Loneliness And Despair In John Knowles A Separate Peace

The world has changed dramatically in the last century, especially in terms of homosexuality and its acceptance by society. In 2003, Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriage, followed slowly by others before becoming legal nationwide, June 26, 2015. Only five years ago the United States military repealed their nearly two decades old, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, allowing service members to openly express their sexuality. These changes would tend to indicate that Radclyffe Hall’s, The Well of Loneliness, would be an obsolete literary work, however, this is a highly inaccurate assumption. True, the aspects of gender roles have largely changed since 1928, women are no longer expected to remain at home, to tend to the children

Part of the forests’ attractiveness is that the townspeople are terrified of it. They do not go there because of their fear of the Native Americans and the lack of order associated with the darkness. However, Hester sees the forest in a different light. While there in the forest she’s allowed to be unrestricted in her emotions and actions. Hawthorne describes the beauty of the forest as “ . . . there appeared a channel–way of pebbles, and brown, sparkling sand,” (279). Hester wasn’t the only person to appreciate the beauty of the forest, while visiting the forest, Hester and Pearl, “Here they sat down on a luxuriant heap of moss; which at some epoch of the preceding century, had been a gigantic pine, with its roots and trunk in the darksome shade, and its head aloft in the upper atmosphere It was a little dell where they had seated themselves, with a leaf–strewn bank rising gently on either side, and a brook flowing through the midst . . .”(Hawthorne 154). Hester is not the only one who enjoys the beauty of the forest her daughter, Pearl, does too. “Pearl set off at a great pace. Hester smiled to see that she did actually catch the sunshine and stood laughing in the midst of it, brightened by its splendor and glowing with the liveliness of rapid motion. The light lingered around the lonely child as if glad to have such a playmate.” (Hawthorne

Loneliness Essay In the book The Great Gatsby, almost all the characters deal with loneliness in their lives at some point or another. Jay Gatsby started his life lonely, lived his life lonely and died lonely. "He had never really accepted…his parents." (pg.99). At a young age he began his journey to make something out of himself. He never got along with his parents so he left the house and started to make money so he could win Daisy back. He lived by himself and was involved in illegal activities such as bootlegging. In the middle of his life, he lived by himself in a beautiful house and dreamed everyday of Daisy. He lived each day dreaming of the day he was going to rekindle what he had with Daisy. Jay Gatsby faced many consequences

“The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air. The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar.

Loneliness is usually a common and unharmful feeling, however, when a child is isolated his whole life, loneliness can have a much more morbid effect. This theme, prevalent throughout Ron Rash’s short story, The Ascent, is demonstrated through Jared, a young boy who is neglected by his parents. In the story, Jared escapes his miserable home life to a plane wreck he discovers while roaming the wilderness. Through the use of detached imagery and the emotional characterization of Jared as self-isolating, Rash argues that escaping too far from reality can be very harmful to the stability of one’s emotional being.

In extreme cases, loneliness causes several illness and leads to irrational decision making. Christopher Creed is anti-social, has an overprotective mother, and is bullied regularly by his peers. Chris’ loneliness, as explained through exposition throughout the novel, was severe and he did not have much support. In the novel The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci, evidence that Christopher Creed ran away as to get away from his hometown problems and would do so with little thought is scattered throughout the novel from figurative language.

Gene’s innocence is replaced with apprehensiveness after the realization of the belligerent mentality he has; which was peaked by the images Leper paints of the war. When Finny fell from the tree, Gene didn’t blame himself at first, instead, he said, “...I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent...” (Knowles 83). This shows the very few innocence that almost seems like cluelessness that Gene still has, even when

Knowles foreshadows the boys’ loss of innocence through the war, and their constant jumps from the tree. While getting ready for the war the boys practice and show off their skills on the tree by the Devon River. These jumps are done for fun yet the boys see them as a routine, something that has

DICTION “that funereal tree by the river” (Knowles 81) This phrase is used when describing the accident by the tree that shatters Finny’s leg. While Finny did not physically die, the accident permanently ended Finny’s athletic career, killing it. By naming the tree the “funereal tree,” Knowles creates a sad demeanor.

14: Though the landscape is one of rare beauty, to a European or English eye it seems desolate, and even after more than forty years my father could not become reconciled to it. He longed for the generous and

Grenville portrays how secrecy and distrust are an issue among differing people groups through the figurative language used to describe the landscapes and behaviours of various characters. One example is towards the end of the book, when Rooke is looking out into the bay. He sees how the “wide dark flatness” of the water and shore has “retreated into the night”. This darkness is symbolic of the deception and fraudulence that Rooke had been mulling. The abundance of the darkness is used as a comparison to the excess of deception among the British settlers, who were often disguising their true aims and intentions behind sincerity and inclusion. Despite the darkness the moon still shone out over the water like a “wide eye” but was unable to light up the whole foreshore. This demonstrates how even though some secrets may be uncovered there is often more deceit hidden. Grenville further establish distrust through the fear of the description of the trees as “gnarled pink monsters” with “twisted arthritic fingers”. By Rooke also referring to the land as made “according to a different logic from the world” Grenville is portraying the British settlers as viewing NSW as both foreign and terrifying because they no longer understand it therefore creating rift of distrust. The words “gnarled”, “monsters” and “twisted” also depict a fear of the land and all that it might hold because these words hold negative connotations of a horrifying and terrifying appearance or façade.

Loneliness, it's a strange thing to think about since it isn't a problem these days, but during the Great Depression and times around this loneliness was not rare at all. This is why loneliness was a significant theme in the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. The most lonely characters in the story by far were Crooks (The dark man that works on the ranch), and Candy (the old one handed man that operates on the ranch). These two characters were not described directly as lonely, but it grew more noticeable the further into the story.

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck looks at the theme of loneliness as it affects many characters on the ranch. Crooks, Curley's wife, and Candy are the most excluded characters on the ranch, because they all have dreams that they will not be able to live out and they all are at loss when it came to companionship. Crooks is lonely because he is the only black man on the ranch. Since this book is set during the Depression, Jim Crow laws are still in effect, whites and blacks had separate facilities for socializing and living. Crooks comments that he can't live in the bunkhouse, and cant even play cards in there.

Time magazine, an article about A Separate Peace, states that “. . . one of the things the novelist seems to be saying is that the enemy Gene killed, and loved, is the one every man must kill: his own youth, the innocence that burns to hotly to be endured.” The Times journalist communicates a significant theme of innocence that John Knowles continues to bring up throughout the novel. When the Times journalists write about “killing youth,” they are conveying the idea of how Gene removes himself from innocence and comes of age. Innocence may not last forever and as Gene continues to come of age he must allow his youth to escape from his character.

The plot develops and is more rich as the landscape becomes more and more evident. It is obvious that based on the nature both authors, Macleod and Laurence experienced living on their respective coasts adds greatly to their stories. Alistair Macleod clearly uses the nature and landscape to add to the memories and stories he recalls from his childhood. This definitely connects the reader on a deeper level and encourages them to read on and learn more. “In the weeks that followed their loss, the sun shone brightly and the currents were strong, and the ice turned black beneath its own whiteness, as if eaten by a hidden cancer which only now began to make itself visible.”