When the character of Leper Lepillier returns to Devon in chapter 11, he brings back the reality of the war and the powerful impact it has created, causing Finny to realize and admit the importance of his friendship to Gene. “ “Naturally I don’t believe books, and I don’t believe teachers,” he came across a few paces, “but I do believe -- it’s important after all for me to believe you. Christ, I’ve got to believe you, at least. I know you better than anybody.” (Knowles 163). While Finny has always appeared content to live in a world of glamorous and enchanting fantasy, one that Gene longed to be a part of, Finny is telling Gene of just how badly he needed him to be a steady counterweight to his imagination. This to him is especially crucial to Finny in these wild and confusing times of war. However to Gene, Leper also represents the fragile string that his relationship is built on, a string as weak and whimsical as Leper’s state of mind. As he mentioned when Gene came to visit, Leper was there in the moment that Gene jounced the branch, causing Finny that fateful fall that forever shaped his life. This painful secret that Leper knows of makes Finny’s trust and compassion in his friendship with Gene all the more ironic as it is predominantly based on a lie. The boys, especially Finny, also finally accepted the effects the war had brought on to them. The reappearance of their now mentally unstable friend finally put to an abrupt end all of their fantasies about the war time -- it was evident that Leper was no hero or general, and that despite all of Finny’s coaching, Gene would never actually compete in the 1944 Olympics. Leper is a painful dose of the pain of the real world, forcing Gene and Finny to re-examine the weight their friendship with each other carries; one hand of the scale light with love for each other, the other heavy with Gene’s dark secret of how he maimed Finny.
When Leper brings back the reality of the war, it really makes both Gene and Finny realize that the war is real. That it can cause people to do crazy things and have hallucinations, such as seeing the woman's faces and the human limbs. Finny was in complete denial of the war up until this moment. He didn't want to believe that it was real and that it was going to affect him. I think that once Leper returns to Devon School, it also makes Finny and Genes friendship become even closer(as said in post). Finny realizes that he needs Gene and doesn't want to let him go.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Leper represents two different sides of "fear" on pages 163-164. For Finny, he has the fear of loss (of his friends and himself) but he also realizes the war is real which is very frightening to him as mentioned in Hadley's post. However, to Gene, who always knew that the war was real, this war makes him afraid of the truth about him shaking the branch come out. They are both nervous about what Leper represents to them but only Finny is okay with the truth coming out.
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