Vista del Lago High School
Summer Assignment
English 2 Honors
Students enrolled in English 2 Honors for the 2013-2014 school year are required to read the following
novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, and to familiarize themselves with the Tone Words List. In
case you lose this handout, it is available on the school AP/Honors English website.
There will be a meeting immediately after school on May 23, 2013 in A235 for students who have no
experience in an Honors/AP classroom. Please attend for more detailed instructions about the assignment.
 Books should be readily available at a public library or at any bookstore (including online
bookstores such as abebooks.com). Please access one as soon as possible.
 Please see the back of this handout for dialectical journal format and guidelines.
 Pace yourself and do not attempt to complete the entire assignment two days before the deadline
or before school starts.
 During your first week of school in August, you will be given essay prompts based on the summer
reading (either for process essay or in-class timed writing), and you will take an objective test on
the novel and on the Tone Words.
 Please note that this assignment is designed to show me you are capable of serious work—not
your ability to plagiarize from the internet or any other source. Make sure that the journal is your
own original, introspective work.
 The Dialectical Journal will be due through Turnitin.com. You can use either account:
 Ms. Pierce: Class ID: 4645569; password: Pierce
 Ms. Galace: Class ID: 2942335; password: sophomore
 Please do NOT submit your work to each teacher.
 Students who do not have a Dialectical Journal or unable to complete the essay based on
their Summer Reading will start the year with a ZERO.
 For questions/concerns, e-mail Ms. Pierce [email protected] or Ms. Galace
[email protected].
The English 2 Honors course is an intensive college prep course in reading and writing. Students are
expected to work both independently and collaboratively with their peers and with the teacher. To be
successful in this course, a student must possess self-motivation, perseverance, and the volition to
routinely push themselves beyond the basic requirements of most English classes. In other words, you
will be expected to participate actively and responsibly in the process of your education. The following
conditions and requirements are also necessary for success in this course. English 2 Honors students:
 Must be willing to read novels outside of class (a 200-300 page novel within 2-3 weeks) and
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be ready to discuss their reading in class.
Must know and apply the basic format of a five-body paragraph essay.
Must be willing to participate in oral discussions, do oral presentations, do long and shortterm projects, work collaboratively in groups.
Must have a positive attitude toward schoolwork—i.e. no whining, please. You signed up for
this class; you should know what you’re getting into.
Must maintain a polite, respectful attitude toward fellow students and teacher at all times.
Must have good attendance and meet all deadlines and due dates.
Must be obedient to school wide and classroom rules.
Must be mature enough to ask questions and ask for additional help when necessary.
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1. Read John Knowles’s A Separate Peace. Take notes in a dialectical journal format. Write a
thorough analysis of each passage you choose. You cannot use these entries for your own.
Copy the text/passage with the page number in
parenthesis.
“Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him,
and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny,
his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me
for an instant with extreme interest, and then he
tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches
below and hit the bank with a sickening unnatural
thud. It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever
seen him make. With unthinking sureness I moved out
on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of
my fear of this forgotten” (52).
“…that was my sarcastic summer, 1942” (7).
Symbolism? Allusion? Character development? Plot
development? Label it and then explain the passage’s
significance.
Character Development: Gene
Gene is selfish and careless. His jealousy finally reveals
itself as he purposely makes Finny lose balance. Gene
doesn’t seem to care that they are in a high tree, in a
precarious situation, and that he could possibly kill his
friend. As he jumps into the river with “every trace of
[his] fear of this forgotten,” he clearly shows that he
has no remorse for what he has done. Gene is not a
good friend.
Theme: Destruction of Innocence
Gene has some hidden violence inside him. He feels no
guilt after Finny has fallen. He has not only destroyed
the innocence of his friendship, but he has also
destroyed the innocence inside him when he allowed
his jealousy to cause injury to someone else.
Symbolism of the Setting:
1942 is during WW2, and WW2 represents conflict and
violence. While the rest of the world is engaged in war,
Gene also wrangles with his own confusion and envy.
War does not always have to be a battle with guns and
bombs, but it can be a struggle that people must fight
within themselves. For example, Gene comments
about how 1942 was his “sarcastic summer.” Many
people may use sarcasm as a way of coping with the
world and to help them get through what they are
“struggling” with internally. While the world is fighting,
Gene is fighting within himself and using “sarcasm” as
his weapon of choice when he feels like he is against
the world, or at least his peers.
Questions for focus (answer these in a dialectical journal format):
a. Complete a minimum of 10 entries.
b. Pay attention these characters and the development of their personalities: Gene, Finny, Brinker, and
Leper.
c. Symbols to pay attention to: the tree, the rivers, seasons (winter and summer), WW2. Trace the
development of these symbols and explain what ideas they represent and how they connect to the
theme. Do not merely identify the symbols, but you must explain what they mean and how they work in
the story’s plot.
d. Themes to pay attention to: the violence in mankind or the destruction of innocence.
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