... the only boy that doesn't have this problem. Finny refused to have hatred, or an enemy. He denied that the war existed because he didn't have enmity. Finny found his separate peace within his denial. Gene later told him that he could never be a soldier because he didn't understand what having an enemy was all about. The war didn't really enter their ... . In addition, Gene and Finny shared the same dreams of the Olympics still going on as planned, and that there is no war. This is where Gene and Finny find a separate peace. They felt safe and secure when they knew that the Olympics would...

• Word Count: 687
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... . Knowles' novel tells the somber story of a young man's struggle to escape from himself and his world; to achieve a special and separate peace. The primary setting of A Separate Peace is at the Devon School. The exact location of this school is not known in terms of a state, but it is identified as being ... and bitter sometimes. He tells sarcastic jokes and makes caustic remarks until he realizes that sarcasm is one of the marks of being emotionally weak. A Separate Peace deals with themes of envy, violence, and hatred, but the overall theme is stated on page six; "The more things remai...

• Word Count: 1130
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... . Knowles' novel tells the somber story of a young man's struggle to escape from himself and his world; to achieve a special and separate peace. The primary setting of A Separate Peace is at the Devon School. The exact location of this school is not known in terms of a state, but it is identified as being ... and bitter sometimes. He tells sarcastic jokes and makes caustic remarks until he realizes that sarcasm is one of the marks of being emotionally weak. A Separate Peace deals with themes of envy, violence, and hatred, but the overall theme is stated on page six; "The more things remai...

• Word Count: 1113
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... , Gene, the main character, recollects his experiences at Devon School where he was a student some fifteen years prior. I feel that the novel A Separate Peace is truly focused on two wars. One war is the internal struggle that Gene faces daily, the battle within himself in his mind. The other war ... the path to adulthood. World War II functions as a background of the novel. I think it is interesting that John Knowles named his novel A Separate Peace. "A separate peace" refers to the Devon School that Gene attends. Although in a secluded New England atmosphere, it is obvious that even th...

• Word Count: 605
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The Similarities Between "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "A Separate Piece" The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles and the poem titled " Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost are both very interesting and similar pieces of literature. Both of these authors explore ... life would be boring and people would not have to deal with things that actually require action and thinking. A Separate Peace and "Nothing Gold Can Stay" are very similar and show the same message that not everything is perfect. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles the story is told through the perspective of Gene, the main ch...

• Word Count: 682
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

A "Separate Peace" (published in 1960) takes place during the Second World War in a New England Prep School called Devon (based ... the author John Knowles gives a good understanding of the war. The main characters Gene and Finny are always struggling between the "separate peace" and the real war. Even thought the story doesn't take place in a war battlefield, it just takes place in school. The war in Europe ... took away the peace from the boys, affected them, and influenced them to be ready for what was coming to them. The war encouraged Finny and ... way. Finny was affected by the war th...

• Word Count: 686
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

War touches everyone in some way; however, very few prefer to describe their involvement with it; yet John Knowles, the writer of A Separate Peace, touches upon many themes involving war. Knowles displays these themes and attitudes of war in his book, A Separate Peace. These attitudes are best displayed through the characterization of the main characters - Gene, Finny, and Leper. Leper is the least important of ... must struggle against to destroy. Because Gene's views most closely reflect Knowles" views of war, they are the most important of all the attitudes of war that are included in A Se...

• Word Count: 1091
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

John Knowles's A Separate Peace was a wonderful story about friendship and life. This novel was a great book to read during the summer before starting at a new school. I thought it was creative the way Knowles uses a ... to him. I could see that he had memories of sadness and of happiness there. This was a great way to grab the reader attention quickly. I didn't really have a "favorite part" of A Separate Peace, nor did I have a favorite character. I did think one character was more like me than any other. I believe that I am like Gene. School work is very important to me and I always ... , ...

• Word Count: 358
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Life's contrasts are something dealt with everyday. They build character and bring out who people really are. In the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene and Finny are the two teenage boys that are the main characters. The book takes place at a prep school in New Hampshire ... was one of the best in the class and he always tried to put his studies first. Obviously this was quite a contrast. Furthermore the Devon School had two separate sessions. The book began in the summer and continued through the winter. They were two very different times at the school. During the summer session s...

• Word Count: 908
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The adult world during World War II was one of sadness, bravery and hatred while the world of a young New England schoolboy was filled with happiness, routine and protection. In A Separate Peace, the Devon School acts as a microcosm for a child's life during the war, fully sheltered from the audacity of a world at war. Thoughts of the impending war linger in the minds ... of the two central characters, Gene and Phineas, as their graduation approaches. John Knowles" novel, A Separate Peace, addresses the conflict that these characters will face in their transition from sheltered high school li...

• Word Count: 1132
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In John Knowles' novel, "A Separate Peace," Finny acts as a leader by being persuasive, outgoing, and caring. As most leaders do, Finny cares for the other boys and especially for Gene. With Finny always portrayed as an ... how caring and compassionate he can be, never letting anyone, down he believes everyone deserves to be a winner and that the world around him is perfect. Throughout John Knowles' novel A Separate Peace, persuasiveness, outgoing, and caring attitude, confirm Finny's many leadership abilities. Finny proves to be persuasive by commanding the other boys to do as he wishes whi...

• Word Count: 821
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... conflicts both internal and external plague Gene until the very end. It is these conflicts that lead to the creation of an enemy that Gene is at war with throughout A Separate Peace. This enemy is Gene himself. The first time the enemy within Gene gets the best of him, it causes him to hurt his best friend. When Gene and Finny create ... ...

• Word Count: 558
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In times of war, people and societies change to adapt to the lifestyle war brings with it. In John Knowles" A Separate Peace the characters must adapt to the lifestyle brought forth by World War II. Some make it through these times better than others and some just don't make it at all. ... him to fall and injure himself. Gene, therefore, is the fittest because he realized his competition for the "fittest" and eliminated it. After all, how many of the characters of A Separate Peace are alive and sane besides Gene? Due to the war and how it causes people to adapt Gene and Phineas were in compe...

• Word Count: 466
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... at Devon between Gene and Finny plays a vital part in the novel. In "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles the trial between Gene and Finny brings out many conflicts between them and Finny faces his own conflicts when hearing the facts given at the time. I think ... ...

• Word Count: 538
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... characters and the reader. John Knowles develops a relationship of disgust between the narrator, Gene and the reader as well as creating a strong relationship between Phineas and the reader. While reading "A Separate Peace", I developed my own opinion of Gene and Phineas through their choices, character traits, flaws, and sympathy and by hearing Gene as he tells the story in first person. The author ... ...

• Word Count: 622
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

A Separate Peace By John Knowles (late 1950s) This story takes place at Devon School in New Hampshire , when one of the main characters gene flashes back fifteen years to tell the adventures ... with his friend.Gene didn't notice that Finny meant so much to him until the day he died. But, he still appreciated his friend for all he was, and made peace with him even though he was dead. His guilt followed him everywhere he went. Gene knew deep in his mind that he was guilty for what happened to Finny but ... ...

• Word Count: 618
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

"A Separate Peace," takes place during wartime and at Devon's prep school for boys. Gene and Finny are best friends as well as the main characters portrayed in the novel. The school ... to himself that, "Exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at the Devon School was the next thing to suicide," (Knowles 48). Therefore this trip let Finny have some peace within him, that he couldn't have at Devon by escaping reality through a trip away. One of the last times that Finny and Gene were able to escape the world was ... ...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In the story A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the two most emphasized characters are very alike. Although their similarities are sometimes over looked. Phineas, like Gene, is a very caring person. Both of these teenagers care ... ...

• Word Count: 254
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

In John Knowles' A Separate Peace, Finny fits the classification of a tragic hero wonderfully. The character named Finny is courageous and bold, just as a tragic hero should be. One of the greatest philosophers of all time, ... ...

• Word Count: 737
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... seasons, snow envelops its surroundings, blanketing the earth with a milky white blanket. This blanket is beautiful yet it's also deceiving in how it shrouds objects from view. In John Knowles" A Separate Peace, the deceptive environment symbolizes the sly and mysterious nature that Gene displays. The mysterious nature of Gene towards his fellow peers and the deceiving nature of the Vermont landscape are ... ...

• Word Count: 644
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... those who work with us, those in our family, those who have set records in the past, or even our friends. It is just this need that fuels John Knowles's A Separate Peace, a novel written about a Devon Academy during World War II. Devon, a boarding school, becomes a microcosm lock away from the rest of the world and not involved in the war for the ... ...

• Word Count: 673
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles takes place during World War II at a private school named Devon. This all boys" school is run very strictly. The year is 1942, during the summer session, ... ...

• Word Count: 660
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the winter landscape. Leper searched for birds, beaver dams, and other nature related things. When he found a beaver dam with no beavers, this was symbolic of Leper not finding his separate peace. Lastly, because war invaded Devon School, Leper decided to join the ski troops. At school the boys were shown propagandistic movies about the war. Since Leper was interested in nature ... forgave him he could come to peaceful terms with himself. After he got over his jealousy of Finny and was forgiven, Gene had finally found his separate peace. Brinker, a political leader, tried too hard to fi...

• Word Count: 967
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Hawthorne's works, the influence of both good and evil are related to religion, sin and science; creating pieces of work that are both contemporary and complex. Likely, John Knowles's novel A Separate Peace highlights the two extremes of personalities and the idea of war as a struggle between good and evil. One of Hawthorne's most frequently anthologized works, "Young Goodman Brown", has many sides ... expected. Humans have flaws and trying to banish them is defying the power of God, leaving only despair. John Knowles also portrays good and evil in a different perspective. His novel A S...

• Word Count: 849
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... anti religion in schools, the bible is not used for instruction, however seeps in through other ways. Perhaps, we can learn valuable lessons from this book. In John Knowles book A Separate Peace the author's focus on the tree, mans sinful nature, and Phineas as a Christ like figure are all biblical allusions that add a rich meaning to the novel. The fall of Adam ... and Eve is strikingly similar to Gene's "fall" in A Separate Peace. In the book of Genesis, the Bible relates the story of Adam and Eve and their life in the Garden of Eden. Eden was a beautiful place in which there was ... ...

• Word Count: 591
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School