Why Is Loss Of Innocence Important

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.

Loss of innocence occurs when a person first develops an awareness of the suffering, evil and injustice around them. In poignant bildungsroman To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” Finch, recounting her experience growing up in the segregated town of Maycomb. Through Scout, you learn about her father Atticus Finch, an attorney who hopelessly strives to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson; a black man unjustly accused of rape, and of the civil rights issues and prejudice which plagues the town of Maycomb. Throughout the novel, scout loses her innocence as she is harshly exposed to the reality of injustice and racism in Maycomb. Three significant events illustrate this fact. The first example occurs when Scout

The Songs of Innocence poems first appeared in Blake’s 1784 novel, An Island in the Moon. In 1788, Blake began to compile in earnest, the collection of Songs of Innocence. And by 1789, this original volume of plates was complete. These poems are the products of the human mind in a state of innocence, imagination, and joy; natural euphoric feelings uninhibited or tainted by the outside world. Following the completion of the Songs of Innocence plates, Blake wrote The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and it is through this dilemma of good and evil and the suffering that he witnesses on the streets of London, that he begins composing Songs of Experience. This second volume serves as a response to Songs of

By the end of A Separate Peace, Gene gained the knowledge that his competitive nature created a situation where he believed Finny to be his enemy. Gene needed to learn how to separate himself from Finny and not compare himself to selfless individual. In addition, he achieved peacefulness because he no longer felt like Finny’s sidekick. Gene clearly understands his role in Finny’s accident, and he is able to compartmentalize his guilt about Finny and keep that guilt out of his life. A separate peace permits an individual to accept their sins of the past and not have their guilt affect all future endeavors. Gene strives to achieve peace with himself by removing himself from his negative, chaotic situation to achieve an internal peace. Attainment

In the novel A Separate Peace, I think Gene does “kill” his innocence. I think Gene “killed” his innocence because he had let a lot of things take over him. Jealousy had helped Gene “kill” his innocence. One event that happened where jealously was present was the tree scene. Gene had bent his knees and had jounced the limb.

In the novel, a Separate Peace, the story of Gene and Finny shows the journey from adolescence to adulthood. The story is told by the main character, Gene Forrester, and talks about the struggles and sorrows that he endures while staying at Devon School. The story not only follows through his friendships with the other boys, but shows Gene’s understanding of the world around him and where he fits in. At the beginning of the story, the reader sees Gene’s innocence and once the story is over, the reader understands that his innocence is absent. Throughout the novel, Finny’s fall from the tree, Gene’s time at Devon alone, and Finny’s death, shape him into a whole new man.

Some people in the world are not able to accept bad occurrences in their lives, while others can embrace the same events with ease. Adapting allows people to survive as their lives transform around them. The people who fail to change, are rarely able to thrive. In the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene is able to adapt and grow, while Phineas is in denial about his accident and the war, and his failure to develop and accept the lack of innocence leads to his end.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, losing one's innocence is a major factor in shaping each of the characters personalities and beliefs in the story. By looking at The Inevitably of the Loss of Innocence, we can see that as each of the characters are growing up, they get more shocked by the reality of the harsh world because they have not yet learned hatred in their peers and community and because of the realization that not everybody is kind and has good morals. This is important because Lee displays this theme in the story by creating conflicts such as Tom Robinson's trial and the children's reaction to the verdict. Lee uses characterization for Boo Radley by giving the audience an overview about people's view on him and the horrifying

Innocence: “the quality or state of being innocent; freedom from sin or moral wrong. Freedom from legal or specific wrong; guiltlessness.” What would you do if you no longer lived your innocent life but you had done nothing wrong. Ripped out of your daily life and convicted of a crime you never committed. Do you think you could save your life from being behind bars forever?

The Innocence Project was established in the wake of a landmark study by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Senate with help from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Schneider, 2013). This study found that there were numerous reasons why people are wrongfully convicted including, but not limited to eye witness identification, perjured testimony, improper forensic science techniques, and government misconduct (Roberts & Weathered, 2009) The original Innocence Project was founded twenty two (22) years ago as a part of the Cardoza School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City, New York (Davis, 2012). The Innocence Projects primary goal is to exonerate those whom have been convicted of a crime when there is DNA evidence available to be tested or re-tested (Mitchell, 2011). DNA testing has been possible in five (5) percent to ten (10) percent of cases since 1992 (Risinger, 2007). On the other side, other members of the Innocence Project help to exonerate those have been convicted of a crime where there is no DNA evidence to test. A goal of the Innocence Project is to conduct research on the reasons for wrongful convictions, how to fix the criminal justice system, as well as advocate for those who have been wrongfully convicted (Steiker & Steiker, 2005). The members of this organization strive to teach the world about the dangers of wrongful convictions. To date, this non-profit legal organization, has freed three hundred eighteen (318)

William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are collections of poems that utilize the imagery, instruction, and lives of children to make a larger social commentary. The use of child-centered themes in the two books allowed Blake to make a crucial commentary on his political and moral surroundings with deceptively simplistic and readable poetry. Utilizing these themes Blake criticized the church, attacking the hypocritical clergy and pointing out the ironies and cruelties found within the doctrines of organized religion. He wrote about the horrific working conditions of children as a means to magnify the inequality between the poor working class and

Lines 79-84 represent loss and decay and are another set of themes in this poem. These lines show that his poem itself is a memory; memories can never contain the original content of an experience as it did the first time. Wordsworth's intense emotional pain is displayed throughout these lines. A particular line is: "That time is past/And all its aching joys are no more". The poet clearly tells his reader's that he is extremely upset at the fact that he no longer feels that joys he has felt before, and even though he hears in nature the still, sad music of humanity, he still prefers memory and the sense of nature over intellect and actuality. Wordsworth senses his mortality and realizes that nature ("their colours and their forms...") can not renew his pleasant spirits as much as he wants them to. "Tintern Abbey" also presents the poet to an exploration of identity and self understanding; Wordsworth is in conflict with the natural landscape that is painted in front of him and his mental landscape, two major different forces, and he is trying to find an equal path to both forces so that he can find his self or his destiny. Another explanation of these lines could be that Wordsworth comprehends the way nature functions --the death and renewal of all things– and that nature will one day also play a part on him. He is accepting that one day that, like his memories, he will fade and pass

In the sestet, Wordsworth switches the focus from the divinity of nature to the divinity of childhood. Although Wordsworth is addressing his daughter specifically, his view of her as divine can be applied to all children. While childhood is regarded as a time of ignorance, where serious thoughts are seldom entertained, the Romantics also view childhood as a time of innocence. Wordsworth addresses both these views in "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free". By declaring that, eventhough his daughter is "untouched by solemn thought, [she] is not therefore less divine"(10-11), Wordsworth is saying that a child's ignorance is his or her innocence. As the poem continues, the child is portrayed as "[lying] in Abraham's bosom all the year" (12), suggesting that her soul is blessed by God. Wordsworth's use of the image of the Temple's inner shrine is perfect in

The works of William Blake cannot be entirely discussed, so my project particularly focuses on 'Songs of Innocence and Experience'.

The first stanzas of both poems establish that the children have been forsaken by their parents and were left in the role of a chimney sweeper. The Innocence poem’s rhyme scheme consists of two couplets per quatrain. The couplets create a sound similar to nursery rhymes (which often mask dark events, like the Black plague). The Experience poem begins with rhyming couplets in a quatrain, but switches to ABAB rhymes in the second stanza. Some of the end rhymes are just barely off, which causes a slight feeling of uneasiness.