who jumped from the tree in a separate peace
A Separate Peace Gene Forrester, the protagonist, returns to his old prep school, Devon (a thinly veiled portrayal of Knowles' alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy), fifteen years after he graduated to visit two places he regards as "fearful sites": a flight of marble stairs and a tree by the river that he caused his friend, Phineas, to fall out of. First, he examines the stairs and notices that they are made of very hard marble. He then goes to the tree, which brings back memories of Gene's time as a student at Devon. From this point, the novel follows Gene's description of the time span from the summer of 1942 to the summer of 1943. In 1942, he was 16 and living at Devon with his best friend and roommate, Phineas (nicknamed Finny). At the time, World War II is taking place and has a prominent effect on the story.