A Separate Peace

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A Separate Peace

• Introduction to

By John Knowles
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A Separate Peace

• Todays presentation
• Author
• Setting
• Plot
• Characters
• Literary Elements

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About the Author

• John Knowles
• Born in West Virginia on September 16, 1926
• Knowles was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy,
  which served as a model for the setting of A
  Separate Peace.
• A Separate Peace was Knowles first work, which
  earned him the Rosenthal Award of the National
  Institute of Arts and Letters. This established
  Knowles as a successful author.

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Phillips Exeter Academy

• Devon School, the setting of A Separate Peace,
  is based heavily on the Phillips Exeter Academy.

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Phillips Exeter Academy
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Plot Overview

• Story is told as a flashback to 16 years ago from
  Gene Forresters perspective
• Gene was a quiet, intellectual student at the
  Devon School in New Hampshire.
• During the summer session of 1942, Gene becomes
  close friends with Finny, his daredevil roommate
• Finny prods Gene into making a dangerous jump out
  of a tree into a river, and the two start a
  secret society based on this ritual.
• Gene becomes jealous of Finnys athletic
  accomplishments and convinces himself that Finny
  is trying to distract Gene from achieving
  academically. While Genes jealously turns into
  hate, he carefully maintains a relationship with
  him.
• Gene admittedly watches as Finny falls from the
  tree, breaking his leg and ending his athletic
  prowess

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A Separate PeaceCharacters

• Gene Forrester
• Finny
• Elwin Leper Lepellier
• Brinker Hadley
• Cliff Quackenbush
• Chet Douglass 
• Mr. Ludsbury
• Dr. Stanpole
• Mr. Patch-Withers

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Gene Forester

• Unreliable Narrator/protagonist
• Gene is in his early thirties, visiting the Devon
  School for the first time in years.
• Flashbacks to a story of his childhood from the
  vantage point of adulthood.
• Has love-hate relationship with his best friend
  Finny
• Gene is also often jealous of Finny because he is
  good at everything and so carefree

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Finny

• Honest, handsome, energetic, self-confident,
  best athlete in the school
• Extremely likable able to talk his way out of
  any situation
• Gene describes Finny like that of a Greek hero
  (always excelling physically, always spirited.)
• Finny loves the thrill of competition and does
  not care about winning/losing
• Always thinks the best of people, counts no one
  as his enemy, and assumes that the world is a
  fundamentally friendly place.

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Ellwin Leper Lepellier

• Quiet, peaceful, nature-loving boy
• Shocks his classmates by being 1st in Devon to
  enlist in the army
• Shocks them again by deserting army shortly after
  joining
• Leper has hallucinations that reflect the fears
  and angst of adolescence
• He fears transformation of boys into menand, in
  wartime, of boys into soldiers, which causes
  anxiety and inner turmoil.

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Brinker Hadley Cliff Quakenbush

• Manager of the crew team
• Boys at Devon have never liked Quackenbush
• frequently takes out his frustrations on anyone
  whom he considers his inferior

• straight-laced and conservative.
• complete confidence in his own abilities
• believes in justice and order and goes to great
  lengths to discover the truth when he feels that
  it is being hidden from him.

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Chet Douglass Mr. Ludsbury

• Genes main rival for the position of class
  valedictorian
• excellent tennis and trumpet player and
  possesses a sincere love of learning.

The master in charge of Genes dormitory Stern
disciplinarian
Mr. Patch-Withers
Dr. Stanpole 

• Devons resident doctor
• Caring man who laments the troubles that
  afflict the youth of Genes generation.
• Operates on Finny after his fall out of the tree

• The substitute headmaster of Devon during the
  summer session.
• Runs the school with a lenient hand

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Literary Context

• A Separate Peace belongs to a genre of
  literature called Bildungsroman. This is a
  German term which describes a novel whose main
  character matures over time, usually from
  childhood.
• The novel is based on events that happened
  during Knowles years at the Phillips Exeter
  Academy.
• Similar to Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace
  deals with children coming to terms with their
  identity set against the backdrop of World War.

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Main Themes
Loss of Innocence. The plot is dominated by
Genes progression toward maturity. The
relationship between war and peace. The backdrop
of the war plays a vital role in the novel. The
nature of friendship. The relationship between
Gene and Finny is the novels focus. Peoples
ability to change. Is change really
possible? Biblical allegory. Finny Christlike
Gene Judas, betrayer
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Historical Context

• World War II
• Began in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland,
  and officially ended in August 1945, when the
  Japanese surrendered.
• A Separate Peace takes place during the summer
  of 1942, directly in the center of World War II.
  
• In America
• In order to cope with the war, America
  instituted rations on books, sugar, coffee, and
  other goods.
• To conserve gasoline, a national 35 MPH speed
  limit was implemented, and driving for pleasure
  was banned.
• Most young women either dated older men, or
  didnt date at all!
• By the summer of 1942, many Americans realized
  that the war was far from over.

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The Axis Powers
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FASCIST ITALYMUSSOLINI

• Extreme nationalism
• Militaristic expansion to restore Roman Empire
• Charismatic leader
• Belief in private property with strong government
  control
• Anti-communist
• Installed in 1922
• Made a pact with Hitler to exterminate Jews

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NAZI GERMANYHITLER

• Extreme nationalism and racism
• Militaristic expansion
• Charismatic leader/ played on fears and pride
• Belief in private property with strong government
  control
• Anti-communist!
• Gained power in 1933

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Hitler

• He believed that the blond haired, blue eyed
  Germans were the dominant race. (Aryans)
• He blamed the Jews for Germanys problems and
  situation
• He ordered the boycott of Jewish shops, the
  burning of books written by Jewish authors, and
  the imprisonment of Jews in concentration camps.
  (beginnings of the Holocaust)

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JAPAN TOJO AND HIROHITO

• Tojo became militaristic Prime Minister for
  Emperor Hirohito
• Militarism, Nationalism and Racism
• Sought Asian empire for imperialist efforts

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo (above) and Emperor
Hirohito (below)
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Pearl Harbor

• Japan was desperate for oil.
• They wanted to dominate the eastern world, and
  the Pacific, and guess who was standing in their
  way??
• They launched a secret attack on Pearl Harbor on
  Dec. 7, 1941.
• The attack destroyed 5 battleships, 3 cruisers,
  and several smaller vessels.
• Nearly 2400 people died.
• Fortunately, the Pacific fleets aircraft
  carriers were elsewhere.
• Roosevelt called for Congress to declare war on
  Japan, they did.

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Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941

• 2,400 Americans killed when Japanese war planes
  bomb Pacific Fleet to take out battleships and
  carriers
• 20 Warships sunk 150 planes destroyed
• Japan also struck American bases in Pacific
• FDR asks Congress for declaration of war - Day
  of Infamy - the next day
• Germany Italy declared war on U.S.

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Hitlers acts of aggression

• Hitler was determined to return Germany to a
  dominant power and invaded the Rhineland- a
  section of Western Germany lost in the Treaty of
  Versailles.
• Hitler joins forces with Mussolini and becomes
  known as the Axis Powers
• 1938 Hitler annexed Austria and demanded
  possession of Sudetenland- a section of
  Czechoslovakia inhabited by Germanic people

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Japan

• Japanese had lost most of their gains in China at
  the Washington Conference in 1921
• 1924- U.S. joined other Western nations banning
  Chinese immigrants
• 1931- Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria in
  northeastern China
• League of Nations demanded they get out, Japan
  pulled out of the League
• Continued aggression- seized Shanghai, Nanjing,
  Bejing, and other Southeast Asian countries.

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Allied Forces- The Big 3
Franklin D. Roosevelt- U.S
Joseph Stalin- U.S.S.R.
Winston Churchill- England
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• England and France were terrified of becoming
  involved in another war, and adopted a policy of
  Appeasement.
• They gave into the demands of Hitler, and assumed
  that he would be satisfied
• Munich Conference-they agreed to allow Hitler to
  annex part of Czechoslovakia in return for the
  promise that he would make no further territorial
  demands.
• He took ALL of Czechoslovakia.

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• The Soviet Union under Stalin had originally
  signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler, but
  after Hitler invaded Poland, Stalin joined the
  Allied Forces.

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• Nov. 1942-Soviets counter attacked Germans and by
  Feb. the German forces were depleted to 1/3 of
  what they had been- they then surrendered.
• In the Atlantic the allies used radar and sonar
  to find and destroy German subs, without these
  the German forces would be without food or
  weapons.

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Africa in 1942

• American and British forces worked to push Rommel
  and his Africal Korps into Tunisia.
• Led by Major General Lloyd Fredendall and Major
  General George S. Patton
• By May, Rommel had fled and nearly 250,000 Axis
  troops surrendered.

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• After victory in North Africa, Allies turned
  toward Italy.
• July 1943, 82nd Airborne jumped into the toe of
  Italy.
• The invasion was a success and they pushed toward
  Rome.
• At this point, the Italians were sick of
  Mussolini and overthrew him.
• They killed Mussolini, hung him in public, then
  dragged him behind a horse.
• The Germans fought to the bitter end against the
  Allies

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• Americans had gained knowledge of the Japanese
  attack on Midway island through the code
  breaking, and were well prepared for the attack.
• June 4, 1942-Admiral Chester Nimitz sent planes
  out from the island to attack the Japanese as
  they were approaching, but most of them got shot
  down.
• At 1042, the Japanese thought they had seen the
  last of the American planes and were refueling
  for a final attack on the island
• A group of dive bombers who had gotten lost found
  their target.
• 3 of the 4 Japanese ships were destroyed.
• This was Japans last offensive move in the war

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• The last two major battles in MacArthurs island
  hopping were Iwo JIma and Okinawa
• Iwo Jima measures only a few miles, but there
  were 20,000 American casualties
• Japan starting using Kamikaze pilots
• During the invasion of Okinawa, they made 279
  hits on American ships

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Operation Overlord

• Aim was to drive the Germans out of France and
  defeat the Third Reich
• It was the greates amphibious invasion in history
• 176,000 troops carried on 5,000 vessels crossed
  the English channel to land along a 60 mile
  stretch of Coastline, Normandy, France.
• They landed June 6, 1944-D-Day

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• The Germans knew the attack was coming, but
  expected it to be near Calais, where the English
  Channel is the narrowest.
• The Allies under the command of General Dwight D.
  Eisenhower landed safely on the beach of Normandy

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Updated 2007
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• August 6, 1945 atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
  and destroyed 60 of Hiroshima
• Japan still refused to surrender, and 3 days
  later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on
  Nagasaki. August 9, 1945.
• The 2 attacks took out about 150,000 lives
  immediately, and more with the after effects of
  the bombs.

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V-E Day and V-J Day

• V-E Day May 7th, 1945
• The Allies close in on Germany, Britain and the
  U.S. from the west and the Soviets from the east
• April 30th, Hitler commits suicide
• One week later, Germans surrender
• V-J Day September 2, 1945
• The U.S. drops two atomic bombs on Japanese
  cities
• Threaten future attacks
• Japan surrenders aboard the Missouri to Gen.
  Douglas MacArthur September 2, 1945

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African Americans

• One Million served in segregated units
• Tuskegee Airmen first black flying unit
• African Americans served in support roles
• Faced discrimination
• 1.5 million left South to find work out West
• NAACP membership increased
• Smith v. Allwright (1944) SCOTUS ruled
  unconstitutional to deny blacks party membership
  to exclude them from primaries

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Mexican Americans

• 300,000 Mexican Americans served in white units
  during the war
• More worked in War Industry
• 1942 deal with Mexico allowed farm workers to
  cross the boarder during harvest season
  (braceros)
• Caused white resentment (Zoot Suit Riots in Los
  Angeles summer of 1943

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Minority Participation in WWII

• Additional contributions of minorities
• Navajo communication codes (oral, not written
  could not be broken by the Japanese)
• Mexican Americans also fought, but not in
  segregated units
• Minority units suffered high casualties and won
  numerous unit citations and individual medals for
  bravery in action

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Native Americans

• 25,000 served in military
• Navajo Indian language used as a code against
  Japanese (spoken-not written)
• Thousands Native Americans worked in war industry
• More than half never returned to reservations

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Home Front Industry

• Many Businesses converted their businsseses to
  war product industries
• Henry Ford turned to making B-24 liberator
  bombers
• The Government established the cost-plus system
  in which they paid all development and production
  costs plus a percentage of those costs as profit
  on anything a company made for the war.

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Home Front

• Coca-Cola said that every man gets a bottle of
  coke for 5 cents.
• Henry Kaiser introduced mass production that
  could assemble a ship in 14 days.
• His ships were called Liberty ships
• The jeep got its name from G.P. for General
  Purpose vehicle. It was established during WWII
  and 650,000 of them were produced.

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Home Front

• Ration stamps were given out to attempt to
  distribute essential goods fairly. (Meat,
  butter, sugar and gasoline)
• Unemployment fell drastically
• Wages went up
• People joined unions

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Costs of War

• Federal Spending went from 9.4 billion dollars in
  1939 to 95.2 billion in 1945
• The GNP more than doubled
• A raise in taxes paid for approx 41 of the cost
  of the war
• Revenue Act of 1942 increased the number of
  Americans who paid income taxes.
• It levied a flat 5 tax on all incomes over 624
  per year. The rest of the money to pay for the
  war came from banks and private investors, and
  the public

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Women and the War

• While the men were off at war, women frequently
  worked in factories making war items.
• A popular symbol for this was Rosie the Riveter
• Boyfriend at war, young, Middle classed and a
  Patriot
• Posters were created telling women it was their
  Patriotic duty to work during the war
• Women made up 36 of the workforce

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Home Front Society