the sake of learning and
doing what needs to be done to get top grades? In the long run, which type of
student do you think comes closest to meeting the true goals of education?
3. Gene says, “my knees bent.” Why do you suppose he doesn’t say “I bent my
knees”? Have you ever been in a situation where your actions didn’t seem to be
a conscious choice?
CHAPTER FIVE
Terms:
nave decalogue
Comprehension:
1. Why does Gene put on Finny’s clothes? How does he feel in them?
2. How bad is Finny’s injury? What is significant about the doctor’s remark about
“facing things”?
3. Why does Gene accuse Finny of trying to pull him down?
4. What is Finny’s comment about the expression on Gene’s face?
5. What is Finny’s “Decalogue”?
6. Why does Finny refuse to accept the truth of the accident?
7. What can you tell about Finny’s family background from his home?
Discussion:
1. What is Gene’s attitude after Finny’s fall? How do you think you would react in
the same situation?
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A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
2. What is Finny’s response to his injury? Is his response believable, that is, is it
consistent with Finny’s previous attitudes and behavior? Support your opinion
with evidence from the novel.
3. Is Gene’s confession to Finny a virtuous act or a selfish one? Why doesn’t he
“take it back” when he sees Finny’s reaction?
CHAPTER SIX
Terms:
automaton
egotism
Comprehension:
1. Contrast the summer and winter sessions. Identify at least three factors that
might account for this change in mood.
2. Gene considers that perhaps Finny has been broken because he broke the rules.
Is this a valid consideration?
3. Why doesn’t Gene want to go to Brinker’s room? How is Brinker different from
Leper?
4. What is the significance of Devon’s two rivers?
5. Why does Gene apply for the job of assistant crew manager? How does this
show he has changed since the accident?
6. How can you tell that Gene has a lot of insight into why Quackenbush is so
nasty? If Gene understands Quackenbush’s problem, why does Gene respond
to his insults?
7. How does Finny relate Gene’s failure to take another roommate to the
impossibility of his confession?
8. What is the importance of Finny’s shame at even thinking Gene might take
another roommate?
Discussion:
1. Gene attacks Quackenbush after he accuses Gene of being maimed. Why? Is
Gene maimed in some sense?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Terms:
contretemps naturalist
gabardine
burlesque
Comprehension:
1. Gene refers to the appropriateness of being thrown into the Naguamsett River on
the first day of the winter session. Why?
2. Why is Brinker described as part of “winter session” efficiency? Describe him.
3. What is significant in the scene between Brinker and Gene?
4. How does the war affect student life in the fall?
5. Compare Leper’s evasion of the war to Finny’s.
6. Why does Gene feel that evil lurks in everything he does?
7. Why does Gene decide to join the army?
Discussion:
1. What does it mean that at Devon the students had “many public faces”? At our
school, do students have different public faces?
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A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
CHAPTER EIGHT
Terms:
clodhoppers Pompadour
Comprehension:
1. Why does Gene think prayers are needed now? What is the one thing that he
includes in his prayers?
2. Why does Gene feel summer has returned?
3. Why does Gene change his mind about enlisting? Does this show that he was
full of hot air the night before? How does Brinker take it?
4. What nickname does Brinker earn? How does he get it? What does it mean?
5. What does the dual nature of Devon’s architecture reflect?
6. What is the double irony in Gene’s comment that Finny has had no practice in
deception?
7. Why do sports seem less important now in wartime?
8. Why does Finny say Gene never knew himself before?
9. What is the reference to the playing fields of Eton?
Discussion:
1. Finny says that if you love something it has to love you back. Gene realizes this
is not true, but says that like most of Finny’s ideas, it should be true. What is the
significance of Gene’s comment? What idealists, like Finny, have you
encountered in your own life?
CHAPTER NINE
Terms:
Duration
Bolsheviks
Tuscany
Betty Grable The Iliad
Comprehension:
1. What is significant in Leper’s change of heart towards the war?
2. How do the other students react to Leper’s enlistment?
3. Why is Saturday “battleship grey”?
4. What activities are organized at the Winter Carnival? What are some of the
prizes given out? Why are they valuable?
5. What is the “separate peace” that Finny has established?
6. How does the mood change at the end of the chapter?
Discussion:
1. Why is it surprising that Elwin (Leper) Lepellier is the first Devon boy to enlist? In
what ways is he different from the other boys who talk of enlisting? If you were in
the same situation, what decision would you make?
CHAPTER TEN
Terms:
ricochet
Holocaust
furlough
Comprehension:
1. Why does Knowles leave the narrative at this point and discuss the war as Gene
later experienced it?
2. What is the contrast of the two windows at Leper’s house?
3. How has the war changed Leper?
4. What’s a “Section Eight Discharge”? Why didn’t Leper want it?
5. What foreshadowing emerges from Leper’s threats?
6. Why does the exposure of Leper’s deranged hallucinations bring the two boys
close together?
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A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
7. Why does Gene assert that Leper’s tales of army camp horrors have nothing to
do with him?
Discussion:
1. Why is Gene unable and unwilling to feel sorry for Leper? What might Gene not
wish to hear?
2. How was Leper deceived by the propaganda of the war? Do you think that
today’s TV commercials for the military are more realistic than the movie that
Leper saw?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Terms:
convoy
eunuch
Hitler Youth
Comprehension:
1. What traits of Finny are revealed in the snowball fight?
2. How is Gene’s developing maturity shown?
3. How did students choose between various branches of the military?
4. What makes Finny give up his denial of the war? What is the importance of
Finny’s acceptance of the war?
5. Why is the comparison made between Athens and Sparta?
6. What is the irony of the Latin inscription over the door?
7. What is the irony of Brinker’s remark that there is a war on?
8. What is Leper’s description of the accident? Why is it so upsetting to Finny?
9. What is Finny’s attitude during the trial?
Discussion:
1. How does Brinker get Gene and Finny to attend the mock trial? In your opinion,
why is Brinker so determined to investigate the incident?
2. What effect does the “trial” have on Gene’s view of himself?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Terms:
pontiff
Comprehension:
1. Why does Gene stress the “presence of mind” exhibited by everyone after
Finny’s fall?
2. Why does Gene say that as he wanders through the night, he does not exist?
3. How is the second broken leg different from the first?
4. Why does Gene say “this is it” as he moves toward the infirmary?
5. What connection is made between Gene’s crime and Finny’s hatred of the war?
6. What is revealed when Finny says he’d been trying to enlist?
7. What convinces Finny that Gene didn’t mean to hurt him?
8. What is the reason for the detailed account of Gene’s day?
9. What is the significance in the way Finny dies?
10. Whose funeral does Gene attend?
Discussion:
1. What motivates Gene to confess to Finny?
2. What does Gene mean when he says, “Phineas, you wouldn’t be any good in the
war, even if nothing had happened to your leg.” What qualities make Finny a
poor candidate for military service? What qualities would make someone a good
candidate?
3. Do you blame Gene for Finny’s death? Why or why not?
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A Separate Peace Study Guide
English 9 Honors
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Terms:
Maginot Lines
doughboys
Nathan Hale foxhole
Comprehension:
1. What change occurs at Devon during the next term?
2. What different attitudes are revealed when Mr. Brinker says that war memories
are a part of a man forever?
3. Which branches of the military have Gene and Brinker chosen? Why?
4. How has Brinker changed his views toward the war?
5. What is Gene’s final assessment of Finny?
THE NOVEL
1. In what season does the flashback of Gene’s memories begin? In what season
does the flashback end? Why does the author choose this time frame?
2. What does Gene learn about the “dark” side of his nature?
3. This is a story about a rather elite boarding school, set during the 1940’s.
Despite the difference between the characters lives and your own, do you find
that you can “relate” to the story? If so, to what aspects? If not, do you think the
novel should be explored in today’s classrooms?
4. There were no major female characters in this story. Do you think girls can
appreciate the story, or is it written primarily for boys? What might be the
reasons behind Knowles’ not including any female characters other than Mrs.
Lepellier?
5. How is the title symbolic? Why did Knowles choose it? What else could it have
been called?
6. Knowles manages to inject humor into a tragic story. How? Why? Do you find
this effective or disconcerting?
7. How do you feel at the end of this story? How would you describe the tone at the
end? Is the narrator optimistic or pessimistic?
LITERARY TERMS
antithesis
irony
foil
flashback
dynamic (round) character
static (flat) character
verisimilitude
stereotypical (stock) character
hyperbole
resolution
aphorism
IMPORTANT TECHNIQUES TO OBSERVE WHILE YOU READ:
John Knowles’ use of methods of developing characterization
Use of symbolism and imagery; especially in regard to the duality of things
Biblical allusions, both explicit and tacit ones
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