A Separate Peace Essay Example for Free

A Separate Peace Essay In the novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles the question is presented â€Å"what is a true friend?† The author challenges the question by manifesting two main characters, Finny and Gene, to have a type of rivalry relationship. Finny is a self-confident, outgoing, and athletic person. Awhile on the other hand Gene is quiet, competitive, and intelligent person. Gene gains jealous thoughts which in the end lead their friendship too gradually to fall apart. The author creates a challenge that frustrates both Finny and Gene to test both side of their relationship. As an example the author shows Finny’s fall in the climax of the book is due to Gene being jealous of him which then leads to Finny’s tragic injury.†I was not of the same quality as he. I couldnt stand this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Knowles 52). Gene was surrounded with depression and major guilt. I feel that, with friendship there is always going to be envious feelings towards the other party no matter what, but not to a point of possibly injuring them or hurting them really bad. Another incident is when Gene wears Finny’s clothes while he is recovering from his injury. This brings out the thought that Gene missed Finny and he had a feeling of loneness, but however he is also replacing him in his athletics.†Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play for me† (Knowles 76). Due the past altercations, Gene will play for Finny, not only because he was the second best player but Finny was injured. So I guess you can say he qualifies for his replacement. This shows that in a friendship or relationship, when two friends have had an argument in the past that has lead to loneliness, an empty feeling, and non communication, but in the end this is the factors that makes a friendship stronger when they finally talk again for the first time in a long period of time and they both feel the love and welcoming type of feeling. The last incident that occurs shows the true feelings of friendship illustrated by the author is, this is when Finny falls down the stairs and  he breaks his leg for the second time. But sadly in the end e eventually dies in surgery when the doctor begins his procedure on Finny’s leg to try to fix it. The doctor then explains that the marrow of the bone escaped and went throughout his bloodstream leading to his heart killing him. Gene didn’t cry for one reason, when he was at Finny’s funeral, he felt as if this was his own.†I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case†(Knowles 184). Gene is mad at himself for endangering Finny’s life by bouncing and unbalancing the tree branch as Finny leaped out towards the water and in the end unintentionally ending his Finney’s life. John Knowles wrote the sad story of when friends obtain the feelings of envy or jealousy, on their journey to discover the true meaning of what they thought was a true friend. Their jealous cravings lead them to their tragedy and this is the major factor that brought their friendship to a end. The question â€Å"What is a true friend?† can only be answered in your opinion for there is no true definition of true friends because everyone is different and therefore think differently and has a different opinion on the subject.

To Kill A Mockingbird Essay: Parallel Lives of Tom and Boo :: Kill Mockingbird essays

Parallel Lives of Tom and Boo in To Kill A Mockingbird Certain uncanny resemblances between Tom Robinson and Boo Radley's lives exist in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Often large groups of people misunderstand certain unusual individuals. Sometimes they stereotype the person; other times, they simply do not bother to find out the truth. When such circumstances occur, the ostracized person's actions become unfairly misinterpreted or not understood at all. Sometimes rumors circulate about the individuals, that might then be assumed as the truth. In this novel, Tom and Boo are both outsiders to the white, normal society of Maycomb county. Tom and Boo share generous natures that are misunderstood; they hold little social value, and are generally assumed guilty. The first parallel in the lives of Tom and Boo, focuses on their property. Tom lives in the "nigger nest" (pg. 175) near to Mr. Ewell but outside the city limits. While testifying Mr. Ewell says, "I've asked this county for fifteen years to clean out that nest down yonder, they're dangerous to live around 'sides devaluin' my property (pg. 175)". A person's status often relates to his property, and the interpretation of that property's value is often based on the tenants of the land. In Maycomb county, the black community inhabits the least desirable property. In the Jim Crow era, blacks were stereotyped as violent and unclean; therefore, the property they owned was considered unvaluable and was located in the worst part of the county territory. On the other hand, the people in the "best" part of town are always white and upper class members of society. Mr. Ewell lives directly next to the town dump, yet he considers the blacks that he lives near a larger threat to his land's value th an the appearance and stench of the city's trash. Most people in the better parts of town might even agree with him because they assume that the black people are a constant menace to white society, and being near them endangers one's life. The Radley property also threatens the lives of people brave enough to venture near it. The children believe that anything that comes from the Radley's soil is poisoned, including the nuts and fruits on the trees. Jem yells at Scout once saying about the Radley property: "Don't you know you're not supposed to even touch the house over there?

International Human Rights

ABSTRACT: Armed conflict, either internationally or internally, has caused great sufferings to the victims and society as a whole. It constitutes a situation where the rule of law is absent and human rights are no longer respected. Even though various preventive endeavours have been campaigned and implemented by the international community, the occurrences of armed conflicts are still inevitable due to political fluxes and fractions or disputes over power, which proved that preventive measures alone are not enough. This grave situation calls for the role of transitional justice to tackle the repercussions of armed conflicts in post conflicts situations, which in the long run can enhance the preventive measures in preventing the re-occurrences of armed conflict. However, the implementation of transitional justice in post conflict situations showed to be problematic due to various factors. The most prominent factor that impedes the implementation of transitional justice is the preference of States in applying realpolitik and amnesty laws to perpetrators of gross human rights violations in order to gain political stability. In responding to this problem, it is of the opinion of this thesis that under international law, accountability for gross human rights violations should remain to be the main purpose of transitional justice in implementing its approaches to establish justice and peace in post conflict situations. Based on that point of view, this thesis is aimed to discuss the implementation of transitional justice in post conflict situations in general. Firstly, it will discuss the implementation of transitional justice approaches over the history to come to terms with past atrocities and to establish a new starting ground for society in post conflict situations. Secondly, the thesis will also hold a discussion about transitional justice under the framework of international law, especially on the relation between the concept with international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Lastly, this thesis will use a study case from Indonesia concerning post conflict situations in Aceh and Papua after the downfall of the New Order regime in 1998 as a testing ground to apply the analyses on transitional justice approaches under the framework of international law and to asses the problems occurred in implementing transitional justice approaches in Aceh and Papua.

The Theory Of Normative Ethics - 1420 Words

One day you wake up and you are faced with a dreaded decision: to sacrifice a family member to save the man who has the cure to cancer, or to sacrifice the man who has the cure to cancer to save the family member. These scenarios are ones that seem impossible to formulate an answer for. Would you rather save millions of lives or save the individual closest to you? One way that makes this scenario slightly easier to answer is from a Utilitarianism form of view. Utilitarianism is a theory of normative ethics defined as, â€Å"the view that right actions are those that result in the most beneficial balance of good over bad consequences for everyone involved† (191). If one day you were to wake up and be faced with an impossible decision,†¦show more content†¦The people who were trapped were faced with two options, do nothing and drown, or use the stick of dynamite they have and blow up the fat guy to ensure their safety. Looking at this case from a Utilitarianism view Nie lsen states that, â€Å"[the fat man] should be blasted out† (215). Nielsen is well aware that the decision overrides the principle of â€Å"the innocent should never be deliberately killed†¦but the people involved are caught in a desperate situation in which, if such extreme action is not taken, many lives will be lost and far greater misery will obtain† (215). Blowing up the fat man does not mean that the people did not care about him, â€Å"the fat man’s person-his interests and rights-are not ignored† (215). The decision will haunt the people for the rest of their lives. This case portrays how Utilitarianism view aims to save as many people as possible with the least amount of casualties, and also shows how moral reasoning is considered. I believe that utilitarianism is the correct view to take when faced upon extreme situations. A real world example of extreme situations is war. During World War II the decision for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was taken from a Utilitarianism stand point. What led the United States to make such a decision was the Japanese attack, the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese showed no mercy, they attack killed lots of innocent man, women, and children. The United States was well aware that if they did not silence their