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Summary Of Separate Peace By John Knowles

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The fiction novel Separate Peace by John Knowles depicts the life of a teenage boy during WWII. In the text, it mentions several times how the boys at the Devon School attempted to disregard the existence of the war. However, the reality of the war soon strikes the school and war life is introduced to the boys. There are several components of how the war gradually took hold of Devon, beginning with how it was almost non-existent in the summer, continuing with how it soon became a serious topic in the fall, and ultimately a way of life for the boys come winter and spring. First of all, the war at the Devon school during Gene and Finny’s freshman year in the summer was only an afterthought to them. It was known that the war was happening and …show more content…

Finny attempts to disregard it and says that it isn’t real. Only until Finny sees Leper Lepellier, the first of the class’s recruits, does he believe that the war is actually real. This is stated in the passage, “‘And you told me about Leper, that he’s gone crazy. that’s the word, we might was well admit it. Leper’s gone crazy. When I heard that about Leper, then I knew that the war was real, this war and all the wars. If a war can drive somebody crazy, then it’s real all right. Oh I guess I always knew, but I didn’t have to admit it.’” (Knowles pg. 163) Additionally, another aspect of this is brought up on shmoop.com in the article titled “Sports, Games, and the War” when it states, “Finny tries to use sport to compensate for not being able to participate in war. And don't forget the tree incident itself – a devastating, warlike perversion of what was once purely good, tree-jumping sport.” This brings in the idea that Finny tried his hardest to push against the war. He wanted it to be fake so that he didn’t actually miss an adventure or saw others take one that he could never undergo. However, as soon as Leper goes crazy, the war becomes a devastating truth to the boys at Devon, completely dominating the school and its

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846 Words | 4 Pages

Point: Leper is like a blender because he is all mixed up. Evidence: After Gene’s trip to see Leper he is fully convinced he has become crazy after the frequent crying and the absurd talk between the two characters. Sadly Gene finally admits it and confirms when Brinker says “I’ll bet he cracked up, didn’t he? That’s what happened.” referring to Leper.

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The entire time Finny and Gene are boarding at the Devon School, WWII is taking place. There are students enlisting and being drafted into the war and are surround by stress because they are worrying about being involved in the war. “The far common could be seen from my room, and early in June, I stood at the window and watched the war moving in to occupy it” (196). This quote is showing how resources at Devon School were being occupied and handed over to the unforgiving war. War, a scary thought and even a scarier reality during this time period.

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A Separate Peace by John Knowles, literally stands for something separate or elsewhere, but figuratively, it stands for how secluded they are from what is going on in the real world and how they cope with that separation. It also stands for the peace that Gene, the main character, finds after Finny’s death. With 42 million casualties in the US from World War II, and only one at Devon, it is easy to see which is better known in the world. Where the boarding school is placed makes it secluded from the outside world. It is isolated from the tumultuous war.

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A Separate Peace World War II was a devastating war. The war affected so many people. People lost their family members, women were forced into the workforce, and students were worried about being drafted in the war like the boys in the book A Separate Peace where the teenage boys encounter the effects of war while the go to a boarding school. In A Separate Peace John Knowles demonstrates how the boys achieve a separate peace yet the setting and the boys behavior are tinged with war-like imagery. Knowles demonstrates how the boys achieve a separate peace through the setting of the winter carnival yet the setting is tinged with war-like imagery.

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Finny was not fond of how the pressure of the war was making everyone

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Finny is a person who you can get along with easily, so if he ever joined the war, he would interact with the opposing team, which he would cause confusion, and eventually become the enemy. Finny doesn’t have natural boundaries and how he seems to be neutral when comes to taking sides. “If he ever attacked at all: if he was indeed the enemy” (Knowles 204). Gene is suggesting that wars start in individuals and then gradually build to larger wars, where innocent people are killed. Mr. Hadley says that the war will leave a person with memories and he wants the boys to make a choice based on memories.

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Though the war has left a mark on Devon during the Summer Session, as we see seniors training with callisthenics and hear discussions of V12s, the same cannot be said for the Winter Session. Devon seems to exist in its own bubble of solitude, and Finny himself doesn't believe there's a war going on. Not long after returning to Devon, he says this to Gene, "The fat old men [...] don’t want us crowding them out of their jobs. They’ve made

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A Separate Peace, Unit Test Hamza Eldohiri The story “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, was written at the time and takes place during World War II when battles and conflicts amongst nations were evident. Each nation involved struggled and fought their hardest in order to satisfy the good of their nation. Not only is the setting in the story taking place during this time of quarrel, the story also demonstrates areas of self-conflict and an internal battle throughout. The characters in “A Separate Peace”, are described as experiencing this self-conflicting, internal battle. Gene (also the narrator) is specifically depicted as he goes through his battle in life.

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“I knew that we had to abridge our journey;” he said,” my men would never be able to last very long in this terrain.” Luckily Sgt. Jefferson had many adherents, so his men would follow him through thick and thin. Although Sgt. Jefferson’s

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How Princeton High School is the Same and Different from Devon School in A Separate Peace by John Knowles Imagine living in a school where all you can look forward to is being drafted into a war. The attitude of that school may be different to the school that students are obtaining their education in today. The Devon school in A Separate Peace by John Knowles shows exactly what a school during a war is like. During the second world war, the Devon school’s attitude was much different to what a school is seen as today.

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The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles takes place during World War II in 1942. The World War II may not have directly affected the characters for the majority of the novel, but though out the novel, we see its effects on the characters' actions indirectly. The war also changes the characteristics and attitudes of certain characters of the novel, causing them to adapt and change of the thought of enlistment for the war. World War II also seems to affect the characters' interactions with others and seems to change the relationships that they share with each other. World War II is a major factor for the boys that attend Devon.

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“Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time of school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles, 204). A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, was taken place at Devon High in the mid 1940’s, in the New England area during WWII. The main character, Gene, is a very smart, but envious and imitative kid that returns back to his school later in life to find peace within himself and past conflicts. Gene’s envious and imitative actions have had many affects within himself, others, and his future, but has found peace throughout everything. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him a lot throughout the novel.

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Present throughout the book is the theme of disillusionment. In the school, they’ve been told by their schoolmasters and parents that unless they join the war, they would remain cowards. They see propaganda after propaganda, all alluding towards the glory of battle and warfare. Out on the front, they realize that nothing was further from the truth. Their dreams of being heroes shattered, like when they compare themselves to the soldier on a poster in chapter 7.

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Originally, Finny is ready and waiting to either enlist or become drafted into the military, until Gene indirectly breaks his leg by pushing him out

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522 Words | 3 Pages

Shoveling snow and picking apples was how Gene and his classmates did there part for the war effort. On page 92 of A Separate Peace Gene narrates “In the same way war, beginning almost humorously with announcements about maids and days spent apple-picking, commenced its invasion of the school, the early snow was commandeered as its advance guard.” This quote shows that the boys at Devon had kept the war at the back of their minds but the snow has brought the war to the forefront of their everyday thoughts.

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