In A Separate Peace, Leper is a calm and peaceful boy that Gene is friends with at Devon. He is very quiet and timid. This is first shown at the beginning of the book when Leper refuses to jump off of the tree and into the river. In chapter 7, Gene and other Devon students help shovel snow off of train tracks for payment. On his way to the train station, Gene runs into Leper, who is skiing. Gene asks why he isn’t going fast down a hill and Leper replies “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. I just like to go along and see what I’m passing and enjoy myself.” (Knowles 95) While skiing, Leper says he found a beaver dam. When he explains this to Brinker and Gene, Brinker says “That’s the kind of a place I’m in with a world war going on. A school for photographers of beaver dams.” (Knowles 99) Leper is in his own world and follows his own guide of rules, similar to Finny who also has his own rules, but in a calmer way. He is different from the other boys like Brinker and Gene who always have their minds on the war. Leper is an example of a separate peace from the war.
I agree with Grace. I think that Leper is a sign of a more peaceful time, a time where everything wasn’t about war and making money. Leper captures the essence of a pure joyful innocence. He enjoys himself without caring about what others think of him. He enjoys the view, and the journey and recognizes that life is not about the desonation. While many people are stuck in a fast pace of life and rushing to the destination, Leper indulges in a slower mindset and enjoys the smaller things life has to offer. When Gene first thinks of meeting his new Hal-mate Brinker, he hesitates remembering Leper who was there prior to Brinker, “Brinker had nothing to offer in place of Leper’s dust motes and creeping ivy and snails” (Knowles 75). No matter how much Gene wants to gravitate towards Brinker's fast pace organization and drive for his future, he can’t help but miss the simplicity and beautiful peace which Leper has brought to him.
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