A Separate Peace by John Knowles: Historical background, Author Background, Characters, Quotes, Themes and Old AP questions.

Historical background: -The Lost Generation movement was full in tact during the 1920s-1990s, this movement was started from chaos that erupted during the world wars, it made society lost in what their mind sets were. Lost, is meant to paint a mental image of the inability to decide what to do or where to go, to create freedom and abstract thought.  -The 1950s and 1960s dealt primarily with the aftermath of the wars and many countries suffered from destruction and instability. It is likely that John Knowles witnessed all these bad things happening and decided to write a book based on the simplicity of adolescence and what the idea of war is mean to create in the young minds of people.  -While the non-violent movement for civil rights started in the1950s, it was during the early sixties that non-violent techniques began to pay off. It could be that because of the civil right movement, Knowles felt inclined to shed rebellion with this book, by saying that the war is of unimportant when young livelihoods are being ruined.  -The significant change of the mid-1950s was the impact of American rock and roll, which provided a new model for performance and recording, based on a youth market. Initially this was dominated by American acts, or re-creations of American forms of music, but soon distinctly British forms began to appear, first in the uniquely British take on American folk music in the skiffle craze of the 1950s, then in the beginnings of a folk revival that came to place an emphasis on national traditions and then in early attempts to produce British rock and roll. This dealt with the book because just like music was used to rebel against the war bu adolescents, in the book, both characters are rebelling in the fact they want to be different and just likes there are different genres, the characters are contrasting as well.  -Great Britain suffered the most from the world wars during the 1950s-1960s because their factories were not destroyed, so they were unable to grasp the new and faster efficient mode of all the other countries during the Industrial Revolution. This could have made Knowles resentful of war and therefore created a book that illustrates war as the enemy of all.   Author background: John Knowles was born in 1926 in Fairmont, West Virginia; at age 15, he became a student at Phillips Exeter Academy. He graduated that boarding school is 1945, but did not precede to go to the university, he decided to enroll into the army, in specifically the U.S. Army Air Force's Aviation Cadet Program. Later on, after serving in the war, he attended Yale University, where he attained a bachelors degree in 1949.  After graduating form college, he traveled to Europe where he worked as a journalist in the 1950s. He returned from Europe in 1957, where his friend Thornton Wilder encouraged him to write a book. In the end, Knowles wrote A Separate Peace in 1959 and it was an instant success. In addition to A Separate Peace, John Knowles has published eight other books; in addition, he wrote a travel book, and also published a collection of his short stories. Knowles was honored with the position of writer-in-residence at both Princeton University and the University of North Carolinal. He was pretty well known for giving lectures at school as well and was very involved in school life. John Knowles died on Thursday at convalescent home in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was 75. Characters: Finny: Gene's best friend. Supposedly Finny was supposed to be one of the best known and most likable people at the school Devon School in New Hampshire. He is also the best athlete and seems perfect in literally every single way.  Although he frequently gets into trouble, he is very quick at  being able to dodge being punished or getting out of an awkward situation. The only flaw he has is that he thinks everyone is good and kind-hearted like him. Gene: He is the narrator and protagonist of this story. He is secretly jealous of how Finny is able to be the best at all these things and all he is known for is being his friend. He thinks that Finny only cares about himself, as opposed to the well being of him and his studies. Although he is the protagonist, he is the one that purposely shakes the tree branch which makes Finny fall and breaks his leg. Gene is uncertain half the time throughout the book about his emotions. Leper: Leper is a classmate of both Gene and Finny. He is a gentle and sweet hearted young man who is least likely to cause any sort of trouble around Devon. He wants to be friends with Gene and persistently shows his jealousy against Finny who already has taken the spot of best friend for Gene. He is strangely the first to enlist in the army, but cannot handle it and ends up escaping and deals with hallucinations and breakdown. Brinker: He tends to be compulsive when it comes to knowing the truth. He feels like he should know everything that is happening and why it happened. He believes in justice and order, he will go to great lengths to discover the truth when he feels that it is being hidden from him.His personality almost seems ruthless, because there is basically nothing he wont do to uncover the truth. Quotes: "I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone." This is Leper talking about his experience in the camp. He is trying to not reveal that the war has made him delusional and unable to think clearly. Leper has become confused as to what his life is and tries to use the war as a means of defining it. He says that Phineas was the only one who understood the meaning of war as opposed to him, who could never find purpose. This quote exemplifies the corruption of war. "Fear seized my stomach like a cramp. I didn’t care what I said to him now; it was myself I was worried about. For if Leper was psycho it was the army which had done it to him, and I and all of us were on the brink of the army." This is the moment where Gene realizes that he is afraid of not only the idea of war, but knowing that he could be next. Just like his friend Leper who was one of the nicest and gentlest people, with a minimum sentence and war, he is completely changed and literally psychotic. Genes' realization that even Leper who was the sweetest and innocent person ever could be altered in this unrecognizable person, so imagine what would happen to him if he enlisted into the war.In the minds of Gene and the rest of the boys, Leper’s madness transforms the war from a distant threat into an immediate reality. "What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?" Gene knows that the importance of a friendship is to make sure no one is being inferior or superior and just like Finny can jump, he wants to prove that his is just as capable as doing any of the things Finny can do as well, so without hesitation he jumps. The jump is supposed to signify the idea of the big influence that one's in group has a on a person. Gene could have never just, had it not been for Finny, why the need to prove him, it is obvious that Gene feels inferior and the only way he'll make himself feel better is by complying. "I threw my hip against his, catching him by surprise, and he was instantly down, definitely pleased. This was why he liked me so much. When I jumped on top of him, my knees on his chest, he couldn't ask for anything better. We struggled in some equality for a while, and then when we were sure we were too late for dinner, we broke off." In this quote the friendship of Gene and Finny is illustrated. Wresting together is a reflection of the sense of competition that arouse from their friendship  It is strange to Gene later one when he realizes that unlike him, Finny never saw the wrestling as a competition, rather as just to mess around.This quote just further illustrates the closeness of a friendship and how in one person everything could be reliant on and nobody ever question what was being done, because you two were best friends and everyone assumed that are happy or simply just playing around. “Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,” and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." This is where the reader realizes that Finny is the best of guys because he never meant to seem like a shining diamond only ensuring his success, he also wants the best for Gene. He tries to remark to Gene that he is capable of anything as long as he tries hard enough.Finny’s need to live out his dreams of athletic glory and Gene’s desire to escape his identity. Thus, each boy, by becoming “part” of the other, protects himself from reality—Finny from his sudden but permanent physical shortcomings and Gene from his moral shortcomings. This is where the reason behind the books' name is found, they are not only just best friend, but are joined together by one reason and feeling, they are a togetherness of men. Finny doesn't care what Gene did, as long as he made it up to him by simply proving himself, Finny would forgive. Theme: The creation of inner enemies: Gene displayed this throughout the entire novel by making up instances in where he tried to make it seem like Finny was playing around and didn't care about his friendship, not because he was manipulated to think so, but there was an internal conflict with what is to be of Finny and Genes' friendship. The novel implicitly associates this realization of the necessity of a personal war with adulthood and the loss of childhood innocence. Gene himself was the antagonist because having to deal with his emotions was hard, especially considering he felt not nearly as great as his best friend Finny. Gene himself, though, states that he fought his own war while at Devon and killed his enemy there. The obvious implication is that Finny, as the embodiment of a spirit greater than Gene’s own, was his enemy, casting an unwavering shadow over Gene’s life AP Questions: 2008. In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of the minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil to a main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work. A minor character would be Leper because eye was minor but drastically changed Gene. 1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work. Choose this because a lot of students at Devon were fully committed to being a soldier and it corrupted them. 1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot. Relates by how Gene tends to psych himself out and is unaware of his emotions. Works Cited "1950s Timeline." About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2013. "Biography of John Knowles (1926-2001)." Biography of John Knowles. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2013. "Open-ended Questions for AP Literature." Open-ended Questions for AP Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2013. "A Separate Peace." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 17 May 2013.