Chapters 1-2, A Separate Peace Summary

A Separate Peace has been a bestseller since its release in 1959. The author is a highly educated, award-winning writer who died in 2001.

Chapter 1. Gene Forrester returns to Devon, the preparatory school of his youth, fifteen years after his graduation. Gene visits a tree a short distance from the gym that played an important role in his final year at Devon. The tree was once a symbol of bravery when Gene was young. The senior class of Devon reportedly would jump from one of its limbs into the river to prove their preparedness to go to war. In the summer of 1942, during the first summer session at Devon to prepare the students to go to war, Gene's roommate thought that they should prove their own courage by jumping from the tree. Phineas, Finny, jumps first. Gene...