What happens to Leper in a separate peace?
A quiet, peaceful, nature-loving boy, Leper shocks his classmates by becoming the first boy at Devon to enlist in the army; he shocks them again by deserting soon after.
Why did Leper go crazy in a separate peace?
He says that he had to accept the reality of the war when Gene told him that it had caused Leper to go crazy. If something can make a person go crazy, Finny says, it must be real. Gene is shocked to hear that Leper is back at Devon.
What does Leper break down over and try to tell Gene about?
Leper tells Gene that he has, in fact, deserted; he did so because the army was planning to give him a Section Eight discharge for insanity, which he says would have prevented him from ever finding work or leading a normal life.
Why is leper called Leper in a separate peace?
‘Leper’ Lepellier. It is never explained in the story exactly why he is called ‘Leper,’ though it certainly is not because he has Leprosy, a flesh eating disease. Instead, it likely is just because his last name is Lepellier, and because the book’s characters are all adolescent boys who like to make up nick names.
Who is Elwin Lepellier in a separate peace?
A Separate Peace A quiet, peaceful, nature-loving boy, Leper shocks his classmates by becoming the first boy at Devon to enlist in the army; he shocks them again by deserting soon after.
What’s the name of the boy in a separate peace?
Many movies and books are about how a traumatic experience can change the attitude and general nature of a person, for good or for bad. Leper is just one example. In John Knowles’s A Separate Peace, the boy called ‘Leper’ is actually named Elwin Lepellier, though in the novel only his mother ever calls him by his proper name.
Why is leper important to the story of the loner leper?
In fact, he acts as a kind of narrative catalyst, inadvertently bringing about the final tragedy in the novel. The nonconforming loner Leper serves as a contrast to Finny, another nonconformist who nonetheless succeeds as a leader.