A. Title and Author - A Separate Peace by John Knowles
B. Story Setting - The story starts off at the Devon school, which is a prep school in New
England at 1958. But the rest of the story takes place through a flashback of his days when he was a student at Devon during 1943.
C. Main Characters - Gene Forrester - Gene is the narrator of the novel and appears at two different time periods: as a middle-aged man re-visiting Devon fifteen years after being a student there, and, for the majority of the novel, as a sixteen and seventeen-year-old student during World
War II. The novel is written in the past tense, and we assume that Gene's narration is triggered by his re-visitation of his old school when he is thirty-two. And although the older narrator seems long past the emotional turmoil that marked his schoolboy days, the events of his years at Devon are told as if they were occurring in the present, as if our narrator were still sixteen years old. The
Gene that we encounter for the bulk of the novel is, like many of his classmates, at a liminal stage in his life-the adolescence between boyhood and manhood. This transition is further emphasized by the war, Gene being in the final years of freedom before the ravages of a world war can legally claim him. Outwardly Gene is one of the top students in his class and a talented athlete. These traits earn him respect on campus and, most importantly, the friendship of Phineas, whom Gene respects more than any of his fellow classmates. But inwardly, Gene is plagued by the darker forces of human nature, forces that prey upon the turbulence of adolescence. Gene's admiration and love for Finny is balanced and marred by his fierce jealousy of him, by a deep insecurity in himself, and, because of his insecurity, a need to compete with and "defeat" his friend at all costs.
Gene's internal emotional battles are the major source of conflict and tension in the novel.
Phineas - Called Finny by his classmates, Phineas is Gene's closest companion at Devon and, for our narrator, the central focus of the novel. Finny is five feet eight and a half inches tall and weighs one hundred fifty pounds. Indeed, Finny is the superhuman wonder of athletics and physical harmony at Devon, far surpassing any competition from his classmates, Gene included.
What is more, Finny's physical prowess matches that of his personality-he is a charismatic, good-natured, and persuasive young man.
Conforming to Melmed, Polonsky, Larsen & Kronenberg (2011) the waste products of the blood can form crystals which can collect inside the kidneys and aggregate to form stones. Normally the stones are composed of phosphate, oxalate, uric acid, and magnesium ammonium phosphate, single or combined. The type of stone is determined by the pathogenic mechanisms. When the stones are find in the bladder, ureters, renal tubules and collecting system they tend to be symptomatic. When the urine is oversaturated with the stones constituents the stones are formed. During the passage through the renal tubules the crystals aggregate into stones. In order to allow more time for growth the crystals anchor themselves to the renal tubular epithelium in the renal papillae and Randall’s plaques. The concentration of excreted ions is influenced by the diet. The intake of fluids can reduce the stone formation and growth. A reduction in the sodium int...
A kidney stone or crystal forms when the urine is supersaturated in regard to a stone forming material, meaning the urine contains a higher concentration of stone material than it can dissolve. There are several factors that can contribute to supersaturation, such as urine volume, pH, and the amount of solute excretion (Worcester and Coe 2009). There are numerous types of stones that can form depending on what material in the urine is in excess. The most common types of stones are calcium kidney stones with calcium oxalate (CaOx) causing 80% of all calcium stones and calcium phosphate (CaP) causing 15% of calcium stones (Sakhaee et al. 2012). Calcium oxalate stones are usually found in patients as white deposits on their papillae, or Randall’s plaques. The stone begins as a deposit of calciu...
... hard enough as it is, these two boys compete constantly with each other throughout the novel, although one is unaware he is competing. Like people still in today’s time, Gene and Phineas are going through life-changing experiences. During these changes, Gene and Phineas do not realize what they have been looking for this whole time is peace. Even though Gene and Phineas claim to be best friends, they still completely differ in athletics, academics, and personality.
Gene fights a war within himself throughout most of the book. Gene is a very antisocial and awkward person. He tries to be at the top of his class in grades because he feels like that will make him equal to Phineas because Phineas is so athletic. Gene is very jealous of Phineas because of his popularity and athleticism. Gene basically tries to be him throughout the whole book.
His first interaction with someone was this girl name Penelope their friendship started out awkward but ended up being great. Penelope is the prettiest girl in the school. Junior push hard to become friends with Penelope and even though he is not as cool as she is they still become friends. Junior would get bullied by these jogs who would always make fun of him and especially roger he was senior and one day junior showed him who he truly was and ended up getting the respect he deserve. Then came Gordy the genius of Reardan was the first person that became junior friend he is like rowdy but in his own unique way. Gordy is a geek and whenever junior ask for advice Gordy always searches his answer. Junior says Gordy and rowdy are almost alike but in their own way. Junior knew that Gordy wasn’t going to be his best friend because he even say it “And so we did become friends. Not the best of friends. Not like Rowdy and me. We didn’t share secrets. Or dreams” (Chapter 12). His first friend after he lost the one he cared so much
In the early pages of the novel, Finny confesses that Gene is his best friend. This is considered a courageous act as the students at Devon rarely show any emotion. And rather than coming back with similar affection, Gene holds back and says nothing. Gene simply cannot handle the fact that Finny is so compassionate, so athletic, so ingenuitive, so perfect. As he put it, "Phineas could get away with anything." (p. 18) In order to protect himself from accepting Finny's compassion and risking emotional suffering, Gene creates a silent rivalry with Finny, and convinced himself that Finny is deliberately attempting to ruin his schoolwork. Gene decides he and Finny are jealous of each other, and reduces their friendship to cold trickery and hostility. Gene becomes disgusted with himself after weeks of the silent rivalry. He finally discovers the truth, that Finny only wants the best for Gene, and had no hidden evil intentions. This creates a conflict for Gene as he is not able to deal with Finny's purity and his own dark emotions. On this very day Finny wants to jump off of the tree branch into the Devon river at the same time as Gene, a "double jump" (p. 51), he says, as a way of bonding. It was this decision, caused by Finny's affection for Gene and outgoing ways that resulted in drastic change for the rest of his life.
The British invasion was one of the most important periods in the history of rock n roll. It brought many different bands and styles to America. Many bands including The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and Herman’s Hermits swept the nation with their music. Americans jumped into the hype and the British invasion changed rock n roll music forever. Without these British bands, rock music would never be the same.
... age of Gene Forrester. Because Finny causes Gene to grow up, we are able to realize that one must grow up to move on in life. In that process of growing up, several people impact your life. This novel shows us how our identity is basically created by those who are present in our lives; however we must not measure our abilities against another person (Overview: A Separate Peace 2). We are shown how the impact of one person can make a great difference. The goodness in people is what one should always take away from a relationship. This is shown in the relationship between Gene and Finny. The experiences Finny gives Gene cause him to grow up and become a better person because of them.
protagonist throughout the book as well. Even earlier in the chapter, a reference to Edgar
...etables and other objects shows that once someone has been planted in a safe environment, they begin to thrive and prosper. Also, the burying of objects could represent the death of her mother. While passing graveyards, “at each one of them, Turtle called out, ‘Mama!”” (230). The death of her mother along with Taylor adopting her shows the cycle of life. The beans show how possible rebirth is, and the usage of them consistently indicates how common rebirth takes place throughout the story.
...actually take the fetus out of the mother’s womb with surgical scissors and a suction device is placed through the opening of the brain so the head can collapse. The Supreme Court case in 2003 of Stenberg v Carhart in Nebraska did not allow partial-birth abortions and ruled that it was unconstitutional. Since then laws such as The Partial Birth Control Abortion Ban Act became in effect on 2003 by George W. Bush and it prohibited this horrendous act except in rare cases where it would be absolutely necessary to save the mother’s life. After that in 2007 in the Supreme Court case of Gonzales v Carhart, upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortion and reversed the Stenberg v Carhart ruling. Gonzales created the precedent that anyone who “delivers and kills a living fetus could be subject to legal consequences”, unless it was done to save the life of the mother ().
Nephrolithiasis is a disorder where calcium crystals form in the kidneys obstructing normal function due to certain mineral content in the urine. These stones are termed kidney stones or renal calculi (Chabner, 2007). Stones may become lodged in the ureter, bladder, or renal pelvis. This disease is more common in men, and can be a side effect from other disorders or due to an individual’s dietary intake (Preminger, 2007). Most kidney stones can pass unnoticed, but when they reach approximately 3mm they begin to induce severe pain due to dilation of renal pelvis and spasms in the ureter (Preminger, 2007).
1. How does the opening scene contrast with what happens at the end of the story?
The 1960s British Invasion has influenced American culture in music, art, and fashion for the last five decades. The Beatles, a British, rock, boy band, were the main leaders of changing American culture with a new type of music. Their influence on music in American society and the music we listen to will last forever. During the 1960’s, there was a huge change that happened in music all over the world. People began to stand up for themselves and come together to make the world a better place. The young people of the day were called “baby boomers” and were most likely the most influential people in the world, to this day. Europe was completely underestimated for their musical talent, no one knew what they were capable of in America. British bands such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd were the kinds of music that lead to this international movement of the British invasion of music into the American culture. They had a phenomenal amount of fans to support them, and started a new drug usage trend.