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A Seperate Peace

A Separate Peace is the story of the students at Devon School during the start of the second world war.  The events of the war bring the main characters, Gene and Phineas, closer together but the stress ultimately tears them apart.

This novel, set during the war shows how two friends, Gene and Phineas, became very close during the summer of 1942.  Their friendship blossomed from an organization which they founded together called the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.  During one of the oraganization's meetings, Phineas suffered a fall that broke his leg.  This left his unable to enlist in the army.  During an interrogation by Brinker, another student at Devon, Phineas began to believe that Gene may have been the cause of his fall.  The stress from this realization caused Phineas to have another accident which eventually resulted in his death.

          John Knowles grew up in West Virginia, attending high school at Phillips Exter Academy.  John actually modelled Devon School from the novel around Phillips Exter Academy.  To read more about  the life of John Knowles, click the "Author Biography" link above.
 

A Seperate Peace - Culminating Task - Mrs. Clancy - ENG3UI