A Study Guide to a Separate Peace

Rating:
Summary: Great for men but is still good about darkness of adolescent
Review: I read the book, "A Seperate Peace", by John Knowles and it was pretty good. It involves two main boys going through high school during World War II. One of the boys,Phineas, is superior at everything involving sports. The other main character is Gene Forrester. He is great at school but not in sports. These boys are roomed together in their prepatory school named Devon and are best friends. Gene starts thinking that Phineas, a.k.a Finny, is trying to hold back him from doing so great at school so he can be the best at everything. So Gene starts hating Finny and ends up creating a horrible accident that ruins Finny's life forever. It shows that there is always some darkness in the back of Gene's mind but never once was there in Finny's. Gene goes to tell Phineas that he created the accident but Finny doesn't belive him. So Gene drops it and hopes Finny won't try to remember what actually happened that one day and remember the truth. Another character in the book is a boy named Leper Lelliper who is always looking to find the best things in life he can look at slowly and not rush anything. He decides to go look at and take pictures of a beaver dam then go and work on the railroads to help the WWII fighters get through the town. But in his childish life he becomes to be the first person in his and Gene's and Finny's class to enlist in the army. After doing this everybody's life takes a turn. Brinker Hadley, the class president, drops out of all extra curricular activites and becomes lazy. Gene starts working at sports and pitys Finny every chance he can. Phineas starts trying to get his life back in order and trys to do all the things he did before the accident. But then one day Gene recieves a letter from Leper asking for help. The army has done something to Leper and tooken something away from him he can never get back. Gene goes to visit him but can't take it and goes back to Devon, never speaking of what happened. Then one night Brinker Hadley and a bunch of other boys awaken Finny and Gene to take them to a trail. A trial that would change Finny's life and Gene's life forever. The whole story is told by Gene Forrester in a flashback fifteen years ago. The story shows great symbolism with tree. And always has great themes, such as:private war versus public war, Gene's view of life vs. Finny's view of life, and a life of conformity vs. a life of freedom.