Chapter 7: Part of this reading focuses on Leper. How is he characterized? What do we learn about him?

In this chapter Leper is first seen looking out at the woods while the other students are out shoveling snow to clear the way for a train. He is ignorant of what is going on because he is so preoccupied with what he is doing. Gene approaches Leper and learns that Leper is trying to find a path for his skis so that he can tour the woods. Leper rants about how skiing is "for useful locomotion" (95) and not for going fast down the hill before he tells Gene that he is trying to find a beaver dam, which was moved because of the oncoming winter. Later on in the chapter Leper returns and describes his expedition to Gene while being ignorant of Brinker Hadley's mocking comments.

In this chapter Leper is given a personality by John Knowles. Leper is an innocent seventeen-year old boy who is an outcast in his group of friends. We learn that he doesn't care about his appearance in the eyes of others and therefore wears bland, but practical, clothes, such as, "a dull green deer-stalker's cap, brown ear muffs, a thick gray woolen scarf" (94). It is obvious from what he wears that Leper is the type of person who isn't afraid to go against common beliefs, or styles. This trait is seen more conspicuously when he blatantly argues about how downhill skiing isn't what skiing was intended for. Leper knows that when people think of skiing, they think about downhill skiing, and not touring, but instead of just letting the people think what they want, Leper argues about his beliefs, what he thinks real skiing is, and is not afraid to go against the crowd. We also learn that Leper is an especially curious person. He enjoys observing nature and how other creatures live, and he expresses his thoughts openly to Gene when he says, "I just like to go along and see what I'm passing and enjoy myself." (95). In this respect, Leper is also similar to Phineas; he's open-minded, and isn't afraid to express himself through his words and actions. He is also just plain innocent. Leper enjoys life and doesn't care about what other people think about him, such as when Brinker mocks him and he doesn't react to his comments. Phineas, too, is like this. Earlier in the book he was even described as someone who could speak his mind openly and had a "simple, shocking self-acceptance" (16) of himself.

If you were in Brinker's position, would you mock Leper for being different, or would you accept him like Gene does? Do you think you are more like Leper or more like Brinker? Do you think this quotation, "Leper stands out for me as the person who was most often and most emphatically taken by surprise, by this and every other shift in our life at Devon" (93) is foreshadowing something that will happen in the future? If so, what do you think will happen?