A Seperate Peace By John Knowles

A Separate Peace  
               By: John Knowles 

• Relevant historical background to the book’s publication or understanding:  A Separate Peace by John Knowles was written in New England, between 1957-1958. The novel was published in 1959. This was a big year for the US because two new states were admitted into the Union. On July fourth, America's  forty-ninth star flag was honoured to Alaska.  President Dwight D Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill on March eighth, and Hawaii becomes 50th US state on August 21st. Since this year, America has had fifty states in its Union.

•     Author background: John Knowles is the son of James M. Knowles and Mary Beatrice Shea Knowles . He was born in 1926, in Fairmont, West Virginia. Knowles spent his childhood in the small town of a coal-mining region, attending public schools. He left home at fifteen to attend an exclusive boarding school called Phillips Exeter Academy, located in New Hampshire. He was socially and academically challenged, his experiences influenced him to write A Separate Peace and Peace Breaks Outs. Knowles graduated in 1945, and spent eight months as an Air Force cadet. In the fall of 1944 he enrolled at Yale University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. His early career began after graduation. Knowles traveled to Europe and worked as a journalist until the mid 1950's. His work consisted of various free-lance pieces and short stories. In 1952 he worked as a reporter for the Hartford Courant and occasionally wrote theater reviews for the newspaper. Several of his articles were published in Holiday magazine, and he became an associate editor. A Separate Peace won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters; the novel also received the William Faulkner Award for the most promising first novel of 1960.
  http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4514/Knowles-John.html
   

•      Key characters and analysis:   
• Gene Forrestor is the narrator and protagonist of the novel. He narrates the story as a flashback in his early adulthood when he revisits Devon high school, and recalls events that happened fifteen years earlier. Gene is a intelligent and academically competitive. He became best friends with his classmate Finny but developed a love-hate friendship, whom he alternately adores and envies. Gene begins to suspect that Finny tries to distract him from his studies because he envies his academic achievements; while Gene is the one envying Finny about his athletic skills. Gene’s suspicions transform into hatred, but he realizes that he had been mistaken about the existence of rivalry between them, when Finny expresses a sincere desire to see Gene succeed.  
• Finny is Gene's classmate and becomes his best friend. He is considered "perfect" because of his physical and personality qualities. Finny is well-rounded, handsome, self-confident, and the best athlete in the school. He is also spontaneous and has a joy of living. His only weakness is assuming that everyone is like him and they share his enthusiastic and good intensions. Finny relishes pure achievement rather than competition.
•  Leper Lepellier is Gene and Finny's classmate. He is from Vermont, he adores nature and outdoor-oriented hobbies, like cross-country skiing. He a mild, gentle, peaceful, and not very popular at Devon but those aspects do not bother him. Later, we perceive his jealousy towards Finny, because he is Gene’s best friend, and he desires to be closer to Gene. He is the first boy from Gene’s class to enlist in the army, but military life proves too much for him, and he suffers hallucinations and a breakdown.

•       Key quotations and analysis:  
• "I was beginning to see that Finny could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little." -The more Gene expresses and justifies his feelings toward Finny, the more we can see that he's still ashamed of his actions.
• "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 Finny.” -This was Gene's desire to be Finny, he had no idea that he was the one who envied his best friend.
• "What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into The notion of equality? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?"" -This is important to Gene when he considers his friendship with Finny. Much of his hesitation has less to do with a fear of dying than a fear of subordination, of blindly following Finny's desires stupid things.
• “Looking back now across fifteen years I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that in the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it.”-Gene reflects on his actions and seems to still have a feeling of resentment towards the actions he committed during his adolescence. 
• “But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in anything I wanted, anything I loved.”-Gene seems to refer these words towards Finny, he knew Finny was his best friend but he had a vibe that allowed him to suspect that Finny envied his academic achievements and accused his best friend for not wanting him to succeed.
•       A theme that you can then support with an analytical paragraph: An important theme in A Separate Peace was the threat of identity. There are many obstacles and difficulties trying to identify ones self during adolescence. Gene and Finny become friends but their personalities are not quiet the same, they both have good qualities but Gene being more academic and Finny being more athletic, cause the two to have confusion about what each other's intentions are towards one another. Gene felt like Finny had resentment towards his academic achievments but Finny wanted Gene to succeed while enjoying life as well. People should not "judge a book by its cover," which is what Gene did towards his own best friend, and jealousy causes things to end up bad, like Finny's accident. Before we assume someone has negative intentions towards us, it is better to clear things the right way. 
• An AP Open Ended Question: 2008, Form B. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
•  A Separate Peace by John Knowles, portrays two young best friends who's sense of wonder depicts their actions. Gene assumes the worst about anything, He perceives his best friend as a distraction and thinks he envies his academic achievements, but Gene is the one who envies Finny. Finny is considerede perfect. Finny's innocence and sense of good intentions causes Gene to be the cause of his accident and he has to give up his athletics. After Finny passes away, Gene has a guilt feeling and holds resentment towards himself. His adolescence caused Gene to never forget this experience.

Sula
By: Toni Morrison
Date of Publication: 1973

About the Author:

Toni Morrison, originally Chloe Anthony Wofford, was born on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio. She is an American novelist, editor, and has received many awards; in 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and others like the National book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved. Morrison examines the lives of black characters who struggle with discrimination, racism, hostility, and identity. She is now living Rockland County, New York, and Princeton, New Jersey.

Citation: "Toni Morrison Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590?page=2>.

Historical Information:

During the time she published Sula in 1973, many historical events occur. One in particular was when Roe v. Wade made abortion a US constitutional right. Upon this, the Supreme Court invalidated all of these laws, and set guidelines for the availability of abortion. Abortion had been prohibited in 30 states and legal under certain circumstances like pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, in 20 states. Roe recognized that a woman's right to have an abortion to protect her health and life, was protected under the constitutional provisions of individual autonomy and privacy.

http://reproductiverights.org/en/document/roe-v-wade-then-and-now

Genre:

Sula is a  Historical Fiction novel, which means it can be based on a true story or real event from the past, drawn from history. Its setting is the compromising narratives who take place in the past and are characterized by an imaginative reconstruction of personages and historical events. 

Characters:

Cecile is Helene's religious grandmother, she raised Helene and arranged her marriage at the age of sixteen to Wiley Wright, her grand-nephew. 
Helene Wright is the daughter of Rochelle, a New Orleans Creole prostitute. After nine years of marriage, she gave birth to her only child, Nel. She lives a comfortable middle class life. 

Wiley Wright is Cecile's grand-nephew and Helene's husband. He is a seaman and is often away from home. 

Sula Peace good friends with Helene's daughter Nel. She is Hannah's daughter and has a birthmark over one of her eyes, which is extremely extraordinary to many people. People think the birthmark looks like a stemmed rose, a snake, or Hannah's ashes. 

Summary: 
The setting takes place in Ohio, a mostly black community referred as the "bottom." Wealthy whites have taken a liking to the hill land, and would like to destroy it to build a golf course. Although Nel and Sula's family beliefs are quite different, they become close friends. One day Sula is
playfully swinging a Chicken Little around by his hands, and when she loses her grip, the boy falls into a nearby river and drowns. The two girls never tell anyone about the accident because they did not intend to harm the boy. They soon begin to grow apart, and one day, Sula's mother's dress catches fire and she dies. After high school, Nel marries Jude and Sula leaves Bottom for ten years to have an independent life. She has many affairs, some with white men, and got tired of the same routine so she decides to return to Bottom. Before her return, the town warns Nel about her and ironically, Sula has an affair with Nel's husband and he leaves her. Her return to the community gives the town impetus to live harmoniously with one another. Sula dies in 1940, her death, dissolves the harmony that had reigned in the town. Nel talks to Eva and she is accused for Chicken Little's death, her accusation forces her to confront the unfairness of her judgment against Sula. She blamed his death entirely on Sula, then she comes to realize that in the aftermath of Chicken Little's death she had to define herself as "good," so she goes to the cemetery and mourns at Sula's grave. 

Theme: 
The theme of the book is based on good vs. evil. They both resemble each other.
The novel addresses the emotions and relationships that social conventions are a foundation for living one's life. The characters and their actions relate to "good and evil," and "right and wrong." Sula demonstrates the beauty and terror of life, in both conflicts and race, or gender.

Connections/ Thoughts: 
This is the second book by Toni Morrison that I have read. She is an amazing writer who allows her novels to real like you are experiencing them as well. I found Sula very interesting because of the conflicts she went through, I never expected the actions she committed to fit  her personality. Her friendship with Nel is very popular, most "close" friends become distant after high school or even during high school. For example, myself, I had a best friend my freshman year of high school, our families also had different beliefs. My parents have always been strictly religious and enforced house rules, unlike her who had so much freedom. We soon grew apart as time went by so I understand this novel and the events that occur within in very well.