Saturday, May 10, 2014
Discuss Leper’s return and its impact on Gene and Finny before Brinker’s trial. What does Leper represent now that he is back at Devon and what conversation does his return trigger between Finny and Gene? (see pages 163-164). (Tayseer)
When Finny and Gene are talking about what the war had done to Leper, they realize that, "the war was real, this war and all the wars. If a war can drive somebody crazy, then it's real alright" (Knowles 163). Leper has come to represent the pain that the war can cause, the things that the war can do to someone who joins the army, and that the war is a serious and real thing. It's not a joke, like they would like to think, but it is something important, something that has hurt someone they had known. Now that they know this, they can not just back away from it now. It will be surrounding them for the next few years. But, while they still can, they joke about how Gene had won every Olympic metal, and how Finny had collected every newspaper on it.
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I agree with the statements above. I also want to add that the reason this shows that the war is real is because when Leper first joined the army people thought it was a joke. The war had to be a joke if Leper the "naturalist" enlisted. "Oh I guess I always knew, but I didn't have to admit it" (Knowles 163). This is Finny admitting that he always had some belief that the war was real. Now that he has heard Leper is crazy he comes to realize that the war is not just a little battle, but intense. I think by Leper coming home he makes Gene and Finny mature, by making them see that this war is real all wars are, and they aren't joking matters. "Yes, I guess it's a real war all right. But I liked yours a lot better" (Knowles 164). Gene and Finny are growing up and realizing that the war can change people, and it is evident in Leper. Leper's return helps Gene and Finny preview a bit of what war is like.
ReplyDelete-Carly Newell
Leper changed Gene and Finny’s point of view about the war, because when Leper came back crazy, the things Gene and Finny fantasized about the war were clearly not real. When Gene told Finny about Leper’s crazy condition, Finny somewhat believed it, but he had to see it with his own eyes, “maybe your imagination got a little inflamed…Then I saw him myself” (Knowles 163). This ties back to the difference between reality and fantasy. Seeing is believing, and there’s a difference between what Finny imagined and what is real. This difference is repeated in the Olympic conversation between Gene and Finny when they fantasized about winning and getting all the stories. The reality of crazy Leper, made Finny see that the war was real.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the post, but I also think that Finny always believed there was a war, he just didn't want to admit it to himself. Finny knows he is incapable of enlisting due to his injury, and is trying to make himself feel better by lying to himself about the realness of the war. By telling himself that the war is just a story under the influence of "a medicinal drug" (Knowles 115), Finny won't be as upset that he can't fulfill his duty as a seventeen year old and enlist. Gene on the other hand, hasn't convinced himself of this altered analogy because he has nothing hindering him. Unlike Finny, Gene is perfectly healthy and is able to take on the responsibility of join the army.
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