A Separate Peace By John Knowles

1. A Separate PeaceBy John Knowles Imagery, diction, detail, point of view, syntax, style, tone, and theme

2. Author’s Page • John Knowles • Born in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1926. • Attended Phillips Exeter Academy Boarding School. • Spent eight months as an Air Force cadet • Attended Yale University • Earned living as a journalist and freelance writer. • Knowles has published nine novels including A Separate Peace.

3. A Separate Peace Exposition • Genre: Coming of age/ tragedy • Tense: The story begins in 1958 but quickly flashes back to the years 1942–1943 • Setting: The Devon School, an exclusive New England academy • Point of view: First person

4. Characters • Gene Forrester -  The narrator and protagonist of the novel. When A Separate Peace begins, Gene is in his early thirties, visiting the Devon School for the first time in years. He is thoughtful and intelligent, with a competitive nature and a tendency to brood. He develops a love-hate relationship with his best friend, Finny, whom he alternately adores and envies. • Finny -  Gene’s classmate and best friend. Finny is honest, handsome, self-confident, disarming, extremely likable, and the best athlete in the school; in short, he seems perfect in almost every way. He has a talent for engaging others with his spontaneity and sheer joy of living, and, while he frequently gets into trouble, he has the ability to talk his way out of almost any predicament.

5. Characters • Leper Lepellier -  A classmate of Gene and Finny. Leper is a mild, gentle boy from Vermont who adores nature and engages in peaceful, outdoor-oriented hobbies, like cross-country skiing. He is not popular at Devon but seems to pay no attention to such things. • Brinker Hadley -  A charismatic class politician with an inclination for orderliness and organization. Manifesting a mindset opposite to that of Finny, who delights in innocent anarchy, Brinker believes in justice and order and goes to great lengths to discover the truth when he feels that it is being hidden from him.

6. Characters • Cliff Quackenbush -  The manager of the crew team. Quackenbush briefly assumes a position of power over Gene when Gene volunteers to be assistant crew manager. The boys at Devon have never liked Quackenbush; thus, he frequently takes out his frustrations on anyone whom he considers his inferior. • Chet Douglass -  Gene’s main rival for the position of class valedictorian. Chet is an excellent tennis and trumpet player and possesses a sincere love of learning.

7. Major Conflict • major conflict · Gene feels both love and hate for his best friend, Finny, worshipping and resenting Finny’s athletic and moral superiorities.

8. Themes • The Creation of Inner Enemies • Transformations • Athletics

9. Syntax, Style, and Tone • Syntax: The way an author puts words together to form sentences and phrases. • Very formal, educated • Style: The characteristic or manner in which the author writes. • Internal dialogue, Images, and life themes • Tone: To give a particular feeling or mood in writing. • Melancholy, reminiscent, wise

10. Literary Elements • Allusion: When authors refer to other great works, people, and events. • World War II- was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945 which involved most of the world's nations, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilized. In a state of "total war," the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources.

11. Literary Elements • Alliteration: two or more words of a word group with the same letter at the beginning of the words. • “Super suicide society of the summer session”

12. Literary Elements • foreshadowing  · Prior to his flashback, the older Gene makes reference to a “death by violence” and to fears that he had at school, which are associated with a flight of marble steps and a tree.

13. Literary Elements • Symbols: objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. • the tree, marble steps, school, the Summer and Winter Sessions at Devon

14. Vocabulary • Chapter 1 • Tacit :unvoiced or unspoken; understood without being openly expressed • Irate: enraged • Inveigle: to entice or lure by artful talk • Consternation: a sudden, alarming amazement or dread • Rhetorically: spoken in a manner not intended to elicit a reply • Chapter 2 • Eloquence: fluent, forceful speech • Indulgent: yielding to the wishes or desires of (oneself or another) • Inane: lacking sense or ideas; empty or void • Resonant: deep and full of sound • Conniver: one who gives aid to wrongdoing by pretending not to know ornotice • Infer: to conclude by reasoning from premises or evidence

15. Vocabulary • Chapter 3 • Venerable: respected due to great age or associated dignity • Inured: toughened or accustomed • Anarchy: a state of society with out government or law • Fey: strange or foreign • Blitzkrieg: (German) an all out attack • Insidious: treacherous; marked by hidden dangers • Chapter 4 • Enmity: active and typically mutual hatred or ill will • Candid: free from bias, prejudice, or deception • Chapter 5 • Decalogue: a basic set of rules carrying binding authority • Cordovan: soft fine-grained colored leather • Erratic: irregular

16. vocabulary • Chapter 6 • Idiosyncratic: peculiarly individualistic; eccentric manner • Vindicated: freed • Sinecure: a position requiring little or no work and usually providing income • Bantam: tiny or diminutive • Stupefaction: overwhelmed amazement • Chapter 7 • Insinuating: tending to cause doubt, distrust, or change of outlook • Impinge: come into close contact; infringe • Fratricide: the act of murdering one’s own sibling • Virtuoso: one who excels in technique of an art especially for military • Encumbrance: a burden or weight • Chapter 8 • Ambiguously: doubtfully; uncertainly; obscurely • Clodhoppers: large, heavy shoes • Discernible: detectible • Opulent: luxurious or rich • Aphorisms: statements of principle; adages; • Pungent: sharp or biting taste or smell • Preeminently: outstanding; supremely • Poignancy: painfully affects the feelings • Gulls: people who are easily deceived • Sententiousness: state of excessive moralizing

17. vocabulary Chapter 9 • Bolsheviks: the extremist wing of the Russian social party in Russia • Cacophony :harsh sound • Accolade: an award • Multifariously: varyingly: diversely • Proviso: a stipulation Chapter 10 • Holocaust :Thorough destruction or devastation, especially by fire • Furlough: a leave of absence from duty granted to a soldier • Austerity: state of being stern and forbidding • Aesthete: having or affecting sensitivity to the beautiful, especially in art

18. Vocabulary • Chapter 11 • Latent: dormant • Bane: person or thing that harms, spoils, or ruins • Incredulously: skeptically • Ruefully: mournfully; regretfully • Torpid: dormant; numb • Urbane: notably polite or polished in manner • Obstinate: not easily subdued or remedied • Chapter 12 • Pontiff: bishop; pope • Impervious: incapable of being influenced or affected • Parody: a feeble or ridiculous imitation • Languid: drooping from exhaustion; weak • Precariously: doubtfully: insecurely • Bellicose: inclined to start quarrels • Disconcerting: disturbing; unsettling • Parry: to ward off a weapon or blow