Choose one of the topics below, agree or disagree and use an example from the book to support your opinion. A direct quote is not necessary, instead your own thoughts are more valuable. Thanks, yo!
Trying to fit is the key to success in high school
Being competitive with your friends is dangerous
It is easy to become jealous of a humble friend
It is hard to be honest with your friend
It is really stupid to show emotions in front of your friends
The Draft during WWII was the wrong idea
The Draft today should be put in place
Kids who conform get better grades
I chose it’s easy to become jealous of a humble friend. I agree with this statement because jealousy is an uncontrolled emotion and it usually brings out the worst in people. To be a humble person really is the ideal way to live. They are not arrogant and do not brag about themselves. Many people cannot live this way because of jealousy. In the novel, A Separate Peace, Finny breaks a school swimming record. Instead of bragging about it, like he usually does, he decides not to tell anyone and makes Gene, the only witness, promise not to tell. Gene becomes very jealous of this because he wants to be better than Finny and he doesn’t understand why Finny wouldn’t want to tell anyone. Competition and jealousy is a very big theme throughout the book.
ReplyDelete-Katie Rian
The Draft during WWII was a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is true because the effects of the war could have left such dramatic psychological effects on the minds of young boys that it would affect their thinking even after they served time in the war. Therefore not only was the draft risking young boys life in battles but it was risking their minds as well.
- Seb Daddy (wiki wik)
Being competative with your friend is dangerous
ReplyDeleteBeing competative with a friend is not dangerous. Competition can actually bring people together. If you play a sport against a friend and you lose, being friends with him could make you better. As long as the loser can control themselves the outcome is always good because a friend is more likely to help you perform better. In terms of Gene and Finny, Finny is the more athletic one of the two and Gene thinks of him as being almost perfect. As long as Gene is okay with losing he should become a rounder person with Finny as his friend.
"Being competitive with your friends is dangerous"
ReplyDelete"Afraid to jump out the tree?"(p.31) this quote is showing that Gene and Finny are being competitive, because Finny shows that he is not afraid to jump off of the tree, and now he is insisting to Gene do it because he knows that he is afraid. So he wants to show that he is corageous and Genne isn't. In my opnion being competitive with friends is dangerous because sometimes people just do things to impress the friends and sometimes they forget about the risks.
The Draft during WWII was the wrong idea
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a true statement because when you're drafted at a early age you don't have enough education to go to war. Some Teens at that time thinks that their going to be drafted and that's why teens want to have freedom at that time. Gene and Finny are too young to go to war and they thought that their going to be drafted and they want to have freedom before they got drafted that is why they jumped out of a tree and they made a society together.
-Aedjet Simoy
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletetrying to fit in is the key successes in high school
ReplyDeletei don't think fitting in in high school is a key to success because to be successful in high school you need god grades not fitting in. fitting in might make your life in high school more joy able but it is not a key to success
“It is really stupid to show emotions in front of your friends”
ReplyDeleteI disagree with this quote because if someone is truly your friend they will be willing to listen to what is going on in your life. If someone is your friend they will tell/show you about your emotions to make sure that your friends are ok. If you cant show your emotions in front of someone then I don’t think that you are truly good friends or even friends at all because to have a healthy relationship with someone you should be able to express how you feel to receive help from the people/friends around you. The strongest relationships are relationships that contain a lot of emotion because you both understand exactly how each other are feeling for example if I’m having a bad day I will vent to my friend about the bad day to try and get rid of some of the anger or sadness that I have.
- Erika Gunderson
It is easy to become jealous of a humble friend I agree with the idea that it is easy to become jealous of a humble friend. People are humble when they do a good a commendable thing and make it seem like it was not a big deal. Humility however is a commendable trait. One may be jealous of his friend because he constantly does great things and boasts about them however if the friend is humble about their doings, they have yet another great attribute that the other person does not have. In addition, if the friend tries to complain about his humble friend looking for sympathy, he may be scolded for criticizing someone who does such commendable acts while many people sympathize for people with boastful friends. In the novel, Finny is humble about his swimming achievement causing Gene to feel even more jealous than he had when Finny was boastful.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Jacobowitz
I agree with the quote, trying to fit in is the key to success in high school, because in high school having the right friends and fitting in will keep you going and motivate you. You can easily tell, by walking around the hallways, if someone fits in. You can tell by what they wear and the way they look. Usually people who fit in are more outgoing because they know they always have someone there for them. They know that no matter what happens with them, they have people to go too. If people do not fit in, they are much to themselves and sometimes may have a tough time adjusting to high school life. High school is the place to make memories because it flies by. No one wants to be that someone who does not like their high school memories. There are many different cliques in school and there will always be people who accept you for who you are. They will have your back one hundred percent of the time and never judge you on your actions. They will always have great advice for you and be people who you can look up to. Most importantly, they will be your friend.
ReplyDelete-Breanna Sgro
“It is hard to be honest with your friend.”
ReplyDeleteOne might become nervous when it comes to speaking their mind to their best friend or to anyone. People might be afraid to share their ideas or their feelings because they’re afraid of what the other person might think or say back. People do not want feel embarrassed when they say something that they feel may be judged by others. I believe it is a bit difficult to be honest with your friends at times. It is difficult because you might say something that your friend might believe is rude or strange. This is why people are bottled up inside and are insecure because they don’t like sharing their honesty with others. It was difficult for Gene to be honest with Finny because Gene looks up to Finny for his great abilities. Phineas is not afraid to be honest with his friends because he knows he won’t be judged because of his popularity. I believe if someone is popular and many people think they’re popular, their peers won’t judge them.
-Marlina Gomez. (NEW)
"Being competitive with your friends is dangerous"
ReplyDeleteI agree to this because in A Separate Peace, Gene is very competitive with Phineas that he almost fell off the tree. On the other hand, Phineas does not compete with Gene that he was able to save Gene's life. Being competitive to a friend means that you want to beat your friend and this is not caring each other. I think true friend shouldn’t be competitive to each other.
"Being competitive with your friends is dangerous"
ReplyDeleteI agree with this quote because competition between friends can be dangerous and lead to conflict. If friends are always competing with each other, they can never truly have fun with each other because they are too concerned with being the best. Gene always feels that he has to compete with Finny so Finny can't put him down for not being good enough. This causes Gene to have a negative feeling towards Finny, and only builds up tension between the two friends. Even though competition may sometimes be good in a friendship and make the friendship grow, I think that in the end it will only lead to hatred, especially from the friend losing the competition.
It is easy to become jealous of a humble friend.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because if your friend is humble and achieves something easily what you can’t do like him, you are likely to be jealous of him. When the protagonist of A Separate Peace written by John Knowles knew that Finny wanted to secret about breaking the swimming record, he was jealous of him. Because when he jumped off from the tree, he bragged to his friends how brave and athletic he was. But at that time his behavior was different from what Finny always do and he didn’t understand why he wanted to keep the fact secret. It means that the broking swimming record was not significant for him and it was just a trial.
"It is hard to be honest with your friend."
ReplyDeleteI agree with this quote because I believe that adolescents are uncomfortable expressing their true emotions. Teens feel that conformity is the best way to fit in with their peers. I think that people are constantly worried about the judgment of others and therefore, they may hide a part of themselves from their friends. They aren't completely honest because sometimes, being honest can cause conflicts. Gene isn't completely honest with Finny when he says he isn't scared of jumping off the tree. He chooses to say this little lie, in order to not be judged by Finny. Also, when Finny decides to tell Gene that he is glad he is his best friend, Gene feels as if it takes a lot of guts in order to express his feelings. Gene shouldn't feel uncomfortable about being honest with Finny because if Finny is a true friend, he will not judge him.
“It is really stupid to show emotions in front of your friends”
ReplyDeleteI disagree with this quote because everyone shows emotion with their best friends. Showing emotion is normal because sometimes people need to show who they are and how they feel about situations. Also I feel that when you show emotions people usually “let out” their feelings and it would make them feel better.I also agree with the quote, because the person who you are showing emotion to might be uncomfortable. The one who show emotion has to understand how close friends they are in order to show emotions, because one may not feel close enough to hear deep emotions. For example when Finny tells Gene about how Finny think Gene is his best pal , Gene doesn't feel that way. Gene questions, is he serious? or joking? why would he show his emotions so easily? Is he saying this to bluff? . Finny thinks Gene is his best friend while Gene doesn't really think that. They are at the different point of friendship.-Gawon Song
"Being competitive with your friends is dangerous"
ReplyDeleteI agree with this quote because being competitive can lead to losing a good friendship. Competition is caused by jealousy, and jealousy is a nautral emotion, but when it comes to your best friends you shouldnt be jealous, you should be happy for them. This relates to Gene and Finny because Gene is jealous of Finny, of his athletic ability, because of this Gene jounced the limb of the tree causing Finny to fall, Finny's leg shattered, no more competition for Gene with Finny out of the picture. Therefore competition is dangerous because a friend could get hurt, or you could not have a friend at all.