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A Separate Peace
Dealing with enemies has been a problem since the beginning of time. “I never killed anybody,” Gene had commented later in his life, “And I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform, I was on active duty all my time at Devon; I killed my enemy there.” In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the value of dealing with enemies is shown by Gene, who was dealing with few human enemies, but his emotions created far greater rivals than any human could ever posses.
One of the enemies that Gene created for himself was jealousy. Gene was jealous of everything about Finny. The openness which Finny possessed was one of these things which Gene envied. One incident of Finny’s openness was when he wore the pink shirt. By wearing this he was “symbolizing the first U.S. bombing in Europe.” Gene simply replied to the shirt by calling Finny “nuts,” but deep down inside Gene was jealous of Finny’s boldness. Another incident of Finny’s openness, or boldness is when he wore the school tie as a belt. Gene was anxiously waiting for Finny to get yelled at, but because of his openness he was able to talk his way out of getting into trouble. Finny claimed that he wore the tie as a belt because it represented “Devon in the War.” Again, Gene was envious of Finny’s openness to make up a story and “get away with everything.”
Another one of Gene’s enemies is his anger. Alone, his anger is mild, but when mixed with his je...
feels that he has to get revenge. This anger leads to Gene jouncing Finny out of the tree.
Friendship is a necessity throughout life whether it is during elementary school or during adulthood. Some friendships may last a while and some may last for a year; it depends on the strength of the bond and trust between the two people. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main characters, Gene and Finny, did not have a pure friendship because it was driven by envy and jealousy, they did not feel the same way towards each other and they did not accurately understand each other.
Power. It is defined as the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. Throughout time, certain individuals have acquired power in their society as a way to govern and keep order among their community. Power is not a new concept; it was used in the past by many emperors, kings, and queens, and is still being used by presidents, prime ministers, and dictators. Although, it has been used to further progress societies into what the world is like today, not all power has been used for the best of mankind. But what goes awry to make power turn corrupt? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is illustrated how power can turn corrupt, when authoritative figures, who possess power, abuse it for their personal gain, rather than for the common good of the society.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story about heroism and the search for immortally. It is easy to see the transformation that Gilgamesh goes through from a ruthless and fearless king to a humble and content hero. Even though Gilgamesh failed his task and did not gain immortally, he did achieve content with his mortality and a better overall character.
In John Knowle’s A Separate Peace, symbols are used to develop and advance the themes of the novel. One theme is the lack of an awareness of the real world among the students who attend the Devon Academy. The war is a symbol of the "real world", from which the boys exclude themselves. It is as if the boys are in their own little world or bubble secluded from the outside world and everyone else. Along with their friends, Gene and Finny play games and joke about the war instead of taking it seriously and preparing for it. Finny organizes the Winter Carnival, invents the game of Blitz Ball, and encourages his friends to have a snowball fight. When Gene looks back on that day of the Winter Carnival, he says, "---it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace" (Knowles, 832). As he watches the snowball fight, Gene thinks to himself, "There they all were now, the cream of the school, the lights and leaders of the senior class, with their high IQs and expensive shoes, as Brinker had said, pasting each other with snowballs"(843).
Gilgamesh existed as one of the oldest known Sumerian rulers of all time and is accredited to many accomplishments. Legend has it that he created the first Sumerian civilization, constructing a city with many elaborate temples and immense walls. However, he has also been characterized as one of the cruelest and most self-centered rulers of all. Throughout the course of Gilgamesh’s life he goes from being a womanizing, slave driving ruler to a negligent and stubborn king, who not even god-sent Enkidu could help transform into a better king.
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.
John Knowles writes a compelling realistic fiction about the lives of two teenage boys throughout the start of World War II in his novel A Separate Peace. Peter Yates the director of the movie plays the story out in a well organized theatrical manner. There are similarities and differences in these two works of art. However; there are also similarities.
He becomes aware of Finny’s endurance, as “nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last [Gene] had” (203). Following Finny’s death, Gene states how absolutely nothing could break Finny, not even a war. But the evilness of his shadow and unconscious self could, and cause Finny’s death. One’s shadow can be toxic when displayed to the outside world, especially when it is not in check by the individual. Gene has accepted his dark side when he admits he had been the cause of his friend’s death. In the very end of the novel, Gene finally takes responsibility for all of his shadow’s actions against his best friend, as he thinks to himself, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Gene’s transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end is clearly seen in this quotation, as he no longer denies his shadow’s existence and now claims responsibility of the darkness inside himself. He illustrates himself as being on active duty at all times at school, staying on guard for any of Finny’s tricks that may potentially cause him to fall behind in his studies. His war with Finny, whom he once
Intimate partner violence is abuse or “harm by a current or former partner or spouse. This type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy” (“Intimate Partner Violence”, 2014). The main difference between intimate partner violence and domestic abuse is that domestic abuse is usually referred to as violence between a married couple or immediate family members, but they are usually used interchangeably. The views of intimate partner violence may vary from person to person. Some people think it is only physical abuse, but it is not (Jeltsen, 2014). Some abuse is not seen, but it is felt internally by the victim. Abuse can come in many different forms: physical, sexual, emotional, psychological,
In the epic poem titled The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was a king who ruled over the Sumerian city of Uruk around 2600 B.C. Gilgamesh was a very powerful and strong king, but he realized that he must use his power to help the people of Uruk. He is two-thirds god and one third human, which makes him realize that he must reconcile with the fact that he will eventually face death. He realizes that he will not reach full immortality and needs to be satisfied with his responsibilities over his people. Gilgamesh is able to reach a balance between being a king, god and man by accepting his mortality and his duties over his people of Uruk.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a tremendously serious social and public health problem. Progression of intimate partner violence can lead to morbidity or mortality and affect various types of relationships. An intimate partner is one that is described by frequent contact, identifying as a couple, emotional bonding, and regular physical and/or sexual contact. A few examples of intimate partners includes dating partners, spouses, girlfriends or boyfriends, and sexual partners. Violence within these intimate relationships can be psychological, physical, or sexual and present in heterosexual relationships, homosexual relationships, and to disabled partners in relationships.
Historically, domestic violence was viewed as only involving physical abuse. However, the more contemporary view of domestic violence has come to include not only physical types of abuse; but as well as emotional, sexual, physiological, and economic violence that may be committed
The Renaissance was a time of creativity and change in Europe. It produced many achievements in art, literature, and science, but most importantly it produced a new concept of how people thought of themselves, each other, and the world around them.
The word “Renaissance” is defined as rebirth or revival. In the European civilization, the renaissance of art, literature, painting, music shared in certain trends and influences. When we talked about the Renaissance, we generally mean the period of western European history from 1400 to 1600. The Renaissance gradually spreads through Italy and Western Europe. As it did, people grew interested in giving new life to Greek and Roman styles of art and architecture. Renaissance people began to create unique cultures of their own.