Explore the difference between what ‘escape’ means to Gene as opposed to what it means to Leper (see usage in context on the middle of page 143) - Minsky
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles WWII is a prevalent topic for the boys attending the Devon school. It is often glorified, as the story is told through the eyes of Gene, a 17 year-old boy who is being conditioned to enlist or be drafted. When Gene receives a letter from Leper saying that he escaped and needs help Gene starts thinking of what he could have escaped from. He is convinced that Leper escaped from spies because the only enemies that would be in this country would be spies. He immediately rules out that Leper could have escaped from the army, saying “I accepted a hopeful interpretation. Leper had ‘escaped’. You didn’t ‘escape’ from the army, so it must have been something else.” (140). His definition of escaping is literally getting away from an enemy or an opposing force. When he gets to Leper’s house, Leper explains that his escape was from getting a section 8 discharge from the army. Gene gets impatient and asks what Leper really escapes from. He doesn’t understand the concept of escaping from something that’s not physical danger. In the army, Leper was in danger of not being able to have a future. He says a section 8 discharge is “...like a dishonorable discharge only worse. You can’t get a job after that… You’re screwed for life, that’s what a section eight discharge means.” (144). Leper sees an escape not as necessarily being from something physical like Gene does, but from anything that would cause any kind of danger to him.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you think Leper will send another letter?
- Will Leper’s escape change Gene’s opinion of the war and the army?
- What will Gene tell the other students about Leper?
I think that Leper’s escape will change Gene’s view on the army and maybe even drive him to try and convince Finny too. In this scene, it is obvious that the war is all too real, especially for Leper. Gene thinks Leper escaped from spies (referencing the external war), while Leper is actually referencing more an internal war he is battling himself. They have this conversation about how Leper thinks he might be going mad, and it sounds like he felt he was being manipulated or brainwashed. In a way, the same goes for Gene, he is being brainwashed by Finny (who seems to be the only person in denial about the incident). Finny is in his own world, where the war no longer exists. I think that looking back on this conversation, Gene might start realizing that the war is real and Finny is changing him to get what he wants. I think in this instance, the two boys are insanely vulnerable and are relating to each other in more than one way, even when they can’t see it.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Gene will try and convince Finny that the war is real? Why or why not?
Leper's story cannot be made up. The image of war has been implanted into Gene's head. The war has changed extraordinarily for Gene, Finny, and Leper. Leper thought that the war would be peaceful skiing and enjoyment on the slopes. The war changed him into almost losing all his future jobs and receiving a Section 8 discharge. The war training was so punishing that it caused Leper to go insane. Gene definitely realized this and even had to walk away himself. I think this reading proved that the truth always shines through. Gene thought no one knew what he did to Finny and Leper teased him about it in his house. Also, Gene believed Finny's thought in speculating the war is imaginary but has since matured and heard about the gruesome effects it has mentally and physically. If Gene doesn't try to convince Finny that the war is real after hearing Leper's experience, I don't know what will.
DeleteHow does Leper picturing people differently describe what Gene's doing to himself?
I think that when Gene goes back to school, he won’t be able to tell the other boys about Leper’s experience in the war. This is mainly because when Leper told Gene his crazy story, Gene couldn’t believe how bad of conditions the war is, and what Leper went through in training camp. Gene was also stunned that the war, something that he himself wanted to enlist in was such a difficult experience for many. If Gene does go back to Devon and tells all of the boys what really happened to Leper, I think that the boys either won’t believe him, or will be shocked by what happened to Leper and become terrified of the war. Overall, when Gene goes back to Devon I don’t think he will have the courage to tell the boys what happened to Leper.
ReplyDeleteHow will Finny React?
Will he tell Finny?
I think that Gene might try to tell Finny, as he comes out of the experience so shocked that it's likely that he'll be searching for the kind of comfort that can be given by the pretend, peaceful world that Finny imagines. He was torn out of the Carnival, which was a manifestation of the safe bubble of a world that Finny created, straight into the horrors of the war, and forced to confront exactly what he wanted to deny ever existed. (Gene having to face the external conflict of the war mirrors how the meeting with Leper also made him confront the internal conflict, the guilt over Finny, that he had managed to push down.) I think Finny may take Gene's news as an opportunity to sink them both deeper into their fantasy of peace, taking advantage of Gene's sudden vulnerability to enforce both their denials and make the codependent relationship harder to break out of.
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DeleteI think Gene will try to not tell Finny about what Leper told him. Eventually, Finny will ask too many questions about Gene’s mystery visit to Leper’s house. Gene can’t live with the guilt of the accident and the visit to Leper’s house. The guilt of the accident really got to him about the accident when Leper says that Gene kicked Finny out of the tree and Gene starts to hurt Leper. If anyone can crack an on edge Gene, it is Finny. Especially now that FInny has torn Gene away from his other friends. Finny is the only person that Gene can talk to about this, but they can’t because they don’t even believe the war exists.
I think that after the interaction between Leper and Gene, Leper won't send anymore letters. This sort of seems like the end of their friendship at least for right now. When Gene started to run away from Leper at the end of the chapter, he was trying to run away from his fears of the war. He wanted to go back to something familiar, and not have to deal with "someone else's problems". It almost seemed like Gene didn't want to know what happened at the war, it would just deepen his fear of it. After seeing one of the nicests and calmest people he knew go crazy over the war, he couldn't take it anymore and had to leave. Overall, after Gene left Leper, he felt like he got abandoned by the one person he could trust, and won't be sending anymore letters.
ReplyDeleteHow has Gene changed after seeing Leper.
How has Gene changed after seeing Leper?
DeleteI believe that Gene will change after seeing Leper by not wanting to go to war anymore. This change will make him not mature and become his own person. He will only stick by Finny and do what Finny wants. I also believe that once he gets back to Devon he’s going to immediately tell Finny all the stuff about what Leper said. Finny will then take advantage of this for him and Gene to hang out with each other more and not want to enlist into war. If Gene was to tell Brinker about this, however, Brinker wouldn’t be phased whatsoever because now he will know that his choice of backing out will be a good one.
I believe that Leper’s escape will change Gene’s view on the war and what actually happens while in the army. Leper did not appear well when Gene met with him at his home in Vermont. Leper escaped in order because he was going “physco”. Leper told some stories to Gene that seemed very gory such as a time when he saw someone and thought he was carrying a broom but it ended up being someone’s amputated legs. Gene did not want to hear more of his stories as he was already disturbed. Leper thought that being in the army wouldn’t be too bad because of the ski troops they showed him but it ended up being a lot worse than what he thought if he ended up running away. This probably makes Gene now think that the army is not a place where he wants to be. Before, he was abou to enlist, I doubt he’d even think about enlisting now.
ReplyDeleteBefore Gene had seen Leper, the war had been mostly an idea, but probably didn't seem real. He had heard about it, but had never talked about someone who had experience in the army. Gene gets to witness what even just training for war can do to someone. Leper is not the most trustworthy source though because he is different from many of the boys at Devon. It seems he would naturally be opposed to war, so it is surprising that he is the first to leave. Leper did seem crazy when he came back, which I don't think was the case before at Devon. This is the only real story Gene has heard so it may change his views on the war, because no one else has gone and been able to tell him otherwise. He may also see that Leper is an exception and most people going to the war are not like him and will not hate it so much.
ReplyDeleteI think that this chapter is very enlightening to what we talked about in class about whether Finny and Gene were likable characters. Finny is an upbeat, complex character, but managed to always make the story more fun. He cares about people and seems like an overall good friend. Up until this chapter, although Gene overthought way too much, he seemed like a fairly likable character as well. However, in the moment at the very end of this chapter, we see another side of Gene. This view showed that he was insensitive, self-centered, and overall, just not a kind person. I think that since we are learning this story through his perspective, not all of these traits have come through until this moment. John Knowles did a great job of playing out this moment because Leper and Gene were both in the middle of nowhere in Vermont (a very cold, wintery state), which, from the book's symbols, is bound to create darkness.
ReplyDeleteI think Leper’s escape will change Gene’s opinion of the war. Earlier in the book, Gene describes the soldiers as heroes who were “going places”(97). At the end of Chapter 10, Gene freaks out after Leper tells his story and thinks as he runs away, “I didn’t want to hear any more of it. I had already heard too much. What did he mean telling me a story like that! I didn't want to hear any more of it. Not now or ever. I didn’t care because it had nothing to do with me. And I didn’t want to hear any more of it. Ever”(151). Gene’s view of the war starts to change because he saw what happened to his friend. When he said, “ I didn’t care because it had nothing to do with me” he was trying to convince himself that the same wouldn't happen to him. He knows he will have to serve whether he enlists or gets drafted. Earlier in the book, he thought the soldiers were going places as in they would become heroes. Now Gene realizes that they were going to die, or become “psycho” like Leper. Gene’s view of the war and the army will change because Leper’s story is starting to bring him back to reality.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Gene will tell the other students at Devon Leper's condition. When Gene first arrives at the Leper house because of the note Leper left, he finds thats that Leper has gone a little "physco" towards the end of their conversation right before Leper's mom comes down the stairs, Leper laughed on the ground as he told Gene that he knows Gene purposely made Finny fall down the stairs. Even with Leper's questionable reliability in his condition, he could still get the attention of the students at Devon. Unless Gene has decided to face his demons, I don't think he'll want to even mention what Leper was like to the other students at Devon.
ReplyDeleteI think that Gene meeting with Lepper completely changed his view of the war. Gene now thinks it is horrible and makes people crazy. He becomes so afraid of it that he runs away from Lepper so he doesn't have to hear his story. I think that this will lead to Gene living completely in Finny's reality/ His meeting with Lepper was traumatic and he just wants to forget it ever happened. Just like he wants to forget what happened at the tree. I think that the meeting will lead to Gene believing Finny's point of view. That there is no war.
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