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Comparison of A Separate Peace with
A separate peace and war
A seperate peace explicate
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A Separate Peace
Obstacles after obstacles came in the path to success. In the novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles revealed a very strong idea through one of his characters. Through Gene it was revealed that weak individual who once was weak morally and mentally can become a strong and a more matured person. John Knowles revealed this idea through Gene’s perspective; symbolism; and also Gene’s speech/action.
Gene had proved many things through only his perspective. He had intriguing thoughts, which gave many idea’s about Gene post personality and his surroundings. “Looking back now across fifteen years, I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in…” (Pg.2) This quote thus revealed that Gene was quite a weak individual. For if someone who lives in fear is considered morally weak, scared of the society and shy, insecure and who had a lack of confidence. Which Gene was in the beginning of the novel. “Yes he had practically saved my life. He had also practically lost it for me.” (Pg. 25) This quote exposed that Gene was in the middle of his mental metamorphosis. Gene in the first part of his quote seemed strong, but when he twisted it to make Finny, his best friend look bad, he still seemed to be morally weak, but in a more stronger moral state then before. “ Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he.” (Pg. 51) This quote showed a completely changed Gene. Gene became stronger by realizing the reality, he now had realized that there was no use in competing with anyone. Although this was recognizing Gene’s change only perspective wise.
There were many deep meanings that Gene had from significant things from his past. The two main significant symbolic things for Gene were the tree and the stairs. “Although they were old stairs, the worn moons in the middle of each step were not very deep. The marble must be unusually hard….” (Pg. 3) This quote proved that the marble represented some of his so called “friend”, in other words referred to Brinker and Leper. For they had used him and indirectly killed Finny, who was Gene’s real friend. For the Marble looked rich and good, but it’s real texture was cold and hard, just like Brinker and Leper were, as Gene had found out later on in the story.
A Separate Peace is a coming of age novel in which Gene, the main character, revisits his high school and his traumatic teen years. When Gene was a teen-ager his best friend and roommate Phineas (Finny) was the star athlete of the school.
Gene is much like Cain and because he is like Cain he has jealousy and hatred against Phineas who is Abel. When Gene wakes up at sunrise on the beach, while Finny is still sleeping. Gene realizes that he has an important exam and it will take him a long time to get back to Devon. He makes it back in time to Devon, but fails the
At the Devon School, the climate of war creates an even greater impedance in the way of Gene and Phineas’ development, as now both characters must attempt to understand death. For Gene at such a young age, death has never been a part of his life until Phineas dies. Phineas has always been fated to die, but Gene is not able to comprehend this until Finny falls down the marble stairs at the First Academy Building. On revisiting the marble stairs, Gene recognizes their “exceptional hardness” (Knowles 11). The hardness that Gene speaks of is representative of the hardness of coping with war and death during such a crucial developmental time. This imagery is utilized by Knowles in A Separate Peace to define that until Gene recognizes the incomprehensible nature of war and death, he will never escape the liminal state. By watching Phineas fall down the marble stairs, Gene is enlightened to the fact that war is real, death cannot be avoided, and both can never be
In the beginning of the novel, Gene, is a clueless individual. He sees the worst in people and lets his evil side take over not only his mind but also his body. During the tree scene, Gene convinces himself that Finny isn’t his friend, tricking himself into thinking that Finny is a conniving foil that wants to sabotage his academic merit. Gene is furthermore deluded that every time Finny invites Gene somewhere it’s to keep him from studying and doing well. Finny has a reputation for being the the best athlete in school, and Gene attempts to counterbalance Finny’s power by being the best student. After a while of joining Finny’s activities, Gene thinks that Finny is intentionally trying to make him fail out of school. He starts to dislike Finny and his activities, and Gene starts interrupt...
The documentary states that over 27,000 deaths a year are due to overdose from heroin and other opioids. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 prescription pain relievers account for 20,101 overdose deaths, and 12,990 overdose deaths are related to heroin (Rudd et al., 2010-2015). The documentary’s investigation gives the history of how the heroin epidemic started, with a great focus on the hospice movement. We are presented with the idea that once someone is addicted to painkillers, the difficulty in obtaining the drug over a long period of time becomes too expensive and too difficult. This often leads people to use heroin. This idea is true as a 2014 survey found that 94% of respondents who were being treated for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were “more expensive and harder to obtain (Cicero et al., 2014).” Four in five heroin users actually started out using prescription painkillers (Johns, 2013). This correlation between heroin and prescription painkiller use supports the idea presented in the documentary that “prescription opiates are heroin prep school.”
In the story Gene and Phineas return to the branch again, but this time Gene makes Phineas lose his balance and fall. It is shown that Gene does this out of jealousy and hate. Gene declares “I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone [...] hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud” (Knowles 60). Gene does this profound action because he is jealous of Phineas and also infuriated by the fact Phineas is not jealous of Gene in the slightest bit. Gene thinks, “He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he” (Knowles 59). This is part of how Gene’s first fearful place was created. Gene realizes the dark and envious side of
The two rivers that are part of the Devon School property symbolize how Gene and Finny grew up through the course of the novel. The Devon River is preferred by the students because it is above the dam and contains clean water. It is a symbol of childhood and innocence, because it is safe and simple. It is preferred to show how the boys choose to hold onto their youth instead of growing up. The Naguamsett is the disgustingly dirty river which symbolizes adulthood because of its complexity.
The book A Separate Peace follows the lives of two boys going to an all boys prep school called Devon. The few similarities they did have were their codependency on each other, and even though Gene wasn’t the best at sports they both enjoyed sports. They could not have been better friends, but had vast differences including how they were raised, they excelled in different things, and they act differently. Because of their many differences their friendship changes throughout the story.
The United States (U.S.) has a health care system that is much different than any other health care system in the world (Nies & McEwen, 2015). It is frequently recognized as one with most recent technological inventions, but at the same time is often criticized for being overly expensive (Nies & McEwen, 2015). In 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (U. S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.) This plan was implemented in an attempt to make preventative care more affordable and accessible for all uninsured Americans (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.). Under the law, the new Patient’s Bill of Rights gives consumers the power to be in charge of their health care choices. (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).
This leads to the second school of thought on medically assisted treatment. There has been a great deal of debate about the medication used to treat Opiate addiction, methadone. Many feel that the drug methadone is simply trading one drug in for another, as the addiction to methadone is quick and almost more powerful than an opiate addiction (Nelson, 1994). The withdrawals effects are far more intense with methadone and for this reason it is a lifetime maintenance medication. Some suggest that more rehabilitative programs are needed that would address the social problems the users have to help them recover, instead of the methadone program that is viewed...
Every person feels rivalry or competition towards others at some point in their lives. This rivalry greatly affects our ability to understand others, and this eventually results in paranoia and hostility. It is a part of human nature, that people coldly drive ahead for their gain alone. Man's inhumanity towards man is a way for people to protect themselves from having pain inflicted on them by others, and achieving their goals and desires without the interference of others. This concept of man's inhumanity to man is developed in A Separate Peace as the primary conflict in the novel centres on the main character, Gene, and his inner-battles with feelings of jealousy, paranoia, and inability to understand his relationship with his best friend Phineas. Competition is further demonstrated by the occurrence of World War II. It is shown that, "There were few relationships among us (the students) at Devon not based on rivalry." (p. 37) It is this rivalry and competition between the boys at Devon that ripped their friendships apart.
... age of Gene Forrester. Because Finny causes Gene to grow up, we are able to realize that one must grow up to move on in life. In that process of growing up, several people impact your life. This novel shows us how our identity is basically created by those who are present in our lives; however we must not measure our abilities against another person (Overview: A Separate Peace 2). We are shown how the impact of one person can make a great difference. The goodness in people is what one should always take away from a relationship. This is shown in the relationship between Gene and Finny. The experiences Finny gives Gene cause him to grow up and become a better person because of them.
In Plato’s The Republic, he unravels the definition of justice. Plato believed that a ruler could not be wholly just unless one was in a society that was also just. Plato did not believe in democracy, because it was democracy that killed Socrates, his beloved teacher who was a just man and a philosopher. He believed in Guardians, or philosophers/rulers that ruled the state. One must examine what it means for a state to be just and what it means for a person to be just to truly understand the meaning of justice. According to Socrates, “…if we first tried to observe justice in some larger thing that possessed it, this would make it easier to observe in a single individual. We agreed that this larger thing is a city…(Plato 96).” It is evident, therefore, that the state and the ruler described in The Republic by Plato are clearly parallel to one another.
Despite the many obstacles that Uganda’s people must overcome, this extraordinary country has a rich history filled with remarkable traditions and devastating conflicts that give it the distinct character it has developed over time.
...Despite this only 69% of the adult population is literate. In 2003, only 70% of Ugandan children were enrolled in school. The men expect women to be submissive and obedient. In all households the men are expected to make all the decisions while girls are belittled and taught to provide for their children any way possible, while boys are favored. There is a high level of crimes such as vehicle theft, armed robbery, pick-pocketing, and vandalism. A growing human rights issue is gay rights. Uganda passed a law that made all acts of homosexuality illegal. This is called the Anti- homosexuality act. People who dress well are accepted. in western style clothing and traditional dresses based on regions, the media portrays Uganda as a country facing poverty, crime rates, and starvation. However, that is not the case. Uganda is a beautiful country despite its many problems.