Directions
The summer reading for Honors freshmen is as follows:
 Honors English Literature Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Separate Peace by John Knowles
After reading the assigned summer reading novel, answer the following questions in complete
sentences, on a separate sheet of paper. These questions will be due the first week of school!
HP English Literature
RUBRIC
1. A GOOD ANSWER SHOWS YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.
2. A VERY GOOD ANSWER SHOWS YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AND HOW IT IS SIMILAR OR
DIFFERENT FROM OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS AND REFLECTS WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE
CHARACTERS AND THEIR MOTIVATIONS.
3. AN EXCELLENT ANSWER SHOWS THAT YOU HAVE AN INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THE AUTHOR
IS TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH OVERALL, THEMATICALLY.
ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES TYPED OR IN PEN ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER.
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
Questions:
1. Give three examples of Finny’s luring Gene into breaking the rules.
2. Explain the “Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.”
3. Describe the events leading to Finny’s accident at the tree.
4. What are Gene’s and Finny’s attitudes toward school authority and rules?
5. What qualities does each boy have that explain why he is the leader or the follower?
6. How does Finny’s injury affect Gene’s plans for participating in sports?
7. How does the war affect the life at Devon?
8. What is Finny’s theory about the war and how is it typical of his way of thinking?
9. After Finny’s accident, Gene’s purpose was “to become a part of Phineas.” What does he mean?
Does he accomplish this?
10. Why does Gene decide to tell Finny the truth and then feel sorry about doing so?
11. Why does Finny give up his theory about there being no war? Be specific
12. What is Brinker investigating and who are the witnesses?
13. What happens to Finny after his fall down the staircase?
14. How has Gene changed during the novel?
15. Interpret the last line of the novel.
16. Discuss the meaning of the title A Separate Peace.
17. Why is it a suitable title for the novel?
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Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Chapter One:
1. What is the importance of the conch in the opening of the story?
2. How is Piggy excluded from the group? How does this help the group?
3. How does Ralph try to win Jack’s friendship?
Chapters Two and Three:
1. Since they lack of matches, how do the boys start a fire?
2. Which of the “littluns” is missing? Who notices that he is not in the group?
3. Compare and contrast the descriptions of Jack and Simon in the jungle What can be inferred
about their personalities?
Chapter Four:
1. What does Piggy suggest that the boys could make with the materials available on the island?
2. From the time he sees the first pig to the time he helps kill the mother pig, how does Jack
change?
Chapters Five and Six:
1. What ability of Piggy’s does Ralph come to admire?
2. What caused the parachutist to bail out over the island?
3. Why is it unwise for Ralph to discuss the beast at an evening assembly?
4. What message from the world of grownups does the figure of the dead parachutist represent?
Chapters Seven and Eight:
1. What books from his boyhood does Ralph recall as he thinks about home?
2. How do Sam, Eric and Bill respond to Jack’s invitation to come to a feast?
3. Why does the narrator say that Ralph would never be a good chess player?
4. Why does Simon want to climb the mountain?
Chapters Nine and Ten:
1. Where does Simon go when he wakes from sleep?
2. As Piggy and Ralph discuss the events of the night before, what does Ralph say he is frightened
of?
3. What change can be seen in Piggy when he angrily fights Ralph in the water?
4. What motivated Jack to punish Wilfred?
Chapters Eleven and Twelve:
1. What name did Ralph call Jack that infuriated Jack so?
2. What did Ralph find when he hid in the thicket?
3. Why did Ralph and his group feel threatened by their suspicion that Jack’s tribe would be
painted?
4. Why was Percival Wemys Madison unable to tell the other officer his name and address?
5. Do you think the events of the novel could actually take place? Why or why not?