The setting of the novel takes place one summer during the early years of World War II in Devon. Devon is in New Hampshire. The setting is important because the novel takes place in a small community and the boys of the novel aren't affected much by the war, yet they are still in some ways affected by it.

One conflict in the novel is the conflict between Gene and Finny. Gene feels inferior to Finny. He feels flawed and imperfect. He also feels that he has to try to live through Finny after his accident. "...and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." (Pg. 77) And because Finny could no longer be the athlete he could be, he kept Gene by his side

One motif in the novel is friendship. You see a reoccurrence of the struggles that Finny and Gene go through. Some things that helped bring up the reoccurrence are the tree, the broken leg, and when the leg was broke again. The whole struggle was throughout the whole novel. Another motif in the story is the war. The war was constantly throughout the whole story. The tree, the boys would jump off preparing for war, enlisting, not enlisting, Finny not wanting Gene to enlist and not believing, and the constant talk of the effect of the war.

One symbol in A Separate Peace is the tree. When Gene is reflecting and walks over to the tree it brings back a lot of memories. The tree is like the fate of Finny, but the new start for Gene. It represents the beginning of Gene becoming himself and not trying to be Finny.

The author John Knowles uses a grown up, adult style. He does this using Gene to reflect back. Because Gene is older and is reflecting back it gives it more of a mature style and a chance for him to better express himself and different views.

A Separate Peace is written the first person point of view from the narrator, Gene. Gene, the narrator, is reflecting back to fifteen years ago. The point of view greatly affects the novel. Because Gene didn't express his feelings through talking, you wouldn't have known what he was thinking. You wouldn't have known what he was feeling and ho

Some common words found in the essay are:
Finny Gene, Gene Finny, Gene Gene, Separate Peace, Gene Devon, Finnny Finny, John Knowles, Gene Finny's, Phineas Pg, Devon Hampshire, finny gene, gene finny, setting novel takes, paragraph gene fifteen, novel takes, gene reflecting, gene feels, setting novel, finny feels, breaks leg, friendship gene finny, finny breaks leg, conflict gene, finny breaks,
Approximate Word count = 945
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)