A Separate Peace

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. What does Gene search for in the rain?

2. What is the setting of Gene’s flashback?

3. Why does Finny wear the pink shirt?

4. What does Gene realize about the incident with Finny at the tree?

5. What is the name of the sport that Finny and the boys create?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does the narrator describe the Devon School? Does his return to the school match how he previously remembered his alma mater?

2. What feat does Finny attempt? Describe the significance of this feat.

3. What are the two reasons that Finny believes the school instructors are showing “commendable signs of maturity”?

4. What item does Finny improvise for a belt? What happens as a result of his unusual fashion choice?

5. What was the purpose of “The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session”? Describe how Gene feels about this society.

6. What activity does Finny decide to take up briefly? What is the result?

Paired Resource

Dead Poet’s Society: “Todd Finds His Voice” Scene

• The 1989 film centers on a group of boys in a New England boarding school as they form a secret society to read poetry.
• This resource connects with the themes of Competition and Rivalry and The Loss of Innocence.
• Compare and contrast the experiences of the young men in the movie and in the book during their formative years at boarding school.

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. Why does Gene continue to attend the nightly meetings?

2. How does Gene “transform” into Finny?

3. Why does Gene believe that the Summer Session was “irresolutely suspended, halted strangely before its time”?

4. How does Gene “injure” Finny again?

5. How does Devon maintain the semblance of order during chaotic upheaval?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What profound realization does Gene have about his relationship with Finny? Describe how he responds to his realization.

2. How does Finny become injured? What is the outcome of his injury?

3. Who is Quackenbush? How does Gene feel about him?

4. Who calls Gene? Summarize their conversation.

Paired Resource

“The Draft and World War II”

• This National WWII Museum site features a brief overview of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
• This content connects with the theme The Loss of Innocence.
• Based on the novel as well as the above resource, what were some of the different reactions to the draft during WWII?

Chapters 7-10

Reading Check

1. Why does Brinker think Gene “[did] away” with Finny?

2. What is Brinker’s “Shortest War Poem Ever Written”?

3. What does Gene resolve to start doing again upon Finny’s return?

4. What mutually beneficial regime do Finny and Gene start?

5. What inspires Leper to enlist?

6. What does the telegram from Leper say?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the “Butt Room”? Describe the conversation that Gene has with his peers in this room.

2. What work do the Devon boys do during the snow? Describe what sight they see while working and how it affects them.

3. Where do Finny and Gene go on Finny’s first day back? What do they talk about?

4. What is the Devon Winter Carnival? Who organizes it, and what is at the event? What event does Finny compare the Carnival to?

5. Describe the house in Vermont. Who lives there? Why does Gene travel there? What does he learn on his visit? What comment is said that makes Gene angry?

Paired Resource

“When World Events Disrupted the Olympics”

• History discusses a variety of historical events leading to postponements or cancellations of the international sporting event.
• This content connects with the themes of War Encroaching on Peace, Competition and Rivalry, and The Loss of Innocence.
• Based on the novel as well as the above resource, was Finny correct about the Olympics during WWII? Why or why not?

“WWII Post Traumatic Stress”

• This National WWII Museum article features an overview of the causes and effects of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) on those who served in WWII.
• This article connects with the themes War Encroaching on Peace and The Loss of Innocence.
• What is PTS? Based on the novel as well as the above resource, do any of the characters exhibit signs of PTS?

Chapters 11-13

Reading Check

1. What activity did Finny organize while Gene was in Vermont?

2. What is “V-12”?

3. What historical figure does Finny doubt the validity of?

4. Why does Gene not cry at Finny’s funeral?

5. According to Gene, how were wars made?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Compare and contrast both Brinker’s and Gene’s approaches to the impending possibility of enlisting.

2. Where does Brinker bring Finny and Gene after hours? Describe what they do there and who is summoned to their group.

3. How does Finny react to Gene’s visit the following day after he injures his leg again? What do the two talk about?

4. Compare and contrast Brinker’s and his father’s opinions on enlisting in the war.

Recommended Next Reads 

Peace Breaks Out by John Knowles

• Knowles’s 1981 companion piece to this novel follows a WWII veteran who returns to the Devon School to teach.
• This content relates to the same themes of this novel: War Encroaching on Peace, Competition and Rivalry, and The Loss of Innocence.
• Shared topics include WWII, the Devon School, betrayal, and jealousy.
• Peace Breaks Out on SuperSummary

Allies by Alan Gratz

• Gratz’s 2019 young adult novel centers on six different Allied soldiers’ narratives on D-Day, 1944.
• This content relates to the themes of War Encroaching on Peace and The Loss of Innocence.
• Shared topics include WWII, enlisting, fighting for one’s beliefs, and growing up during wartime.
• Allies on SuperSummary