The Democratic Peace Theory : Political And Cultural Similarity And Limits Of Democracy

As Carl Jung once stated, “Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious”. To reach a peaceful reconciliation, one must learn to embrace two distinct elements of their personality, the "Persona" and "Shadow." Likewise, in the bildungsroman, A Separate Peace, author John Knowles depicts the common rivalry between young adolescents, and how they struggle to accept their identity and the relationship between their unconscious self. Gene, a Devon High student, becomes best friends with Finny and grows jealous of his ostensibly flawless friend, causing him to make a life-changing decision. His struggles to reach an inner balance between his “Persona” and “Shadow” lead to the ultimate death of Finny. Gene’s transformation involves the changes of his mask and “Shadow”—from guilt and jealousy to pride and tolerance—which results in the later acceptance of the light and dark parts of himself, allowing him to truly reach adulthood and a state of peace.

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about learning and it reveals that people have to have the bad to see the good. This thematic statement connects to both the book and the world that we live in today. Many people want everything to be perfect and beautiful but the hard truth is that it will never completely be that way. Life isn’t going to be the way every stroke was placed on the perfect painting of life that everyone has in there head which was handcrafted from their wildest dreams. Their may be some slippery patches but good will follow close behind.

John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” takes place at a boarding school during World War II. Best friends Gene and Finny have been inseparable during their time at the Devon School. This is until reality hits Gene, and he slowly starts to realize that he is inferior to his best friend. Through the unbalanced friendship between two teenagers in “A Separate Peace,” Knowles illustrates that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power.

In being so, liberalism possesses both economic and political components. Economic liberalism argues that, increasing economic interdependence would lead to a more peaceful international realm. Political liberalism bases itself on the belief that ‘A just world order assumes the establishment of republics ’. Thus, political liberalism as practiced by the United States during Cold War becomes a critical proponent of democracy promotion by noting that overlapping national interests will allow for a tamer international environment, engendering the notion that democracies do not engage in wars. Although democracy as interpreted by liberal theory on its own does not lead to free market, it may create the necessary infrastructure for such an event to occur. The promotion of democracy, to a great extent, increases economic interdependence through the alignment of core national values and therefore decreasing the probability of hegemony between the states. However, The notion of liberalism was undermined in the literature of the United States foreign policy after the Cold War. Even though the states were economically interdependent during the Cold War yet they engaged in rivalry for resources to the extent that if, assumingly, the “World Trade Organization” came to be perceived as a corrupt institution,

CLOSING STATEMENT FOR “A SEPARATE PEACE” Fear, Ignorance, and misunderstandings, probably the best way to describe “A Separate Peace.” Regarding this, in court, all that matters is what is told and what is deciphered from what is told, not what actually happened, not what people think happened, but what people say happened. The intentions of a person combined with the actions of a person, and subsequently combined with other’s interpretations of these are what is graded in court. Disregarding this, I will defend Gene with what actually happened because I am not a lawyer and I did not go to law school.

The civil war ended and it was soon the beginning of many hardships. “The Problems of Peacemaking” discusses all of the problems with the Northerners and Southerners becoming peaceful after the war. President Abraham Lincoln did many things to try to get peace after the war. When he realized it wasn’t going to be easy, he decided that a “Reconstruction Plan” could maybe help them get peace. After the civil war the South didn’t have many things left because everything they had was destroyed almost completely. People living in the south wanted to regain it back but they soon realized it wasn’t that easy to do. The white southerners lost some land and their slaves but that was nothing compared to the black southerners. Black southerners lost everything when they left to get freedom, besides a little bit of clothing and a few possessions they took with them. Blacks and whites had completely different meanings of freedom. The whites wanted to control what they did without the government’s input, and the blacks wanted to get freedom from the whites. The whites wanted white supremacy which is, they wanted to be more superior. The blacks just wanted to be control and own things such as land. General William Sherman’s “Special Field Order No. 15” helped give 400,000 acres of land to 40,000 freed slaves. Other methods were produced to help slaves get land, one of the most famous was the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau gave slaves food, health care, clothing, and education. The whites of course, disagreed with the Bureau and would have disputes about it. The disputes were all settled by the Freedmen’s Bureau. General Howard created the “Circular 13” which helped lease 40 acre plots to slaves and hoped to later sell it to them. He also made the Southern Homestead Act that made 46 million acres for sell to slaves in many states. It was later repealed because people thought slaves were taking advantage of it. Republicans had say in what happened during the reconstruction. The conservatives and radicals disagreed on their views. The radicals were more harsh. All the conservatives said was that the south should just take what was happening and do nothing about it. The radicals wanted to take away some rights from a

Overcoming internal barriers is a struggle humans typically endure. The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles focuses on the friendship between two teenage boys, Gene and Phineas, who are the exact opposite of one another. It is told from Gene’s point of view as he journeys through adolescence while attending one of the most prestigious boarding schools in America during World War II, Devon. Gene learns that when times are difficult he can move past his struggles by latching onto an idea, hope, or an essence of peace. As he matures, it is clear that his friendship with Phineas has played a key role in helping Gene discover and accept who he is because he helped him to unveil the enemy that was inside the whole time

#1 conflict “I felt betrayed.I felt more alone than ever. By the end of the fourth day at military school, I had run away four times” (Moore 90).

In each of the three books, the main character goes on a strenuous mental journey. Whether its Gene and his road to self-acceptance, Ishmael and his strive for humanity, or Henry and his endeavor for courage, they each struggle to reach their final destination of happiness and self-worth. This is evident in the line cited from A Separate Peace, “I had no qualms at all; in fact I could feel now gathering, glowing sense of sureness in the face of it.” This line shows Gene finally at peace with his personal nature. This is evident again in the line, “I have been rehabilitated now, so don’t be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child.” This is line is spoken by Ishmael Bah, author of A Long Way Gone, and shows Ishmael conveying

The point of view of A Separate Peace is written in first person from the perspective of protagonist Gene Forrester. The passage reflects the first person point of view by showing the world to the reader from Gene’s eyes, opposed to an anonymous onlooker. Furthermore, the narrator uses I, me and mine pronouns.

When the present generation is asked about World War II, minds automatically go to Hitler, the Nazis and possibly one of the many semi-terrible movies “based” on true events. This generation is completely unattached to the naive soldiers who fought against the now notorious Hitler and Nazis. The horror the youth of the time faced is completely unimaginable, except when told through a realistic story highlighting the emotional trauma the young boys endured. A Separate Peace by John Knowles highlights the multiple meanings of a separate peace, symbolized by the setting, characters, and plot elements within the story showing the true trauma of growing up in a war-torn country.

The Democratic peace thesis, whose basic concepts were studied by Kant in the 1700s, is the theory that suggests that democracies have been pacific in their relations with one other and are unlikely to go to war with another democracy. “Democracies rarely fight each other (an empirical statement) because (b) they have other means of resolving conflicts between them and therefore do not need to fight each other (a prudential statement),and (c) they perceive that democracies should not fight each other (a normative statement about principles of right behavior), which reinforces the empirical state¬ment. By this reasoning the more democracies there are in the world, the fewer potential adversaries we and other democracies will have and the wider the zone of peace.” russet

Liberalism was previously a projection of how international relations ought to be; now, liberalism is a modern theory towards peace attained with a state’s ambition for dominance. “Self-interest” has two definitions in accordance to liberalism and realism. Liberalism considers the measure of power within states through stable economies, the possibility of peace and cooperation, as well as the concepts of political freedoms (human rights). Realism believes states are driven by competitive self-interest; international organizations hold little to no real influence because states are self-preserved. International relations is governed by states acting in their self-interest through liberalism; states act in their self-interest by cooperating with one another through international organizations, transnational advocacy networks, and non-governmental organizations. International organizations, normative values, and terrorism are all examples of how international relations is progressing into liberalism.

The novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles is an edge of the seat read and an American Classic. It takes place during World War II, which in itself can be enticing. Gene and Phineas create this emotional bond that cannot be broken but only strengthened. This novel teaches the world of what a reality check can truly be when in fact you don’t know what is truly around the next corner. Knowles creates the ultimate spine tingling book that will keep you in between the covers. From the novel, Gene is inspired by many, but the most influential person upon Gene is Phineas and here is a few reasons to my logic.