A Separate Peace, Chapter 2 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Mr. Prud'homme stop at Gene and Finny's door the morning after the tree jump?

   • They had been caught swimming after curfew
   • Correct answer: Their absence from dinner had been noticed
   • They had skipped a required war-training drill
   • They had damaged property down by the river

   Missing dinner is one of the few rules the substitute Master knows and enforces, and he notes the boys have already missed nine meals in two weeks.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What reason does Finny finally give Mr. Prud'homme for jumping out of the tree?

   • That the seniors had dared the two of them to try it
   • That it was the quickest way down to the river
   • Correct answer: That the boys are all getting ready for the war
   • That one of the Masters had already given permission

   He ties the jump to the possibility that the draft age will drop to seventeen, then wanders into a monologue about birthdays that leaves the Master laughing.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Why does Finny say he is wearing the pink shirt?

   • Correct answer: As an emblem celebrating the bombing of Central Europe
   • Because his mother asked him to wear it to the term tea
   • To match the school colors for the summer session
   • To settle a bet he had made with Gene the night before

   The boys have no flag to float out the window, so Finny turns the shirt his mother sent into his own private celebration of the news item.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. How does the Devon School tie come to be serving as Finny's belt?

   • He picked it deliberately to needle the Masters at tea
   • Correct answer: It was simply the first tie at hand as he dressed in haste
   • Gene handed it to him as a joke on the way to the party
   • He had lost a wager and was required to wear it that way

   Gene reports that Finny grabbed a tie for a belt without thinking and the first one at hand happened to be the school tie. Finny admits he did not think of the meaning until asked.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. How does Mr. Patch-Withers finally react to Finny's explanation of the tie?

   • Correct answer: He laughs out loud, surprising everyone including himself
   • He sends Finny back to the dormitory to change clothes
   • He asks Gene to explain what his roommate really meant
   • He orders both boys to leave the tea before it ends

   He first calls the argument the most illogical thing he ever heard, then names it the strangest tribute the school has had in a hundred and sixty years, and breaks into laughter.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. What does Gene feel as Finny escapes trouble at the tea?

   • Relief that his roommate has avoided a punishment
   • Admiration for how neatly Finny handled the Masters
   • Correct answer: A sudden stab of disappointment that he explains away
   • Embarrassment at having been seen standing beside him

   He first notices himself becoming unexpectedly excited at the prospect of Finny being caught, then feels disappointed, and blames the feeling on simply wanting more excitement.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. Why does the narrator say the Masters treated the younger boys so gently that summer?

   • The strictest faculty members had been called into service
   • The Summer Session operated without formal discipline rules
   • Correct answer: The boys of sixteen reminded them of what peace was like
   • The Headmaster had asked them to loosen the usual rules

   Boys registered with no draft board and never tested for hernia or color blindness stood for the life the war was being fought to preserve, while the seniors were driven and molded and armed.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. Why is Gene's near-fall from the limb important to the rest of the novel?

   • It proves Finny had been trying to frighten him all along
   • Correct answer: It creates a debt to Finny that Gene will come to resent
   • It persuades Gene to withdraw from the new club at once
   • It convinces both boys that the tree is too dangerous

   Finny's hand shoots out and steadies him, and by that evening Gene has decided that Finny practically saved his life. The obligation shadows the friendship from here on.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 2 of A Separate Peace?

   • Mr. Prud'homme scolds the boys about the missed dinner and then lets them off.

     Happened

   • Finny wears the Devon School tie as a belt to the term tea.

     Happened

   • Mr. Patch-Withers strips Finny of his privileges for the rest of the session.

     Didn't happen

   • Gene tells Finny that the pink shirt makes him look like a fairy.

     Happened

   • Mr. Patch-Withers cancels the tea when he hears about the Allied bombing of Central Europe.

     Didn't happen

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these details are accurate to the river scene at the end of Chapter 2?

    • The boys name their club the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.

      Happened

    • Membership in the club requires one jump out of the tree.

      Happened

    • Gene jumps from the limb before Finny does.

      Happened

    • Leper Lepellier climbs the tree and jumps with them.

      Didn't happen

    • Gene refuses to jump and climbs back down the rungs.

      Didn't happen

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'inane' mean as used in: 'trying hard not to sound as inane in our conversation'?

    • Correct answer: Silly and empty of any real sense
    • Rushed and slightly out of breath
    • Stiffly formal and overly polite
    • Loud enough to carry across a room

    The boys are straining not to sound as foolish talking to the Masters and their wives as the adults sound to them.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'conniver' mean as used in: 'And not because he was a conniver either'?

    • Someone who boasts about his own achievements
    • Someone who follows every rule very closely
    • Correct answer: Someone who schemes in secret to get his way
    • Someone who avoids all forms of confrontation

    Gene insists that Finny does not manipulate people. In his view Finny gets away with things because of the extraordinary kind of person he is.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'compliance' mean as used in: 'He forced compliance by leaning against me'?

    • Open resistance to an unwelcome order
    • Correct answer: Going along with a request or demand
    • Loud approval expressed in public
    • Silence in the face of an insult

    Finny gets Gene to change direction not by asking but by leaning his weight on him, which is why the narrator calls it forced rather than given.

    Read the passage