In chapter 10, when Gene goes to Leper's house in Vermont, he sees Leper's transformation. Leper has gone from a peaceful naturalist to a moody, insane, "psycho" young man. Leper first accuses Gene of causing Finny's fall (p. 145), and then states that he was "always a savage underneath. (p. 145)" Leper's symbol in the book has changed drastically. He was the symbol of calm and peace. The new, post-war Leper is a lunatic. That is the reason he was given a "Section 8 Discharge", for the "nut cases". An example of his craziness is on page 145 when he accused Gene. When Gene kicks him to the ground he keeps laughing and crying. Another time is on page 149 ("Would they bother you if you did.........would they bother you.") He is thinking of the image of an arm of a chair being a human arm. The final time in the chapter when he is bonkers is on pages 150-151. He just can stop spewing out the gory details of the army. It is as if he is just talking without knowing. Even when Gene tells him to shut up and leaves him, he is still talking to himself. Leper has now emerged as a new figure in the book. The crazy toll the war takes on everyone.
Answer 2 or 3 of these questions:
Will Leper be cured?
Will Leper and Gene ever be friends again?
Is Leper going to tell everyone about the truth of Finny's fall?
What is Leper a symbol of now in your opinion?
Will this affect the reality of the war to Gene?
The irony about Leper's calling Gene a "savage underneath" is that Leper was definitely exposing his hidden savage at this point. I really liked the examples Max used to show this. I don't think Leper will be cured any time soon because the war definitely scarred him as soon as he became part of the army. I think that meeting Leper will affect Gene's current vision in the war; he will wonder what could possibly be happening that could take an extremely polite boy like Leper, and turn him into this crazy person. What do you think the boys at Devon would think if they found out about who Leper has become?
ReplyDeleteWhen Gene first goes into detail about Leper, Leper seams like a calm, easygoing person who loves nature. But, when Gene goes to Leper’s house he is crazy and describes horrible things from his time in the army. Leper is now a symbol of how the war can affect anyone. Leper used to be someone who didn’t care that the war was happening, but ends up joining the army, and then going crazy. The conversation made the war seem more real to Gene. This is because before Gene shared Finny’s view on how the war was not actually real, but only something extremely traumatizing could change a person like Leper. After this chapter Leper will probably not go back to school or come into play in the book, making it so that he cant tell anybody about Finny’s fall.
ReplyDeleteIts only been a few chapters with leper, so lets look at the before war and after war leper. At first he was a nature loving, peaceful guy who invested in observing beaver dams and skiing. Then he watches that army video and decides to enlist. Now Gene meets him after leaving the army and he is this crazy "psycho" who received a section 8 discharge for being a nutcase. Also I agree Max has a point on Leper being a symbol of what war can do people who enlist. I have two questions: will Leper have anymore roles in the novel and will anyone enlist after witnessing what war has done to Leper?
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