Claudia Rivera

Camille Anderson
Javiera Santori
Laura Delaplace

A Separate Peace- study guide questions

Please form a study group of no more than four students and work on the following
items. Hand in one paper per group with everyone’s names on it. Answer items in
complete sentences. Questions are due the day of the test.

Chapter One:
1. Who is the narrator of the story?
The narrator of the story is Gene.

2. Why does Gene return to Devon?

Gene returns to Devon because he wanted to see how the school was.

3. Why is Devon described so carefully?

Devon is described so carefully because they want to show us how it changed.

4. Why does Finny refuse to lie about his height?

He refused to lie because it was one of his rules.

5. What is the meaning of the expression “The more things change, the more
they remain the same”?
This means that things change but in the end the results are the same.

6. How does the author reveal that Gene has finally accepted what happened
and put the experience behind him?
The author reveals that Gene has accepted what happened because he goes back to
see the tree.

7. What part of the description of the building is emphasized and why?

The tree is emphasized because by it he remembered Finny.

8. How are Gene and Finny united after the jumps from the tree?
They are united after they jump from the tree because since they both jumped
from the tree they both felt special.
Chapter Two:
9. Why does Finny say they “had to” jump out of the tree?
He said they had to do it because he said that if he did it everyone had to do it
too.

10. How is Finny identified with peace?

Finny is identified with peace since he isn’t very concerned about war.

11. Why does Gene state that it is “perfectly natural” to envy a best friend?
Gene states that it is perfectly natural because he says that there was no harm in
envying.

12. What is Gene’s response when Finny “gets away with” wearing the tie?
Gene got exited since he thought Finny wasn’t going to get away with it this time.

13. What does Gene reveal when he says 1942 was his sarcastic time, but that
sarcasm is the protest of the weak?
Gene reveals that he is weak.

14. Why doesn’t Finny believe the bombing in Europe?

Finny doesn’t believe the bombing in Europe because bombs in Central Europe were
unreal to him because he couldn’t imagine it.

15. Why is the name “Suicide Society” appropriate?

The name “Suicide Society” is appropriate because if they fell they could die.

16. What is significant in Finny’s instinctive move to save Gene?

It signifies that Finny cared about Gene and he showed that he valued their
friendship.

Chapter Three:
17. Why does Gene try to blame Finny for saving his life?
He says that if it wasn’t for Finny he wouldn’t have been on the tree in the first
place.

18. What is the significance of Finny’s attitude toward sports?

He says that everybody wins but in reality someone has to win and someone has to
lose. This lets us know that Finny lives in his own world with his own rules.

19. Why does Leper refuse the ball?

He refuses it because he doesn’t like sports and does not want to play.

20. What does the phrase “for the duration” mean?

It means the time during the war. Everytime they said that, they were talking
about the war.

21. What is the significance of Finny’s swimming achievement?

He’s good at all sports even those he does not practice.

Chapter Four:
22. Why does Finny say that he has to waste Gene’s time “for him”?
He says that because Gene is always studying and following rules.

23. Why does Gene fell better when he thinks Finny has been sabotaging his
efforts to be head of the class?
He believes that Finny is jealous of him.

24. What does Finny say that makes Gene want to destroy him?
He says don’t study so much and don’t try so hard.

25. Why does Finny want them to jump side by side?

It was something new and representative of their friendship.

Chapter Five:
26. Why does Gene put on Finny’s clothes?
He puts on his clothes because he wanted to be similar to Finny.

27. Why does Gene accuse Finny of trying to pull him down?
He accuses him because Finny is always interrupting Gene’s studies and making him
waste time.

28. What is Finny’s comment about the expression on Gene’s face?

He says that Gene looks even worse than he does.
29. Why does Finny refuse to accept the truth of the accident?
Finny doesn’t want to believe that his best friend would betray him like that.

Chapter Six:
30. Contrast the summer and winter sessions.
The difference of the summer and the winter session is that in the summer, the
students could go out and swim in the river, but in the winter, it’s like they can’t go
out much because of the cold and the snow. In the winter, the atmosphere was
sadder.

31. What is the significance of Devon’s two rivers?

One of the rivers is ugly and the other one is really pretty. The significance of
these is that Devon was always thought of as a perfect school and the prettiest of
all schools and this ugly element shows that everything has something bad about.
Not everything is perfect.

32. How does Finny relate Gene’s failure to take another roommate to the
impossibility of his confession?

33. Why does Gene apply for the job of assistant crew manager?
He applies because he didn’t want to play sports anymore because ever since Finny
got injured, he didn’t feel obligated to do sports anymore.

Chapter Seven:
34. Compare Leper’s evasion of the war to Finny’s.
Leper’s evasion is that he is never thinking about the war and is always thinking of
animals and other things. Finny’s evasion is that he doesn’t believe that the war is
even happening. He is in denial of bad things happening in the world.

35. Why does Gene feel that evil lurks in everything he does?
Gene feels that evil lurks in everything he does because every time he did
something, something bad came out of it.

36. Why does Gene decide to join the army?

Gene decides to join the army because when Brinker mentioned it, Gene thought
about enlisting because he thought of leaving as being free, but before, Gene
thought that being at Devon was like being free, but not since Finny had fallen.
Chapter Eight:
37. Why does Gene feel that summer has returned?
Gene feels that summer has returned because Finny returns and he is up to his old
tricks.

Chapter Nine:
38. What is significant in Leper’s change of heart toward the war?
The significance in Leper’s change of heart toward the war is that the war changed
a lot of people’s opinion about things that they really believed in.

39. What is the “separate peace” that Finny has established?

The “separate peace” that Finny has established is that there is no war occurring
and that there is nothing bad in the world. Finny is like in his own little world.

Chapter Ten:
40. How has the war changed Leper?
Leper had mental problems. He was crazy.

41. Why does the exposure of Leper’s deranged hallucinations bring the two
boys close together?
It brings the two boys close together because thay talk about their fears of
becoming adults and facin responsibilities.

Chapter Eleven
42. How is Gene’s developing maturity shown?
Gene’s developing of maturity is shown when he is not afraid of sports any
more and he is also no afraid of Phineas and he was also much more collected and
composed than he had been before.

43. What is the importance of Finny’s acceptance of the war?

The importance of Finny’s acceptance of the war is that he is being more aware of
the world and what’s happening around society.

44. What is Finny’s attitude during the trial?

Finny doesn’t care of anything and he is getting desperate because he doesn’t
remember very well the incident and they keep asking him questions.
Chapter Twelve
45. How is the second broken leg different from the first?
The second broken leg is different from the first one because the doctor
says that it is a simple fracture “more cleaner” than the original fracture.

46. What is the significance of the way Finny dies?

The significance is that the broken leg has in effect, broken Finny’s heart,
and so Gene takes responsibility for his friend’s death.

Chapter Thirteen

47. What different attitudes are revealed when Mr. Brinker says that war
memories are a part of a man forever?
Mr. Brinker says that war memories are a par of a man for ever because it’s
important to be proud of knowing that you fought for your country. Mr. Brinker is
disapointed in Gene and Brinker because they enlisted for things that made them
far away from getting to the war.

48. How has Brinker changed his views toward the war?
Brinker at first wanted to be part of the war but when he had to be part of it he
thought totally different, he didn’t want to go he wanted to stays as far as
possible of the war.

49. What is Gene’s final assessment of Finny?

Gene’s final assessment to Finny was that he said that he was going to be in his life
forever.

50. How does Gene redeem himself after his fall from innocence?
Gene sees that he has killed his “enemy” in Devon meaning how he was inside and
his jealousy.