Character Analysis Of Leper In The Novel

Throughout the book Elwin Lepellier, Leper, has appeared many times. His character happens to be the ‘odd one out,’ with his strange actions and a complete turn around, I his character, as he progresses in the novel. The oddness of Leper, added with the effects of the war on not only leper, but also all the children at Devin, all contributed to his isolation. Whether self-isolation or isolation from other characters in the novel. The oddness of Lepellier was not just in the way he walked, or talked, but also in the ways he reacted to certain situations. This is demonstrated in the first chapter of the book when Finny and Gene leaps from the tree. They expect him to follow along, but although the idea of jumping off of the tree is discomforting he doesn’t react like the other children he simply stands there, ‘inanimate.’

They were preparing it, if you see what I mean, for the future. Everything has to evolve or else it perishes… Skiing had to learn to move just as fast or it would have been wiped out by this war… You know what? I 'm almost glad this war came along. It 's like a test, isn 't it, and only the things and the people who 've been evolving the right way survive"

As a joke many of the students at Devin based successful war efforts on Leper. They remembered him as a good, but odd, friend of theirs that had made all the miracles pertaining to the war effort, happen. In this imagery of Leper, Gene certainly didn’t expect anything odd when he received the message from him during the winter festival. At this point the readers, and Gene himself, were introduced to the ‘new’ Leper. The once odd, wistful Leper was now visibly fidgety and constantly scowling.

“He looked at me, and I noticed the left side of his upper lip lift once or twice as though he was about to snarl or cry. Then I realized that this had nothing to do with his mood, that it was involuntary.”

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