A Separate Peace - John Knowles

Original Paragraph:

Sixteen is the key and crucial natural age for a human being to be, and people of all other ages are ranged in an orderly manner ahead of and behind you as a harmonious setting for the sixteen-year-olds of this world. When you are sixteen, adults are slightly impressed and almost intimidated by you. This is a puzzle, finally solved by the realization that they foresee your military future, fighting for them. You do not foresee it.

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After reading this, I began to realize how much different their world was from ours today. Back then, WWII was going on, so 16 year-olds were foreseen as participants for the military. Their lives were basically planned out for them. Now, adults are more interested in the 18 year-olds, for they are going to be able to graduate and go to college at the end of their school year. Now, the first thing that adults ask a junior in High School, is "what are you going to do after you graduate?" A majority of them expect answers with the words "university" and "college" in them. Instead of war, education is now the main consideration of adults towards teens.

A Separate Peace

Original Paragraph:

Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person "the world today" or "life" or "reality" he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever. For me, this moment--four years is a moment in history--was the war. The was was and is reality for me. I still instinctively live and think in its atmosphere.

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I thought that this paragraph was particularly interesting. The author's philosophy is different than anything I have heard before, and it makes sense. As of now, I think my "moment" would be the four years that I have been going to school at ACE. This experience has influenced my whole life and I have a feeling I will never forget it. I have experienced every emotion possible while attending; happiness, excitement, disappointment, madness, motivation, etc. I know this four year moment in my life is about to come to an end, but i know it will always be a part of me and I am thankful for it. I am sure by the time I am older, my "moment for reality" will change, but for now, ACE is it.