Rising action--- Gene grows envious of Finny and he realizes that Finny doesn’t return his resentment. Gene feels that Finny is a superior person and is envious of his lack of envy towards him. Finny suggests that they climb a tree.Exposition--- The story starts in 1958 but flashes back to 1942-1943 when Gene and Phineas are in the summer session at the Devon school. Gene and Finny are roommates and best buds, Gene the intellectual scholar and Finny the athletic star. |
Climax--- Gene jounces the tree and Finny falls off, shattering his leg.A Seperate Peace By John Knowles
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Falling Action--- Gene feels guilty about Finny’s accident and they become closer friends. The boys put Gene on trial for the accident to find out the truth. Finny falls down the stairs again, breaking his leg.Denouement--- Finny dies during the operation on his leg. |
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Theme: Creation of Inner enemies Tone: Nostalgic, Regretful Mood: Excitment and Jealousy Literaly Devices: Mood: Negative words are used to describe the weather such as "raw, self-pitying November day...icy clamp of winter, and moody gusts of wind." (pg.10) Another example of the negative mood throughout the novel is how he describes the night. "Stars pierced singly through the blackness....single, chilled points of light, as unromantic as knife blades." "The smell of the locker room was of exhaustion lost hope and triump...the smell of the human body after it had been used to the limit." Symbolism: Symbolism is displayed almost everywhere throughout the novel. In the beginning Gene looks at his old dorm and finds ivy that has grown on the building. Ivy symbolizes friendship and beauty because of its tendency to cling. Later in the novel it shows how Gene and Finny were inseparable as the ivy symbolizes. The school is between woods and a river. Woods symbolize a place of seclusion from the world. This was a place where the two boys played innocently without the cares of the world or war. The river represent time and transitory nature of life and things. As the novel progresses it shows how the cousre of time has put a strain on Gene and Finny's relationship. Simile: "Rays of the sun shooting past them...like golden machine- gun fire" (pg. 174) Shows how brilliant the sun is against the sky and Gene and Phineas. "Moved like an engine." (pg. 175) Show's how their bodies moved. " The looked as black as death standing up there..." (pg.174) Showed how dark Gene's and Phineas' figures were against the sun. Forshadowing: The tree at the beginning foreshadows Phineas' fate later in the novel.Phineas' and Gene's relationship foreshadow the out come of the war. Imagery: "The houses were as handsome....clever modernizations of olf colonial manses, extentions in Victorian wood, capacious Greek Revival temples.."(Pg.10) Illustates the beautiful construction of the old houses. "The Boardwalk lights against the deepening blue shy gained an ideal, starry beauty and...."(pg.47) The author illustrates an ideal setting at the beach for Gene and Phineas.
Perspective: First Person. The story is told by Gene's view. Character Deconstruction: While World War II is going on, Gene is going through his own war at the Devon school. He is fighting against himself, his enemy, which he “kills”: be knocking Finny from the tree or by getting forgiveness from Finny for doing so. Knowles is trying to say that no matter what people will go through a war at some point in their lives. Mood:
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