A Separate Peace Reflection

Freshman year is where the foundation of a long lasting education begins. With english as a core class, the subjects we’ve covered have given a great base to build off of, especially as honors students. However, things weren’t always easy: critical thinking and extra effort was needed to accommodate for challenging concepts. Through it all we prevailed and have learned a multitude of new topics. We covered an expanse of different types of literature and dabbled into the world of grammar. Here’s my rendition and perspective on what I’ve learned in honors English 9. To kick the year off, we analyzed short stories and studied literary terms. The short stories unit was one of the units that I was most familiar and comfortable with. Throughout my middle school and elementary life, our main focus was short stories and the reading and dissecting process was something i had become a pro at. So when we dived into it at the beginning of the year i felt like i got it in the bag. Although the stories are short, some can really pack a punch, such as The Scarlet Ibis, The Most Dangerous

From this book I learned that there’s a deeper meaning in almost every aspect of a novel. I also learned that foreshadowing is often hidden and unnoticed until you go back and reread. In A Separate Peace at the very beginning of the book, Gene visits two fearful sites, the tree and the marble stairs, and mentions a violent death, which we later learn occurs because of his actions. Gene has ignorance in his heart and he unleashes it on his best friend, who is optimistic and pure almost, and the despair caused by his friend eventually leads to his end. I think this book is an eye opener and teaches an important life lesson, that wars are made by something ignorant in the heart. I enjoyed the book and used what I felt from the book to really assess who I am and what I’m doing to avoid myself from breaking, unless i already