Innocence to Experienced in Forbidden City

A rite of passage is defined as a ceremony marking a significant transition or an important event or achievement, both regarded as having great meaning in lives of individuals. In Sharon Olds' moving poem "Rite of Passage", these definitions are illustrated in the lives of a mother and her seven-year-old son. The seriousness and significance of these events are represented in the author's tone, which undergoes many of its own changes as the poem progresses.

Alex matures and grows through his experiences in China and is now aware of the human consequences that war has. Alex’s growth and maturity is shown when his dad is captured by PLA. Proof of this is when Alex and his dad are talking over the two way radio before Ted gets captured. He is very concerned for his Dad at this point in the book. This event is the beginning of Alex’s awakening. This event hits Alex hard and makes him realize the reality behind war. Another event that helps Alex articulate his new vision of war is when he sees Lau Xu die right in front of his eyes. He even describes the details of the shooting when he says “Crack! Lau Xu spun around, his arms flung skyward. Before he fell the AK 47 spit flame again and the burst blew Lao xu off his feet” (Bell 114). Another example of Alex’s growth leading up to his epiphany of hating war is when Xin-hua gets shot. This happens when Alex starts to beg the officer to let her go and says” Please let me talk to your commanding officer. I just want to-...CRACK. The sound of a single gunshot. I turned to look into the trees where they had taken Xin-Hua. Oh God no, I moaned. No, No ,Nooooooo!” (Bell 183). Alex is now fully aware of the horrible consequences of war after witnessing the death of his friends and his father getting

Shockingly in our general public there a time in one individual life where a tragic happens unexpectedly results in the loss of innocence and an increase in knowledge. Therefore, this relief in one’s life is unavoidable, however can be drawn out with isolation from reality. Some people experience this ablution happens sooner in life then anticipated. The survivor from the holocaust in death camps, lose their guiltlessness as soon as they step foot through the gates into imprisonment. In the Night written by Elie Wiesel, he described himself as a child, innocent teenager, whose innocence was torn apart from him as the result of the horror during the holocaust by the Nazis.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a book that gave the word “love” many other meanings, such as impossible, meaningless and incomplete. There were many unbearable obstacles that Countess Ellen Olenska, one of the main characters, had to face because of love. She was treated badly by many people and always longed for love but never obtained it. With everyone cursing her, betraying her and hurting her, there was one person who was always there for her. Newland Archer wasn’t only sympathetic towards her; he also began to fall in love with her. The love she always wanted. He was the man who truly cared for her and always helped her make decisions. Out of all the selfish people in New York who

Innocence is often a word used to describe children, they are pure because they have not yet become exposed to corruption. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah illustrates what happens when innocence has been seized from a young child. When rebels attack Beah’s village, he is forced on a life altering journey. Beah involuntarily transformed from an innocent adolescent into a rebel soldier. He needed a lot of guidance and correction to reconstruct his virtue. The conflict of the Civil War shaped Beah’s character.

‘The Outsiders’ by S.E Hinton was written in the 1960’s, a time of rebels and outlaws. The novel follows the story of two rival gangs, the Socs and the Greasers. The Socs are rich and powerful but feel no emotion; they are cool to the point of not feeling anymore while the Greasers are in poverty and are often shunned by society,but they have a passion for life, the exact opposite of the Socs. The story also discusses the loss of innocence in the main character, Ponyboy Curtis, a young teen in the 1960’s. Throughout the story he is subjected to many forms of corruption to make him lose his childhood innocence and make him cold and hard. Hinton explains this message to us through the use of a poem by Robert Frost ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay ‘

There is good and evil in the world, but when impiety manifests itself in civilization, innocence fades. Encountering wickedness changes people’s mood and outlook of humanity. The pieces of literature, Night, written by Elie Wiesel; The Kite Runner, composed by Khaled Hosseini; and To Kill a Mockingbird, created by Harper Lee, all focus on the journey to adulthood marking one’s loss of innocence when the characters must confront the evils in society. Elie’s exposure to annihilation, the rape against Hassan, and Jem witnessing the injustice in humanity contribute to the characters’ development from childhood naivety to maturity, in similar fashions, where they all gain knowledge, understanding, and experience that alters their behavior as well as their perspective of life.

Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Roberts was born on December 27, 1943. She was best known as a journalist and an author. She wrote about women and their stories. Cokie Roberts is also known as a political commentator for ABC News. Her parents were the ones that influenced her to write. Her father served in World War and he later became a Politian just like his wife. Cokie Roberts is a very famous historian and I hope that other people can learn about her

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles carries the theme of the inevitable loss of innocence throughout the entire novel. Several characters in the novel sustain both positive and negative changes, resulting from the change of the peaceful summer sessions at Devon to the reality of World War II. While some characters embrace their development through their loss of innocence, others are at war with themselves trying to preserve that innocence.

Innocence is something that can only be lost once. Within both The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley there are various characters that lose their innocence in very dramatic ways. A character can lose their innocence due to the death of someone else. They can also lose their innocence by just being looked at from a different perspective by others, this can be seen through the characters Bernard and Rachel. ADD ANOTHER TOPIC Someone who has lost their innocence changes their personality and perspective on life, which results in them acting in situations differently than they would before.

However, youth like Alex cannot be caught in the expected rubric of life and hence, they retaliate. Nevertheless, one cannot justify Alex’s actions worth applauding but Burgess seems to favour their actions as the only possible outlet for suppressed angst. In the first act, fourth chapter, Alex says,

I believe that the boys in Lord of the Flies suffered from loss of innocence in a very fast and drastic way. They had to learn how to move on from such a tragic and traumatizing situation and learn on the spot how to survive as well as well as how to thrive as a society and work together. Although the boys might not have succeeded in their objectives, but the efforts made to work towards these

People change and grow through their experiences and conflicts. For example, just 2 years ago I was a sixth grader. There was a lot more homework than I ever had in my non-accelerated / magnet elementary school. I had to work harder and for longer hours, but as a result, I was much more mature and knowledgeable. I improved my work habits and increased my concentration. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “First Love”, a 14 year old girl is in love with a high school senior. She does everything she can to try to see him more often. At the end, she thinks she learns the true meaning of love. In Richard Wright’s “The Street”, a boy has to go shopping for food, but he is constantly stopped by a gang who beats him up. At the end, he beats up the gang with a stick his mother gave him because he had to to return home. In both “The Street” by Richard Wright and “First Love” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the characters start out as shy and naive, but end up as aware and wiser as a result of their respective conflicts.

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps” (Proverbs 16:9, NIV). Humans do this in their hearts, in their minds, in their daily lives, making decisions that seem in the best interest of all involved. However, in the midst of these decisions, and the great debates that exist in regards to abortion and euthanasia, are some omitted from the discussions? Are the fundamental rights of the unborn considered or are they shoved aside for the sake of the well-being of the mother? Is the individual facing end-of life forced into an early death so as not to inconvenience to the caretaker? This reflections that follow will consider the involvement of God in human life from creation and ongoing, how the sovereignty

Not everyone welcomed enclosure nevertheless, there were many who gained from it. Many of the large landowners were able to experiment with their crops and rear larger, healthier cattle. However, the majority of land tenure was in the form of tenant farmers who in turn employed agricultural labourers. Some of the larger tenant farmers in Suffolk could employ over thirty labourers, the farmers themselves not having to indulge in manual work and as a result, becoming more socially distant from the agricultural labourers. On the other hand, smaller tenant farmers could only employ labour on a casual and/or seasonal basis and socially, were not far removed from the labourers they employed. Enclosure enabled many of these tenant farmers to gain long leases on the land, therefore allowing them to spend money on much needed improvements to their farms. Another advantage of enclosure was the increase of food production which ultimately made food cheaper. Not all tenant farmers were able to make a success of their new, larger and much improved farms. As a result they would then have to sell their farms or lease which allowed the more successful farmers to increase their already large farms. We already know that many farmers had leases from the large landowners however; there were also many that did not. Many farmers had farmed their land for many years, or even centuries without a written lease or agreement. This led to many families not being able to prove their ‘right’ to farm the