A Separate Piece Essay, Research Paper

Knowles, John. A Seperate Piece. New York: The Macmillan Co.,1959 [196 pages]

John Knowles novel A Seperate Piece is about friendship and how important it

really is to have a friend that can help. The story takes place at The Devon School in

Boston in 1942.

The main characters are Gene a 17 year old who is very smart and is not into

sports and Finny a 17 year old who is like the sports star at their school. Gene and Finny

are Juniors at The Devon School and they are room mates. Finny loved sports and Gene

really was not that good but wanted to be better. Finny set the record for the 220 meter

relay in swimming by 7 seconds and this is a big moment for Finny. Gene and Finny

started the Super Suicide Society of Summer Session where if a person wanted to get in

they had to jump out of a tree. One day Gene fell out of the tree and Finny tried to save

him and he fell and the Doctor said he could never play sports again and this was very

heartbreaking for Finny he loved sports. Gene and Finny go back to school for there

senior year and they have to share a dorm after they got in a big fight and they settled

everything. Since Finny can not play sports anymore Finny wants Gene to play for him.

Finny and Gene knew war was coming because they kept on seeing platoons moving

through the school yard. Gene and Finny had to go to war and gene was on the front lines

and he was very scared and did not want to be there. While Finny was the only person not

afraid to die and he did die. Gene went on to get his diploma.

The main conflicts of this story are p. vs. p. and p. vs. s. There are three moods in

this story they are sadness, jealousy, and anger. The theme of this story is friends are

forever do not let them get away. The climax of this story is when Finny gets hurt and can

never play sports again.