A Separate Peace, John Knowles

This celebrated novel is about the relationship between two boys at a boarding school during World War II. Gene is a brilliant student; Finney is a great athlete. Jealousy between them builds until Gene's internal battle for identity and security leads to a tragedy that changes both of their lives forever.

Related Readings

Envy: Is It Hurting or (Surprise) Helping You? —magazine article by Julie Taylor

from Sprints and Distances: Sports in Poetry and Poetry in Sports—poems by various authors

from In Search of Light: the Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow—radio broadcasts edited by Edward Bliss Jr.

The Home Front in Upstate New York—personal narrative by Josephine E. Case

D-Day: June 6, 1944—diary entries by Robert Mason

There Really Was a Super Suicide Society—interview by Bernard Carragher

Study Guide (PDF)