95 pages • 3 hours read
John KnowlesA Separate Peace
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1959A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
A Separate Peace
- Genre: Fiction; young adult literary
- Originally Published: 1959
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1030L; grades 7-12
- Structure/Length: 13 chapters; approx. 204 pages; approx. 6 hours, 8 minutes on audio
- Protagonist/Central Conflict: The dark side of adolescence comes to light at a boys’ boarding school in New England during World War II. Sixteen-year-old Gene is a lonely, intellectual boy, and his roommate, Phineas, is a handsome daredevil athlete. The boys lose their innocence in a freak accident during the summer when the war takes the innocence of the entire world.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Profanity; war; death; suicide ideation; alcohol use
John Knowles, Author
- Bio: 1926-2001; born in West Virginia; attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and graduated in 1945; served eight months in the US Army Air Forces at the end of World War II; attended Yale University, where he contributed stories to the campus humor magazine The Yale Record; was a record-holding varsity swimmer; graduated in 1949; wrote for Hartford Courant and was assistant editor for Holiday magazine
- Other Works: Morning in Antibes (1962); Indian Summer (1966); Spreading Fires (1974); Peace Breaks Out (1981)
- Awards: Rosenthal Family Foundation Award (1961); William Faulkner Foundation Award inaugural winner (1961); National Book Award finalist (1961)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
- War Encroaching on Peace
- Competition and Rivalry
- The Loss of Innocence
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:
- Develop a historical understanding of the effects of the World War II draft on the young men in the United States, which incites Gene and Finny’s concerns at Devon School.
- Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of War Encroaching on Peace, Competition and Rivalry, and The Loss of Innocence.
- Create and present a persuasive essay that demonstrates an understanding of the novel’s pivotal moment between Finny and Gene, based on textual details.
