A Separate Peace Allusions & Cultural References

When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.

Literature, Philosophy, and Mythology

Virgil (1.27)
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1.48, 4.35), Far from the Maddening Crowd (1.48)
Lazarus (4.2)
Voltaire, Candide (4.35)
Molière (4.35), Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (12.63)
Homer, the Iliad (9.41)
Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico (11.70-82, 12.19)

Historical Figures

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (3.43, 8.116, 11.24)
Winston Churchill (3.43, 11.24)
Josef Stalin (3.43)
Benito Mussolini (3.43, 7.85)
General MacArthur (5.42, 8.46)
The bombing of Pearl Harbor (7.89)
Elliott Roosevelt (8.47)
Chiang Kai-shek (8.49)
Adolf Hitler (9.14, 11.11)
Charles de Gaulle (9.15)
Henri Giraud (9.15)