Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Assignment 9 (138-151): What causes Gene to attack Leper? The answer needs to involve a literal and figurative exploration of what occurs here (middle 145). (Ben)
Gene attacks Leper because Leper accused Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree, and because Leper shatters the separate peace that Gene and Finny have created. When Leper was in the army, he admitted a lot to himself. One of those things was that Gene was a savage underneath. He believes that Gene knocked Finny out of the tree. Leper says, "Like that time you crippled him for life" (Knowles 145). Gene immediately kicks Leper over his chair. The accusation of Gene hurting Finny is the first reason why Gene attacks Leper. Leper brings back the guilt that Gene has almost fully put behind him. The other reason why Gene attacks Leper is because Leper makes Gene realize the reality. Gene loses his separate peace when he sees Leper in this state of illness. Gene has known the Leper that loves nature, and, in a matter of weeks, he has become psycho. Finny and Gene think that they can stay out of adulthood forever. When Gene sees Leper's madness, his peace is immediately gone forever, because Gene realizes that the war he thought was a distant future, is actually right in front of him.
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When Gene was first in the Butt Room with Brinker, he was unable to say that he caused Finny to fall out of the tree despite him making everything else up in his story. He said, "'then I...' I only had to add, 'pushed him out of the tree' ... But I could feel my throat closing on them; I could never say them, never." (Knowles 90) After that experience, Gene learned to suppress his guilt until it eventually felt as if it was not there at all. When Leper brings up that Gene did, in fact, make Finny fall out of the tree, the guilt inside Gene is brought back to the surface and causes him to lash out on Leper. I agree that this is also due to the war. Gene and Finny did the same thing with the war that Gene did with his guilt about shaking the tree limb: pretend that it wasn't there. Leper is a reminder that this isn't true; that there is a war and that Gene really did cause Finny to fall out of the tree. Gene has been living in his own bubble, and we are beginning to see the dangers of what happens when the security of this bubble is threatened.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ben and that Gene attacks Leper because Leper accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. Leper crosses a line that has been paved with a thin crust of a separate peace. When Leper makes it clear to Gene that his "peace" with FInny is nothing but a lie, Gene loses his cool. "I shoved my foot against the rung of his chair and kicked. Leper went over in his chair and collapsed against the floor. Laughing and crying he lay with his head on the floor and his knees up, '. . . always were a savage underneath"' (Knowles, 145). When Gene completely loses his cool it shows how much guilt and sorrow he really feels towards Finny. So much so he's willing to hurt his disabled friend in order to avenge his wrong doing.
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