Why does leper feel threatened in the military

Ironically, Leper, while in a state of insanity, sees the truth more clearly than anyone else. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Quotes Leper Quotes. 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 get to really look at trees, at a tree.

Early in January, when we had all just returned from the Christmas holidays, a recruiter from the United States ski troops showed a film to the senior class in the Renaissance Room.

To Leper it revealed what all of us were seeking: a recognizable and friendly face to the war…. It was the cleanest image of war I had ever seen….

His face was furious, but his eyes denied the fury; instead they saw it before them. They were filled with terror. A swell guy, except when the chips were down. You always were a savage underneath.

I always knew that only I never admitted it…. Like… like that time you knocked Finny out of the tree…. Like that time you crippled him for life. I guess I am. I must be. Gene makes a few uncertain comments and Leper suddenly breaks down, insulting him. He then accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. Leper then invites Gene to stay for lunch, which he does out of guilt. Eventually, Gene cannot bear to listen to Leper any longer and runs away into the snowy fields.

Leper, who has been strictly a secondary character thus far, suddenly takes center stage in the novel, first by joining the army and then by deserting. The war is the great unknown for the students at Devon, one that they will all have to face at some point. Leper, who is the oldest boy in the class, will have to enter it sooner than anyone else. The film about the ski troops gives him a chance to enter the war and the unknown through something he knows well—skiing. His proactive decision to enlist also offers him a sense of control and empowerment that would be absent if he waited to be drafted into the service.

First, they respond with disbelief, and because they find the idea of Leper in the army so unimaginable, the war becomes to them more distant and alien than ever. Led by Brinker, they mockingly envision Leper as a war hero. When they imagine one of their peers involved in grand historical events, the war suddenly seems more on their level, less intimidating; after all, if Leper can be a hero, then anyone can.

SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Summary Chapters 9— Page 1 Page 2.