In chapter seven of A Separate Peace, John Knowles begins to elaborate on the character of Leper, a slightly timid yet thoughtful boy with a personality that sharply contrasts from Devon's predominantly tough, war focused young men. When Gene first encounters Leper since the Summer Session, he describes his voice as "mild tentative" (Knowles 94). As their conversation continues, even more of Leper's humbly innocent personality show through, especially when he voiced his opinion on modern day skiing. " "They're ruining skiiing in this country, rope tows and chairlifts and all that stuff. You get carted up, and then you whizz down. You never get to see the trees or anything. Oh you see a lot of trees shoot by, but you never really get to look at trees, at a tree. I just like to go along and see what I'm passing and enjoy myself." " (Knowles 95). Leper's poetic views on the necessity of acknowledging life's small beauties seem to be a rare occurence in comparison to most of the other Devon boys. While Leper acts for the sake of his own relaxing exploration, the rest of his class ties most of their actions back to one common theme: war. During this era, jumping out of trees is to escape a sinking ship and common ball games are named after bombing strategies. In this context of the story, Gene encounters Leper on his way to shoveling out the railroad tracks with the rest of the boys, a task of grueling manual labor, not as an act of charity for his neighbors, but for a payment. Meanwhile Leper is merely excercising for pleasure. As the Summer Session at Devon has ended, so has Gene's version of easy going freedom from the harsh repurcussions of the war. However, John Knowles character of Leper Lepillier has still retained a quiet hold on this delicate innocence by living a lifestyle as free of such anxieties as possible; in other words, he still resides in his own separate peace.
I agree with Hadley, that Leper is not like the other boys. Many of the characters in the book, aside from Gene, are interested in sporty and energetic activites. Finny plays a variety of different sports, Quackenbush is the crew manager, and Brinker Hadley is joining the army, which requires a great amount of physical endurance. And these boys are very competitive about these activities, much like people are at BB&N. In this chapter, we learn more about Leper Lepeillier, who has a different opinion on sports, specifically skiing, as Hadley stated. Leper goes on to say that during those days people are just going up and down the mountain and not really stopping to smell the roses. "I just like to go along and see what I'm passing and enjoy myself." (Knowles 95). The boys at Devon can get caught up in the competition, merely taking part in the sport for the titles or awards. However, Leper skis for himself.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with all the Alexandra and Hadley said. I also believe that Leper is a character who takes time to think deep and analyze a conservation or scenery. This is showed when Leper says,” You never get to really look at trees, at a tree”(Knowles 95). Leper likes to really look a everything he sees, even the trees. This is different than all the other boys at Devon as a character. The other boys don’t take notice to the little details like Leper does. Another key point of Lepers character is that he does not let the other boys impact his decisions. When Brinker is talking to the group,” Didn’t he really?” (Knowles 99) it is clear to the reader that Brinker is being sarcastic and making fun of Leper. Leper notices this and continues talking ignoring Brinker’s comment, these actions set Leper aside for the other characters.
I agree with Hadley, that Leper is different compared to the other boys. While everyone is out shoveling the snow for money, he wants to just go out and see a beaver dam on the Devon River. Leper prefers to do things for fun and he doesn't care that there is no reward, but the other boys, like Brinker and Gene, want the reward from shoveling the snow off of the tracks. As Hadley said, everything in this book leads back to one main theme; war. Here, the railroad tracks had to be shoveled off so troops could go to war. Also another ongoing theme in this book is competition. In chapter seven, Brinker Hadley decides to enlist in the army. "I'm giving it up, I'm going to enlist. Tomorrow." (Knowles 100) Throughout the book, being the first to enlist from your grade is like a competition. Although everyone doesn't really want to go to war, they still want to be that cool kid that enlisted first. On the other hand, Leper wants to just enjoy life and wants to deal with the war later, when the time comes. He doesn't want to be the first to do anything. He is not involved in this competition that is going around at Devon. Knowles created this character, Leper Lepiller, to illustrate two different views on war. Leper is representing the peace and Gene and his group are representing the war.
ReplyDeleteLeper is definitely a special boy. Unlike most others, he seems a bit slow, and not competitive at all. He doesn't seem to pay attention much. Gene describes how he is sketching during Chapel. Like I said in my own post, he seems like he lives in his own world, and does not seem to know too much about what is going on around him
ReplyDeleteI agree with you all. Leper is also a bit of a metaphor for Devon. Although the excitement and reality of the war has become more apparent in these past couple chapters, Devon is still a safe haven away from the war. When Finny tries to convince Gene that the war is not really happening, Gene doesn't believe him. However, he does flirt with the fact that the war being fake could just be as easily believed as the war being real. "it was easy to visualize my father smiling silently with knowing eyes--at least as easy as it was to imagine an American force crawling through the jungles of a place called Guadalcanal" (Knowles 118). Gene says this because Devon is so peaceful and untouched by the war, just like Leper.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t say that Leper has shielded himself from anything to do with the war. It is not as inadvertent as that; “You never get to see the trees or anything. Oh you see a lot of trees shoot by, but you never get to really look at trees, at a tree. I just like to go along and see what I’m passing and enjoy myself,” (Knowles 95). Leper has this view of life that it is not about focusing on big events, but it is about gliding through and observing. Leper’s difference from the other boys far surpasses the subtle nuances that make them different from each other. The war simply means so little to Leper, that he does not see the point in altering his lifestyle around it.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t say that Leper has shielded himself from anything to do with the war. It is not as inadvertent as that; “You never get to see the trees or anything. Oh you see a lot of trees shoot by, but you never get to really look at trees, at a tree. I just like to go along and see what I’m passing and enjoy myself,” (Knowles 95). Leper has this view of life that it is not about focusing on big events, but it is about gliding through and observing. Leper’s difference from the other boys far surpasses the subtle nuances that make them different from each other. The war simply means so little to Leper, that he does not see the point in altering his lifestyle around it.
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