An Essay on Responsibility in A Separate Peace

An Essay on Responsibility in A Separate Peace A Separate Peace: Responsibility A responsibility is something for which one is held accountable. Often people say that one is responsible for one’s own words and actions; if something happens as a result of something one does one is responsible for it. But is it possible that something could be the result of various actions from different people who are therefore equally responsible, or is there always one person who is most responsible for the incident at hand? Such a situation where this question is relevant is present in the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. In the novel, the main character, Gene, ponders his responsibility for the death of his best friend, Phineas or Finny. After reading Gene’s account of the events that led to Finny’s death the reader may observe that there are three people who are all partially at fault for Finny’s death. Gene, a classmate named Brinker, and Phineas all had something to do with the incident, but who was most responsible for it? Gene is probably the most obvious to blame for part of Phineas’ death. Gene clearly feels guilty, that is why he returns to the tree fifteen years after the fact, for some sort of closure. As Gene and Finny were about to jump from a tree branch into the river together, Gene shook the branch causing Phineas to fall into the river unexpectedly and hurt his leg. Later on, when Phineas re-injured his leg and was having it set in a routine operation, he passed away. The doctor said that it was probably because some marrow entered his blood stream and caused his heart to stop. But if Finny had never fallen in the first place he would have not been on that operating table. Therefore, indirectly an action of Genes eventually resulted in Finny’s death. But was this action done consciously? The author does not specify. â€Å"My knees were bent and I jounced the limb†(Knowles p.52) says Gene in his account of the incident. â€Å"I jounced† is an active verb but †Å"were bent† is passive meaning that some unknown force bent Gene’s knees and as a result of that he jounced the limb. Since this action was not totally Gene’s he is not thus totally responsible for the fall or the events that occurred as a result of it. Brinker, Gene and Finny’s classmate was responsible for the circumstances that lead to Phineas’ second fall. Brinker suspected that Gene was responsible for Finny’s first fall and begrudged him somewhat for not enlisting in the army with him when he had wanted to. It was Brinker who called together the trial in which Gene was prosecuted for purposely causing Finny to fall off the tree. But even if Gene was to blame for Finny’s first fall, it was not necessary to drag Finny out of bed in the middle of the night and put him through such emotional turmoil when he was still physically vulnerable from the accident. If Brinker had not organized the trial Finny would have never rushed out in such an upset manner causing him to fall and hurt himself again. The doctor was not sure why Phineas died. â€Å"In the middle of it [the surgery] his heart just stopped. I can’t explain it.†(Knowles p.185) He said. Later on the doctor conjectured that Phineas p robably died when marrow entered his blood circulation and clogged his heart but Gene meant the world to Finny. The idea Brinker introduced to Phineas that his best friend would betray him hurt Phineas severely and maybe even caused him to loose the will to live. Brinker’s actions were crucial to Finny’s death and since they were done with cruel intentions Brinker is largely responsible for the death of his classmate. Surprisingly enough Finny is partly responsible for his own death. He knew that jumping off the tree into the river was dangerous hence the name of the club â€Å"Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session†(Knowles p.24) whose membership requirement was one jump from the tree. Also, if not for Finny Gene wouldn’t even have come to the meeting the night of the accident, Gene wanted to stay in the dorm and study but Finny used reverse psychology in order to convince him to come. Lastly, it was also Finny’s idea that they jump together rather then alone, risking the possibility that the movement of one could cause the other to loose his balance. If not for any of these incidents Finny would never have fallen to begin with, Gene’s trial would never have taken place, and he would not have found himself on that operating table. This makes Finny largely responsible for his first fall and partly responsible for his death. In conclusion although none of them were conscious that their actions would eventually lead to Finny’s death, Gene, Brinker, and Finny were all partly responsible for it. The one most to blame however was Finny himself, starting a club in which jumping off the tree into the river was a membership requirement was the first in the series of events that eventually lead to his death. If Finny had not done this none of the incidents which Gene and Brinker were at fault for would have ever had reason to take place. Consequently, the person most to blame for the death of Phineas was Phineas himself. As the song goes: â€Å"It is of no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy.†(Lit Place in the Sun)

Art World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Art World - Essay Example It is this position that Danto (1999) saw as misplaced and lacking basis to consider art as coming to an end. Indeed, the basis for revisiting the subject of the end-of-art thesis in the present seminar is to compare the validity of the arguments presented by the two writers in today’s era of art world. The opinions that are going to be expressed on the article will therefore be broad enough to capture the entire relationship between the artist’s power of innovation and the influence it has on art world. Much of the argument would also focus on modern day art so as to have an understanding of the power of the artist in using some of the world’s modernity to transform the art world. In the article, Danto (1999) identifies two modes of thought in art. These are subjective and objective spirits. According to Danto (1999), subjective spirit deals closely with the artist’s cognitive interpretation of the world around him, based on which themes of art world are presented. Largely so, Hegel (1975) had argued that in the application of their subjective spirits, artists have refused to have an awakening of thought that is based on the need for the output of their works to be based on genuine truth about human reasoning. This is a notion that Danto refuses to accept because in the opinion of Dante, generational dynamism is necessary for giving the artist much room to try out more innovation that presents the art world with an era of social thinking that is based on the artist’s own cognitive empowerment. Indeed, taking the arguments presented by the two writers on subjective spirits of artists and presenting it in modern social art, one would say that the new era of artist subjectivity where genuine truth of life no longer exists as the subject matter for most forms of art has been accepted as being fairly befitting for the changing society. A very typical example that can be cited of this is the use of sci-fi art where artists create i deas from their subjective reasoning that are not based on original human reasoning. Indeed, record sales of sci-fi movies and books such as Inception and Men in Black glorifies the point by Danto that the trend of subjective spirit in modern art does not necessarily mean an end to art. There is also the second mode of thought that has to do with objective spirit. Under this mode of thought, Dante (1999) explains in his article that it has to do with the reasoning of art that is taken from a broader social perspective such as political institutions, moral codes and forms of family life. From this score, Hegel had argued that artist are no longer doing society much good from their themes of art work because they had taken new position in the art world where sensationalism had become the order of the day. Yet again, Danto does not see eye in eye with Hegel. In the opinion of Danto, â€Å"It is from the perspective of objective spirit that any institutional theory of art is credibleâ €  (p. 4). This means that once a piece of art that is produced from an objective spirit becomes accepted by society and judged as credible, not much can be said against it in terms of whether or not it is contributing to a dying art world. Clearly, any modern day artist who takes up an objective perspective of art

Eastern Philosopher Letter Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Eastern Philosopher Letter - Personal Statement Example An individual's life today is determined by the deeds of his past lives and his present deeds in turn would affect how his next lives will turn out to be. In short if an individual commits a good action, traces of its effects would be seen in his or her next several lifetimes, and the same is true for a bad action. The moral quality of an action is determined by the intention with which it is committed, a good action results from a good intention, and a bad intention begets bad action. But Ananda, know that the most significant reason why Human suffering is caused is because of ignorance, which does not leave room for enlightenment; and selfish, egoistical cravings, which make an individual the servant of his or her lusts and desires. Ignorance ensures that an individual does not see the truth for what it is, and so ends up running after things that do not really matter in the path towards attainment of lasting peace and bliss. Due to this ignorance, the individual stays caught up in self-centered cravings which cannot always be truly fulfilled in an uncertain world, where even the best of circumstances can change into the worst in the blink of an eye. The events of this world are mostly beyond human control, and only disappointment and frustration can come of trying to control them. One cannot physically escape aging, death, illness, pain, sorrow, separation and other such avenues of human suffering in this cosmos, and the only way of doing so is to heighten one's spiritual perception of actual reality. Dear Ananda, true release from suffering or nirvana can only come through meditation and self-abnegation, because it is only through these that one can reach enlightenment, and cease to have egoistical cravings. The cycle of reincarnation is brought to a halt through the disciplinary practice of meditation and self-denial, because through these the individual comes to a stage where he or she does not have any self-centered desires. Once the ego becomes non-existent, and the individual stops thinking only about himself or herself, the path for nirvana is cleared. An individual is able to deny his or her self so totally because he or she realizes that what is usually thought of as the Self is not the real Self at all. The real Self is not one's consciousness, nor one's body. It is the spiritual essence within that is essentially free from all worldly contaminations. People forget their natural existence as spirit, and become involved in the temporal illusions of this world, immersing themselves in its transient realities, desiring temporary and materialistic satisfactions. But once an individual knows and accepts his or her original, true nature, the importance of the false self or the ego diminishes by itself. Know, my dear Ananda, that there is human suffering in this world. This suffering has specific and identifiable causes. It can be ended and the way to end suffering is through enlightened living, as expressed in the Eightfold Path I have given you. This path in its components provides guidance for the initial mental outlook of the individual, behavior appropriate for the individual in his or her quest for enlightenment, and the higher mental and spiritual qualities involved in a total dis-attachment from self. The very first of these components is the Right View, which means that to achieve freedom from suffering one has to try and look at reality as it actually is, and to