A Separate Peace

Consider how Brinker’s dad responds to Brinker and Gene’s discussion about enlisting. How does bring up a generational gap in perceptions about the war? What are the stakes for Mr. Hadley’s view of the war? How do the other adults in the novel support or refute Mr. Hadley’s formulation of the war?

Based on the evidence in the text, do you think that Gene intentionally jostles the branch to knock Finny to the ground? How does this decision affect the rest of the narrative? How would a different conclusion change the story?

The story is told entirely from Gene’s perspective. Do you think he is a reliable narrator? What do you question? What do you think is reliable? What do you think affects the way that he tells the story?

What does the novel say about World War II and war in general? Considering that Knowles is discussing the war about fifteen years after it ended, how does this hindsight affect his message?

Why do you think it was necessary for Finny to die in this narrative? How might it have changed the story if Finny had lived? What does Finny’s death teach us?

A Separate Peace is rife with symbolism. Some critics have even found elements of allegory in the text. What is a major symbol? How does that symbol recur throughout the novel? What does it represent, both within the world of the book and in relation to the world of the reader?

According to Gene:

Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person “the world today’ or ‘life’ or ‘reality’ he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past (34).

The year beginning with the summer of 1942 is this moment for Gene. What moment in your life is a similar turning point? How do the lessons you learned compare to those Gene learns?

Since A Separate Peace takes place at an all-boys school and concerns the draft during World War II, the characters are nearly all men. How do the few women function? Which women appear or are mentioned? What purpose do they serve in the novel?