4.) Part of this reading focuses on Leper. How is he characterized? What do we learn about him? Provide some specific details from the reading to support your answer. - Nnema Epee-Bounya
In this reading in A Separate Peace, Leper is used to represent the innocence and freedom before the impending war. While the rest of his class worked on the railroads to help trains filled with soldiers, Leper traveled around to find a beaver dam. Leper doesn’t seem to have the war and his dangerous future on his radar, he is just enjoying his days in his sheltered environment. Brinker Hadley, on the other hand, represents what Gene and the rest of his class’s life will be like once they graduate from Devon or decide to enlist. Brinker only focuses on what will happen when they leave Devon instead of focusing on his numbered days left at the school. These opposing personalities show the extreme approaches of coming to terms with being drafted. Leper’s way of dealing with the outside circumstances irritates and even offends Brinker Hadley as “‘That’s the kind of place I’m in with a world war going on. A school for photographers of beaver dams.’” (99) This reading taught us Leper’s way of dealing with his imminent fate: denial. Throughout A Separate Peace, Leper has been innocent and eccentric, and as this chapter focused on his character it is evident that Leper’s way of forgetting about the draft is to distance himself from draft-like tasks. But as the Winter Session is beginning, everyone, including Gene, is coming to terms with the war. Leper would rather ignore it and enjoy whatever time he has left of being a careless teenager. The main theme of A Separate Peace is coming of age, and this part of the reading was John Knowles showing the reader’s the different paths teenagers take when growing up and to add more dimension to Leper’s character.
- How do you think Finny and Gene’s friendship will change now that Finny’s back?
- Do you think Brinker and Finny will get along?
- Do you think Leper realizes he is in denial?
I think that now Finny’s back to school, his friendship with Gene will be in a much different place than it was before he broke his leg. During all the time that Finny was cooped up in his house, Gene got in his own head way too much, and is now almost sure that he caused Finny to fall off the tree. Because Gene now thinks that he ‘caused’ Finny to fall out of the tree, he will be much more awkward around Finny. Also, Gene will become much more paranoid of Finny finding out that his broken leg was ‘Genes fault’. In many ways, Gene and Finny’s friendship will be much different than Finny remembers.
ReplyDeleteWill Finny become suspicious that Gene caused him to fall of the tree?
I don't think Leper realizes he's in denial. When someone is in denial they don't think I'm denying something that will obviously happen, they're more like everyone thinks this is going to happen but things will turn around and it won't happen. I think that's how Leper is. He is pushing that idea away because he is sure the war will end before he is drafted. I also think he is just living life as a teenager just letting everything come his way. He isn't thinking about the war like Brinker, while Brinker is in the future Leper is in the present. Leper is just trying to have some fun and dodging the thought of the possibility that he'll get drafted because he really believes that the war will end before he'll have to do anything.
DeleteSince Finny returned to school, I think his friendship with Gene will take an awkward turn. With all this time away from the Devon school, he has had the chance to reflect on the tree incident. His opinion on it could change because being back at the Devon school, the place where the incident occurred, could trigger painful emotions. All this time Finny has denied Gene’s claim that he was responsible for the incident, but maybe Finny has been denying this in order to salvage their friendship. Unfortunately, keeping his thoughts bundled up could lead to them acting awkwardly around each other. If Finny were to not express his feelings, this could eventually cause him to have an outburst directed towards Gene and eventually destroy their friendship.
ReplyDeleteI think Finny returning will create tension with Brinker. At the beginning of the reading, Brinker accuses Gene of the reason Finny fell. Joking or not, Brinker was right. Gene also says that Brinker was quite popular and liked in Devon. According to Gene, Finny is also popular and out there. This could cause a rivalry between the two boys, not to mention that Gene did not seem to like Brinker that much. Maybe he reminded him a little bit of Finny because Brinker likes to joke around with Gene, and of course, he is overthinking things again. Now that Finny has returned to Devon, I think the truth will eventually be unraveled by Brinker pushing Gene and/or Finny to their limit(s).
ReplyDeleteDo think that Gene will act weirder around Finny now that he has had some time to process the fall?
When Gene was with his friends in The Butt Room, he seemed completely normal when talking about Finny and defending himself against the accusations of him purposely hurting Finny. Instead of completely overreacting and overthinking, Gene decides to make a joke out of it, which shows his growth throughout the novel. However, I think that this confidence that Gene shows is related to his transformation into Finny. He feels more alike to Finny, which allows him to crack jokes, laugh, and be more free-spirited. Now that Finny is back, I believe that Gene will lose this self-confidence and strength to him and will break. Gene will become back to his old self, which I think will start to raise suspicion amongst his friends, and eventually, I believe that even Finny will start to wonder what really happened on the tree.
DeleteDo you think that Brinker will dig deeper with this "investigation"? Why or why not?
Now that Finny's back to school, Gene and Finny's friendship will become completely different. The best thing that could happen would be that they would become friendly, and just acquaintances, and not best friends. Gene let the comments of other people get to him. Brinker jokes that Gene purposefully injured Finny to get a room all to himself. In the Butt Room, another kid says that Gene must've purposefully pushed Finny. In the back of his mind, he realizes that their comments don't have much value, but he still continues to let everything get to his head. When Finny returns, Gene will forever think that he is to blame for everything that happened to Finny. He might also assume that Finny might not be so cool with him, and Finny might realize what the others were saying.
ReplyDeleteI think that Finny being back is going to put a lot of stress on Gene. He wants to tell Finny what really happened that night, but won't because of Finny's reaction when he tried to tell him the first time. Gene doesn't want to hurt Finny, but will end up hurting himself if he doesn't get a chance to come clean. Like Leper, Finny is in denial about what happened, or that anything has changed at all. He wants things to go back to the way they were, either not realizing or not acknowledging that in doing so he is changing things even more. Their relationship will also be different because Finny is unable to play sports, and Gene fells pressure to excel for Finny as well as himself. This could make Gene resent Finny, as we saw him start to resent Finny for being too perfect earlier in the novel.
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ReplyDeleteI think that Finny and Gene’s friendship will change now that Finny is back. Before Finny shattered his leg, he played the role of the leader in the group. He was always the trend setter and the creator of things. Gene was always one man down from him and just listened to what he said. Now that Finny can’t play sports or do much of anything that he could before, I think that the friendship dynamic will switch. Gene will now play the role of the leader in the group and Finny will be the one to follow Gene around. Now that Finny is back, I think Gene will try to protect Finny in a way. With this being said, Gene might also try to be distant with him after the accident because he feels it was himself that caused it. This will create tension between the two and might ruin their friendship.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Logan is saying here. Now that Finny can no longer play sports Gene will have to at least try and fill the shoes of Finny as a sports star. Although the friendship places will be switched I don't think that Gene will be able to fill Finny's shoes. Finny was a star athlete and as Gene said earlier in the book he is only an-average athlete. With that being said I don't think Gene will be able to fill the shoes of Finny. In addition I think that now that Finny is back that the two will be very awkward with each other unless they have an honest talk with each other about what really happened at the tree. As of right now I think both of them are confused if Gene shook the tree or not. So I think the best thing for the two of them right now to do is to talk to each other find out what really happened and then see where there friendship stands after that.
DeleteI do not think Finny and Brinker will get along. Finny has always been described as very loyal to everything he is apart of, including his school The Devon. On the other hand, Brinker has been shown in the last chapter to be quite contempt with the school. It is also a very big part of Brinker's personality now, as in the last section of the chapter it is only him complaining. Another point to take into consideration is that he has a lot of contempt for most of the people in the school. This includes Leper, which is one of Finny's friends. Finny is also very loyal to his friends, so I think for both these reasons they will not get along.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Finny and Brinker will get along, even though they're so similar. Both are popular, and kids and teachers at Devon love them. Finny has lost everything, everything that Brinker is good at. Brinker might come across as Finny’s replacement because he and Gene are growing so close. I think that Finny won't want Gene to become friends with Brinker and might try to change his mind about enlisting in the war. I also think that Gene and Finny's friendship is going to be even more rough since their falling out, and adding Brinker to the mix will only make it worse. Obviously Finny shouldn't hold Gene back from making new friends, but he seems to be the type to be suspicious about someone when he doesn't know them. The two definitely have a lot to work out and the sooner the better because if they don't, they will both be left feeling hurt, jealous, and guilty.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Brinker will make Finny and Gene’s relationship worse?
I think Brinker will make Finny and Gene's relationship worse, as so far he seems to be hostile towards Gene. His persistence in the "investigation" of the incident at the tree will cause friction between the two, as it is bringing to light exactly what Finny doesn't want to acknowledge. Additionally, Brinker's decision to enlist may bring up another point of tension between Gene and Finny, because Finny will want to enlist but most likely won't be able to due to his broken leg. Gene, whom Brinker has caused to consider enlisting, may be held back by Finny's jealously, or, conversely, pushed into making a decision he doesn't want because he feels he has to let Finny live through him.
DeleteHow do you think Leper will be important to the plot?
How do you think Leper will be important to the plot?
DeleteI believe that Leper will be important to the story as a minor character. He also seems to symbolize what the entire novel is about, coming of age. At the beginning of the novel, Leper is known as the sweet innocent one and is still very childish. Compared to Brinker, who is all about war and enlisting and only thinks about the future. In this part of the novel, Leper is now slowly losing his mind and going insane. Also, as a loner at Devon, I believe that he’s going to try to be the first one out. His loneliness is clearly getting to his head to the point where he goes and skis at random places. Knowles is using Leper as a character as an example of transitioning from boyhood to adulthood.
I believe now that Finny has returned to school him and Gene's friendship will have a completely different dynamic. Although, they had a strong friendship before something as monumental as Finny's injury is difficult for both of them to recover from. Now, there will be several rumors circulating involving the accident which no matter how hard they try simply cannot be avoided by Gene or Finny. They will both have to accept the fact that the accident has altered their friendship, whether they like it or not.
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