3.) What causes Gene to attack Leper? The answer needs to involve a literal and figurative exploration of what occurs here (middle 145) (Ben K.)

Gene is caused to attack Leper because all of the guilt he has trapped inside of him from hurting his "best friend" was released. At this point in the book, the incident of Gene pushing Finny out of the tree and harming him for life is far behind, however the guilt Gene felt was never fully released. One can tell that this guilt in his body has been needing to come out for a while. "I swung on the younger boy. 'What did I do then?' I demanded ... 'then what happened, Sherlock Holmes?' His eyes swung guiltily back and forth." (90) This quote is an example of Gene's guilt being released, but on a smaller scale. Another example of Gene's guilt being released is when Gene is visiting Finny in the hospital. "'Hit me!' I looked at him. 'Hit me! You can't even get up! You can't even get near me!'" (70) This quote is showing how Gene, once again on a smaller scale, attacks people when confronted about his incident with Finny. "'...like that time you pushed Finny out of the tree.' I sprang out of the chair. 'You stupid crazy bastard!'" (145) When this happened, all of Gene's anger, all of his guilt, all of his sorrow sprung out of his thoughts and moved into his actions. Whenever confronted about Finny's injury, Gene, almost subconsciously, attacks the person who confronted him. Gene's guilt was a balloon, and after too much air being sent into him, he finally exploded. His guilt is what caused him to attack Leper.