I think the reason Leper saw weird things in the army, and not at Devon, is because he was comfortable at Devon. When he went to the army, everything became tougher and more stressful than back at Devon, and that made him nervous. This nervousness made him imagine things, which made him more nervous, completing a vicious circle. In the end, he had a series of big hallucinations, which he handled by screaming as loud as he could, and thats what got him kicked out of the army. Do you think leaving the army was best for Leper? Do you think that if Leper returns to Devon, he'll stop hallucinating?
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Chapter 10: Why might the mention of Brinker trigger Leper’s violent reaction? Think about what you know about role so far.
The reason that Leper broke down into sobs when Gene brought up Brinker's head on a woman's body was because the idea went against the idealistic views that Leper has in his head. It reminded him of an incident in the army that ended up getting him discharged for a mental illness. The same mind that always appreciated the perfection in trees and beaver dams couldn't handle such a backwards thought as a mans head on a woman's body, so he just broke down. This was the reason that Leper couldn't handle being in the army. Once he starteed realizing that war is not all just skiing around, and that there are some harsh realities that one has to face, he says "Everything began to be inside out." (P. 150). He begins wondering "Am I [psycho], though, or is it the army?" (P. 150), which shows that he's questioning the army's diagnosis of him.
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I agree with you in the sense that Leper felt like everything was inside out because of his sudden unwanted confrontation with reality, but not with the fact that he broke down only because he thought of Brinker's head on a woman's body. Leper, however, I felt was the most innocent and pure person in the list of characters. And yet, here was the same boy who had just recently denied the clearing of the railroad tracks for a chance to see beavers, having the horrible truths of war thrown into his face.
ReplyDeleteLeper suddenly realized that this wasn't what he came for. He came for learning how to ski. He hadn't thought of prejudice (the 'psycho' part), violence, and the brutality of the army. All this came so suddenly that it just built on each other until he could not take it any longer. Leper escaped and went home, though the traumatizing times of his brief experience of war still haunted him.
How long do you think that his time in the army as a labeled 'Psycho' would affect him so greatly that he really seems slightly deranged? Why do you think that it would, in the first place?
Good job Sasha,
ReplyDeleteAnswering Sasha's question: I believe that if Leper were to stay in the army any longer with his title of "psycho" it would eventually get to his head even more. One is able to tell that his label has already affected him, when he broke down in sobs just thinking about it, therefore if Leper were to just push his problems away they could come up again in bigger ways. Gene has been a victim of pushing away his problems, for example, causing Finny to fall of the tree. This has deeply hurt him mentally as well, as we saw when Leper told Gene the truth, that he has been teaching himself to forget and Gene responded by exploding.