A Separate Piece Outline
A Separate Peace Outline
Thesis Statement: In a Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the envy Gene has for Finny, Leper’s thought on war and Finny’s denial about evil in the world to create a theme of allusion vs. reality.
Topic Sentence: Gene is so envious of Finny he goes to all means to bring down to his level.
Quote: “…One evening when I was dressing for dinner in this numbed frame of mind, an idea occurred to me, the first with any energy behind it since Finny fell from the tree. I decided to put on his clothes. We wore the same size, and although he always criticized mine he used to wear them frequently, quickly forgetting what belonged to him and what to me.” (67)
Quote: “…‘Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and 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 Phineas.” (85)
Quote: “…I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone…I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all.” (112)
Topic Sentence: Leper has a tendency to abstain from the outside world due to his hallucinations he had during the war.
Quote: “…Leper had ‘escaped.’ You didn’t ‘escape’ from the army, so he must have escaped from something else. The most logical thing a soldier escapes from is danger, death, the enemy. Since Leper hadn’t been overseas the enemy must have been in his country. And the only enemies in this country would be spies. Leper had escaped from spies.” (140)
Quote: “…̔Everything began to be inside out. And the man next to me at night, coughing himself inside out. That was when things began to change. One day I couldn’t make out what was happening to the corporal’s face.
Thesis Statement: In a Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the envy Gene has for Finny, Leper’s thought on war and Finny’s denial about evil in the world to create a theme of allusion vs. reality.
Topic Sentence: Gene is so envious of Finny he goes to all means to bring down to his level.
Quote: “…One evening when I was dressing for dinner in this numbed frame of mind, an idea occurred to me, the first with any energy behind it since Finny fell from the tree. I decided to put on his clothes. We wore the same size, and although he always criticized mine he used to wear them frequently, quickly forgetting what belonged to him and what to me.” (67)
Quote: “…‘Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and 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 Phineas.” (85)
Quote: “…I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone…I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all.” (112)
Topic Sentence: Leper has a tendency to abstain from the outside world due to his hallucinations he had during the war.
Quote: “…Leper had ‘escaped.’ You didn’t ‘escape’ from the army, so he must have escaped from something else. The most logical thing a soldier escapes from is danger, death, the enemy. Since Leper hadn’t been overseas the enemy must have been in his country. And the only enemies in this country would be spies. Leper had escaped from spies.” (140)
Quote: “…̔Everything began to be inside out. And the man next to me at night, coughing himself inside out. That was when things began to change. One day I couldn’t make out what was happening to the corporal’s face.