A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter One
1. Explain using two specific references how imagery is effective in creating the mood.
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1
2. Explain using two specific references how figurative language is used effectively to
convey Gene’s tone.
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2
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
3. Using two direct references for support, describe the relationship between Gene and Phineas
(Finny).
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A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Two
4. Using three specific references for support provide a character description of Phineas.
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4
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
5. Personal Response: Gene states, “I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly
normal. There is no harm in envying your best friend a little” (p.25). Do you agree or disagree with
this statement? Discuss making two connections to your own life.
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5
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
6. Identify two different types of conflict developed in this chapter. Use a specific reference to
support each type in your explanation.
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6
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Three
7. Gene states, “I was subject to the dictates of my mind, which gave me the maneuverability of a
strait jacket.” Is this the teenage Gene or the 30-something Gene talking? Explain the meaning of this
statement.
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A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Four
8. In chapter four, Gene’s understanding of his friendship with Finny, and what he believes to be
true, changes. On pages 50-53, Gene comes to what he believes to be a ground breaking realization
about his friend, Phineas. Yet on pages 57-58, a new development changes Gene’s thoughts
regarding Finny. Discuss the growth and change in Gene’s understanding using two specific
references for support.
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A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Five
9. Gene looks through Finny’s belongings to find his pink shirt and promptly puts in on. WHY? Do
you believe that this is fitting (pardon the pun) or odd? Is there further SYMBOLISM here?
Discuss.
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9
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Six
10. How has Phineas’s accident at the end of summer affected Gene?
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A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Seven
11. Explain what Gene means when he says, “The war would be deadly all right. But I was use to
finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in
anything I wanted, anything I loved. And if it wasn’t there, as for example with Phineas, then I put
it there myself.” State a THEME about human nature lurking beneath these words.
Chapter Eight
12. On page 109, Gene states, “peace had come back to Devon for me.” Why?
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11
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Nine
13. Identify the significance of the novel’s title. Use two examples for support.
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12
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Ten
14. Using two specific references for support, explain the significance of Leper’s character.
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13
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Eleven
15. Using two specific references for support, explain the significance of Brinker’s character.
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A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Twelve
16. “Once again I had the desolate sense of having all along ignored what was finest in him.” Is this
often the way it is? Identify the theme being developed through this statement.
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17. This whole chapter uses physical details of SETTING to enhance MOOD. Using two specific
references, explain how the description of setting is used to develop the mood.
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15
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
Chapter Thirteen
18. Mr. Hadley is a character that leaks IRONY every time he opens his mouth. Support
this statement with three references. (pp.198-200)
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16
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
19. Through Gene, Knowles offers us a clear THEME at the end of his book: “Because it seemed
clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made
instead by something ignorant in the human heart.” (p.201) Explain this statement as it connects to
the novel.
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17
A Separate Peace Questions
Name: ___________________
20.“My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had
absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever.” (p.203) So what was Finny to Gene?
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