A Separate Peace

When Gene returns to Devon in the fall, which statement best completes the sentence?

• he becomes very involved in sports and his studies.

• he is reluctant to participate in any school activities.

• Brinker Hadley becomes his best friend.

• he rooms with Leper Lepellier.

Very early in the novel, the mature Gene talks about those men, "the giants of your childhood," having "become pygmies while you were looking the other way." In chapter 8, when Gene runs the course Phineas has laid out for him, loses himself, and breaks "into the clear," he describes Phineas in a similar manner: "....he [Phineas] seemed smaller too. Or perhaps it was only that I...had felt myself all at once grown bigger." Write a response interpreting what Gene means by those parallell statements using evidence from the text.

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Author John Knowles uses forshadowing to prepare readers for what is to come in A Separate Peace. For example, after Leper sees the film about the US ski troops, he says skiing, like everything else, has to "evolve or else it perishes." He adds, "I'm almost glad this war came along. It's like a test, isn't it, and only the things and people who've been evolving the right way survive." In your response, show how Leper's statements foreshadow his own experience with war. Use details from the novel to support your main ideas.

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When Gene first tries to confess that he caused Finny's accident, which statement best completes the sentence?

• Finny does not believe him.

• Finny will not let him talk.

• he cannot find where Finny lives.

• Finny says it does not matter.

Leper decides to enlist because, which statement best completes the sentence?

• he is deeply patriotic and wants to help fight the war.

• he cannot stand school and wants to stop immediately.

• Gene talks him into it.

• he is worried that he will be drafted soon anyway.

Phineas tries to convince Gene that, which statement best completes the sentence?

• the war is wrong and should not be fought.

• he should enlist immediately.

• the war is not actually happening.

• they will both become great athletes in the Olympics.

Gene leaves Leper’s home in Vermont quickly because, which statement best completes the sentence?

• he is late for a train.

• he is angry and horrified by Leper’s behavior.

• Leper’s mother throws him out of the house.

• he receives an urgent call from Finny.

Gene fights with Quackenbush because, which phrase best completes the sentence?

• he has always hated him

• it is his way of defending Finny

• Quackenbush starts a fight

Gene has a great deal of difficulty deciding, which phrase best completes the sentence?

• which room to choose for the Fall

• what to say to Leper

• whether or not to tell Phineas the truth

______is a good example of a character who understands himself and is mostly content.

• Gene

• Phineas

• Brinker