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.