A Separate Peace by John Knowles Chapter 1

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Chapter 1

1. What is the setting? • Devon School – 15 years after he left it • Flashback 1942 • Present 1957

2. What does the following passage tell us about Gene? • “. . . I had always felt that the Devon School came into existence the day I entered it, was vibrantly real while I was a student there, and then blinked out like a candle the day I left. ” • Gene is the center of the world! The school lived and died with his coming and going. He is a little self-centered!

3. Gene states that the school has been preserved with varnish and wax. According to Gene, what else has been preserved? • Gene’s fear that is associated with the place

4. Gene states that he could see the past now with great clarity and gives many of details of 1942. What does this tell us about how he feels about the past events? • He must have been confused as a student • Now that he can see the fear, he must be past it • The past must be of extreme importance in his life

5. What are two places he needs to revisit? What adjective/emotion does he use to describe both of them? • First Academy Building • Tree • Fear!

6. What word is used repeatedly to describe the stairs in the First Academy Building? Why? • Hardness • Don’t know yet – but the use of repetition must be of some importance • Foreshadowing?

7. What followed Gene up and down the stairs in the past? • Specters • Ghost • memories

8. Why has Gene returned to Devon fifteen years after he has graduated? • To confront his past • To leave it behind him

9. What is an oxymoron? What is the oxymoron used to describe Devon? How does it also apply to Gene? • The juxtaposition of two opposite words “Jumbo shrimp, ” “pretty ugly, ” “bitter sweet” • Contentious harmony • Outwardly, the school and Gene present a peaceful countenance. Inwardly, both are full of contention (disagreements, struggles)

10. What is the weather like the day that Gene returns to Devon? What does this weather symbolize? • • Gray, raining, cold, foggy – “self-pitying” November day The weather gets worse the closer he gets to the tree Symbolic of the storm of emotions that Gene feels The wind blew wet moody gusts around me – his many emotions • Fogginess – he can’t see the other side of the river - his memories are hard to discern – hard to figure out his past experiences • His shoes are doomed by the mud – they get stuck in the mud – just as he is stuck in the past and is doomed by the events of the past

11. Why does Gene say it is time to come in out of the rain? • Gene needs to come in out of the past – to leave the past behind him

12. Explain the symbolism of the tree. • A. What war metaphor is used to describe the tree? – Forbidding as an artillery piece (weaponry used to destroy others)

• B. What tree is this one similar to? – The tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden

• C. Why do the kids climb without their clothes? – They are still innocent – like Adam and Eve before Eve eats the apple

• D. Explain Gene’s statement: “I was damned if I’d climb it. . . the hell with it. ” – If he climbs it, he will be damned or lose his innocence and take on sin and go to hell – Like Eve – she ate the apple and lost her innocence and took on original sin and lost her soul to hell

• E. Finny tells Gene, “When people torpedo the troopship, you can’t stand around admiring the view. ” Explain how this analogy fits the boys. – Gene and Finny are in a war of their own. Literally WWII is approaching America and symbolically the boys are at war as well. Is this foreshadowing? Is it a warning? Is it ironic?

13. Why does the author have the kids Gene’s age still reading Virgil (a Latin poet who wrote about the ancient heroes) and playing tag in the river farther downstream” while the seniors are caught up in “accelerated courses and first aid programs and a physical hardening regimen, which included jumping from this tress? ” • The older boys are literally closer to war – to enlisting or being drafted • The younger boys are still innocent kids playing innocent games

14. What is foreshadowed by Leper’s behavior at the tree. He “closed his mouth as though forever. He didn’t argue or refuse. He didn’t back away. He became inanimate. ” • When faced with a stressful situation, Leper seems to withdraw Will it happen later?

15. What does the bell symbolize at Devon? What else symbolizes this same idea? • Symbolic of rules and regulations and conformity to established rules – the bells ring regularly and boys are expected to obey or conform to them • Gene’s walk – the West Point stride – he falls into step – into what is expected of him – he is a conformist – a rule follower

1. Why did Finny have to jump out of the tree? Gene? • Finny says it is because he wants to prepare for the war – but really it is because he likes to rebel – likes to break the small unimportant rules to see if he can get by with things • Gene – needs to jump to keep up with Finny – he can’t let Finny be better than him – to prove he is just as good as Finny

2. Why are the kids treated less harshly in the summer? • The boys are still boys – not yet old enough to get drafted or enlist – they want the boys to have a chance to still be boys • The headmasters look at the boys as a sign of innocence – of the kind of life they are trying to protect by going to war

3. Why does Gene repeat the idea of Finny as his friend? • He is trying to convince himself that he really does like and value Finny as a friend

4. What is important about Finny saying it is okay to bomb the daylights out of Central Europe as long as children, women, and hospitals aren’t hurt? • Finny wants to protect the innocent and thinks that is possible in war. But is it? The headmaster says its impossible to say where the bombs will hit • Where will the war with Gene and Finny go? Who will get hurt? The innocent?

5. Why is the episode with Finny wearing the pink shirt and school tie as a belt to a formal tea included in the novel? • Shows his rebellious side – again breaking small rules – to see if he can get by with it – to add some life and fun to Devon

6. Gene says that summer was his sarcastic summer. Why are people who are sarcastic considered weak? • When people are afraid to tell or the truth, they use sarcasm. That is a sign of weakness.

7. How is Finny first associated with peace? • Finny only sees the good in people – he doesn’t believe the bombing of Central Europe really happened.

8. Why is Finny’s disbelief about the bombing important? • If he can’t see that the war is real, will he be able to see Gene’s true feelings?

9. What is the name of Finny’s tree jumping club? Why do you think the author chose to use this particular name? • Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session • Is the tree dangerous? Will someone die? What ways can people die?

10. What are Gene’s thoughts at the end of chapter 2? • Finny saved his life!! He owes him a debt!