Separate Peace And Peace Desire Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy

Separate Peace And Peace Desire Searching for peace can be a challenge when every thing around you has something to do with war. Growing up can be difficult as well but through the tough times people become more knowledgeable. In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Finny, Gene, and Leper each struggle find peace and escape reality without having to face the truths to their lives. For Leper, Finny, and Gene, it is hard to find tranquility with a war happening around them. For example, Finny couldn't find serenity with himself because of his broken leg and that caused him to devise the idea of the fake war. It was hard for him to be happy because of his disability. Because of this, he felt useless and so he produced this idea so he could be at ease and not be an outcast. In addition, Leper looks for a beaver dam instead of working to be carefree and escape the war, "...we all volunteered...But not Leper." He does this because he is afraid that a change in his life may disrupt his quiet state. By escaping through nature, he is avoiding the truths to his life. Furthermore, Gene fins a challenge in being placid because of his situation with Finny. He is unsure of his own opinion because he is used to agreeing with Finny, that he never developed his own thoughts and ideas. It's not until Finny's death that he finds his peace. With all these things happening around them they struggle to be mellow but find a similar relief in the fact that they will always have their own separate peace at Devon. Through all these events, all the characters suffer their own hardships. For example, Gene loses the friend he never knew he had. He was so busy competing with Finny that he never realized what a true friend he was. All his jealousy towards him turned to hate and eventually ended in tragedy. In addition, Leper suffers by discovering things about himself that he never realized. He learns that he is tired of pleasing other people all the time, "What's she got to be pleased about...I'm pleasing myself!"(134). All he wants is someone who cares for him and that's what he's hoping to get when Gene comes to visit him. Furthermore, Finny endures the pain of realizing that he was misled by the one he cared about the most. For Gene the friendship was a bitter rivalry but for Finny, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. They each suffer through all this, but Finny suffers the most by being forced to face the truth about his accident. All this shows how they each tolerate pain through maturity, and learn more about life. As each of the characters grow up, they become more knowledgeable. For example, Leper truly finds himself when he comes home from war. This "crazy" Leper is who he really is. He was never sure of himself because he was always too busy escaping reality. In addition, Finny becomes more knowledgeable after he finds the truth about his accident. He was resentful towards Gene for doing such a thing; "You want to break something else in me! Is that why you're here!" (76). His friendship with Gene was part of what kept him composed and the truth shattered his false representation of reality. Furthermore, when the truth about Finny's accident comes out, Gene world is shattered, and he sees everything around him the way it really is. This view gives him a better understanding of life. He learns that you can't just escape reality because it will always be there. Through all these events these characters become more knowledgeable by learning more about themselves and the world around them. Throughout the story, each character finds that growing up is a complex and hazardous task. In the search for peace, they lose a sense of reality but gain maturity. They also lose a sense of security that gave them the common bond they shared at Devon.

Why the Articles of Confederation was destined to fail. essays

Why the Articles of Confederation was destined to fail. essays When a new life came from the independence of Britain, a new nation and a new government began to evolve. During the aftermath of the war, delegates met in Philadelphia and tried to establish a form of government, which created the Articles of Confederation in 1787. It was the first constitution of the United States but caused many problems with the Americans. The Articles of Confederation lasted eight years and soon became an ill effective system because it was unable to raise revenue, regulate commerce, trade, and get a unanimous vote on every issue. Before the Articles of Confederation was revised and rewritten, every vote about a diplomatic reasoning must be unanimous to come into effect. It was at the Constitution Convention where the delegates met and drew up the rough draft for todays government. The delegates decided that Congress would be able to govern the conduct foreign affairs, maintain an army and navy and make treaties. They also decided they were also to establish post offices and coin money. By the end of July 9, 1778 they had finally agreed on the finished version and signed it to make it official. The people began to waver of the idea that the Articles were able to stand firm in the government. The Americans wanted to expand to the western areas but were unable to because the government was unable to supply sufficient money to start a possible war with France of that territory. The government wanted to raise taxes instead of relying to the states to give them some funding for it. A few of the smaller states delegates did not want to impost on imported goods because they believed that it would harm the commercial states and was unconstitutional. This caused the British to flood the American market because America was unable to commerce. These actions where the cause of Shays Rebellion in 1787 led by an ex-Revolutionary War soldier named Daniel Shay. Another problem the Articles caused was the fail...

Compare and contrast 2 different transportation modes and 2 different Essay

Compare and contrast 2 different transportation modes and 2 different terminals - Essay Example It is also important to put into consideration the peak and off-peak periods of travel. There are a lot of similarities between air transport and the high-speed rail, more than even the similarity that is there between either the conventional rail. High speed rails tend to compete with airplanes to a large success. As such, the line normally tends to attract a premium class of travelers who give priority to high-value traveling (Hensher, 2004). High speed rail, unlike airports will however require less space. On the other hand, there is a dire need for vast spaces in the case of an airport, and the associated low-density expansion. When major stations have been directly located at the heart of a city, their economic benefit tends to be concentrated from the system. A good example is the San Francisco owned S. F. Airport. A lot of the economic advantage that accrues from this airport is normally to the benefit of the car-rentals, hotels, and restaurants that are located within the San Mateo County, as opposed to the revenue that is collected by the city. Since it is not possible for an airport to be located in San Francisco, the city can however make use of the high-speed rail. ... In addition, they can also act as an important part of a good system of transport. There are also capable of connecting rail stations in a city center to a multitude of other rail stations in other city center, in a record loading and unloading time for passengers of between 3 and 8 minutes (Dempsey, 1999). Conversely, the air transport tends to connect airports that are located in different city centers, and the average interconnectivity of the passengers ranges from 30 minutes to 1 hour. Nevertheless, if the two modes of transportation are properly designed and maintained, they normally tend to complement one another (Song et al, 2006). Usually, journeys that takes between two to three hours are best suited for high speed rail, as in such an average distance of 200 miles, the high speed rails tends to be faster than even air transport. Normally when one is traveling for a distance that is below 400 miles, air transport is slowed down by such processes as security checks, as well as the distance one has to cover to and fro the airport. In the long-run the time spent on an air journey becomes almost similar to that by a high speed rail (Rodriquez et al, 2006). Airport vs. rail terminus The early airport terminal bore the origin of their architectural designs from the then union stations of railroad. The term terminal also bears its origin from the railroad industry. Both the rail and airport terminus bears some similarities. In a case whereby the inter-modal facilities of a terminus are properly designed, it is possible for a passenger to board and exit an aircraft and a train (Dempsey, 1999). In a way, the terminus normally found in an airport tends to differ a bit from the railways terminus