Assignment 11: #5 Explain the significance of the last paragraph: "I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family's strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case." (Tyler)

The significance of the last paragraph is that although it is Finny that physically dies, an emotional part of Gene also dies. Throughout the novel there is a complex relationship that develops between Finny and Gene. Before Finny’s injury there is a rather intense rivalry that developed between the two. Gene was the introverted, intelligent, boy, while Finny was the athletic, genuine, extroverted boy. However, following Finny’s injury, it is almost as though the two boys identities become merged together. When Gene caused Finny to fall from the tree and break his leg, a huge piece of Finny’s athletic identity was forever lost.  In fact, in a phone conversation between the two boys while Finny was recuperating at home, Finny told Gene, “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" (Knowles 85).  Upon Finny’s return to Devon, Finny explained how he had hoped to train for the 1944 Olympics, and now because of his injury and inability to participate, he would train Gene instead. As Gene’s identity shifts to replacing what is lost in Finny’s, he explains “I went along, as I always did, with any new invention of Finny’s” (p. 117).  The search for individual identity by each of the adolescent boys in the novel comes to an end with the death of Finny. Gene “could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral” (p. 194) because a part of Gene died when Finny died. Finny was never one to feel sorry for himself, so Gene in acting like Finny, did not cry when Dr. Stanpole told him of Finny’s death, or “when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait burial ground outside of Boston” (p. 194).  Ironically, there is no “separate peace” for either boy because Gene lost a part of himself when Finny died, just like Finny lost a part of himself when he fell out of that tree.

Assignment #10 (152-177): Discuss Leper’s return and its impact on Gene and Finny before Brinker’s trial. What does Leper represent now that he is back at Devon and what conversation does his return trigger between Finny and Gene? (see pages 163-164) (William)

Finny is able to, once he “heard that about Leper, [... know] that the war was real.”  He then confronts the truth about the war, and admits to the world that, “… [he] always knew, but... didn’t have to admit it.”(163) Finny has to abandon his fantasies of the war and Olympics, what he hoped the world was like, which causes him to be more suppressed. After hearing that Leper had come back to campus, Gene starts to become anxious. Since Leper knows that he had caused Finny's fall, it makes him try to make Leper seem untrustworthy. His first retort is after hearing that Leper had been hiding in the bushes, where he says that “He must be crazy”.(163) Afterwards he starts to “involentarily me[e]t Finny’s” eyes. Without even needing to think, Gene tries to discount everything that Leper is about to say. Although they are each impacted differently, they both will see the world with a different affect. The conversation that stems from the change was one of recollection of when they had seen the world differently, a time when they hadn’t needed to think about being accused or comprehend how awful the world can be. To Gene Leper is a threat that causes anxiety, but to Finny he is a wakeup call that the world is not as nice as he had envisioned.

Pages 152-177: Discuss the irony of the dialogue between Finny and Gene on the second half of page 155 (CC).

The irony in Gene and Finny’s discussion on page 155 of A Separate Peace is that Gene tells Finny not to break his leg again, however, it was Gene’s fault in the first place. Earlier in the book, Gene and Finny are up in the tree by the river and Finny offers that he and Gene do a double jump together off the tree into the river. However, once on the limb, Gene purposely “jounced the limb. {and} Finny, his balance gone… tumbled sideways… and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud,” (Knowles 60). Following this event, it is discovered that the fall caused Finny to break his leg. Later, once Finny is back at school from recovering for his leg, Gene and him are talking after a large snowball fight; Gene is worried whether Finny’s leg will be okay, reminding Finny, “Christ, don’t break it again!” (Knowles 155). The irony here is that Gene makes the sentence accusatory, that it was Finny’s fault his leg is broken, however that is not the case as Finny’s broken leg is all due to Gene.

Assignment #10 (152-177): At the top of page 155, the snowball fight culminates with everyone turning on Finny. Why does this happen here and why now? How does this moment foreshadow events later in the chapter? (Sanya)

The snowball fight culminating with everyone turning on Finny happens at this moment to foreshadow Finny’s downfall later on in the chapter. After Gene’s visit to Leper in Vermont he returns to the Devon school. Once there, he is greeted with a rampaging snowball fight, lead by Finny. Gene narrates, “we ended the fight in the only way possible; all of us turned on Phineas. Slowly, with a steadily widening grin, he was driven beneath a blizzard of snowballs,” (155).  The timing of this event is significant, because Gene has returned from Leper’s house; where Leper accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. Since then, the truth has become closer to emerging completely. The snowball fight scene foreshadows the trial, where the truth is closer than ever to emerging. This moment foreshadows the events later on in the chapter, where Finny’s downfall is everyone elses fault. The fight also represents how Finny wouldn’t be able to thrive in the real world, which is the war. Finny hadn’t accepted the war, until he eventually sees Leper hiding in the bush. At that point he realized how the war affected Leper. He then instantly knew that he didn’t feel welcomed in this new reality, nor did he want to be a part of it. Overall when everyone turns on Finny in the snowball fight, it foreshadows his accident later in the chapter.

1. Do you think Gene will admit his wrongdoings now that Finny has fallen again?

2. Have there been any other important foreshadowing moments before Finny's second accident?

Tushar Take Two

Gene attacks Leper because he accuses him of causing Finny's fall, but also because Leper reveals to Gene that there truly is a savage underneath his "good boy" exterior. When Gene goes to visit Leper in Vermont after receiving his telegram, he finds that Leper has been suffering from mental breakdowns ever since he "escaped" from the army. While they were talking, Leper suddenly begins to laugh hysterically, exclaiming to Gene, "'You were always a savage underneath... like that time you knocked Finny out of the tree... like that time you crippled him for life'" (Knowles 145). Hearing this causes Gene to let his emotions to take him over and he knocked Leper's chair over. Initially, he reacts instinctively, out of fear of being judged, not wanting for people to know that he caused Finny's fall. However, he beings to realize that he truly "'always [was] a savage underneath'" (Knowles 145). His emotions during this scene also mirror the feelings and emotions of war; acting instinctively to protect themselves and not worrying about the repercussions that would come with their actions. He sees the effect of warfare on Leper, mentally. During this moment, Gene also realizes how conflicted he is as a person, with his own inner war. He is confused, hurt, angry, and fearful all at the same time. He is so afraid of what is to come next for him that he has boxed himself in, not wanting for anyone to breach his bubble of the Devon School. Leper's accusation of Gene purposely pushing Finny upsets him, and causes him to attack Leper, while also fully realizing his own true nature.

Questions to Consider:

1. What do you make of this scene? Do you think Gene is afraid of accepting himself?

2. Do you think that Leper truly thinks that Gene pushed Finny out, or is this just one of mental breakdowns and means nothing?

3. Do you think it was right for Gene to act so impulsively and aggressively for Leper's comment?

Assignment #9: Gene spends the first part of the chapter traveling to Leper’s house. Choose two or three phrases of description about the landscape (location, weather, temperature) and explore how Knowles is using them. Why does he include these details here and why at this time? What does it reveal about Gene at this time? (Gillian)

In this passage, Knowles uses weather and location to describe the mood and to foreshadow Gene’s future. The chapter begins with Gene explaining his future and how he ends up going to war. He explains how his journey to Leper’s house marked the beginning of many trips like this. He explains, “That night I made for the first time the kind of journey which later became the most monotonous routine of my life: traveling through an unknown settlement to another” (Knowles 138). This quotation shows how Vermont and its scenery reminds older Gene of the war and it explains how this trip was the beginning of many of Gene’s travels for the war. Knowles uses weather and conditions at the end of the chapter as well to foreshadow Gene’s future. When Gene and Leper are in the field, Gene describes the noises of the ice and snow. He narrates, “The crust beneath us continued to crack and as we reached the border of the field the frigid trees were also cracking with the cold. The two sharp groups of noises sounded to my ears like rifles being fired in the distance” (Knowles 151). In this passage, Knowles uses the “rifles in the distance” to connect back to the war and to foreshadow Gene’s future in it. He also uses words like “frigid” to give a negative connotation to this reading. In this chapter, Knowles uses the weather and its connotations to show Genes future in the war and how his trip to see Leper connects to this.

#9 Since Leper is “section 8” (“for nuts in the service”), explore the irony of Leper’s statement “always were a savage underneath.” Take into consideration that Leper contacted Gene. Why is this important? (Dylan)

When Gene goes to visit Leper we see how much Leper’s characteristics and personality have changed throughout the novel, and how ironic it is that Leper knows the reality of Gene’s actions. Leper has become the first to enlist in the war, however, he doesn’t last long, and days later he sends Gene a telegram informing him that he has “escaped.” Gene meets his old friend at the “Christmas Location,” concluding that Leper must have “escaped” from spies. Gene was shocked when Leper confesses that he really escaped from a section eight discharge. Leper goes on to explain that “A section 8 discharge is for the nuts in the service, the psychos…You’re screwed for life,” (Knowles 145). Gene seems agitated by his friend, and attacks him when Leper says he knew that Gene was “always a savage underneath…Like that time you knocked finny out of the tree,” (Knowles 145). Later in the chapter the two boys seem to calm down and even go for a walk when Leper goes in depth about his army experiences until Gene decides to run away. Throughout the novel we see signs about how the war has changed people, but Leper seems to have become a whole new person. He becomes “psycho,” in his own words, and even rants strange, crazy stories. It is ironic that Leper comes across as strange and insane, yet Leper is the only one at Devon that has tried to face the inevitable. Leper called Gene to come to Vermont so that he could tell someone about the part of himself that was impacted by the war. Leper says he has “admitted a hell of a lot to myself,” (Knowles 145). Leper has come clean with himself, and has thought about the past, but he says that Gene hasn’t accomplished the same feat. In doing this Gene is suddenly faced with the reality of himself and his actions, an identity that Gene is scared of, which causes him to attack Leper. Ironically it is Leper who knows and addresses Gene about the truth of his past, even if Leper appears to be “Psycho.”

1)    Do you think that Leper is a psycho? Only partly? Why or why not?

2)    Do you think that Leper will ever be the same, and how will this have an impact on Gene’s army views?

3)    What will Gene do after this? Will he tell his friends at Devon? Will he ever see Leper again?