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A Separate Peace

by John Knowles

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In A Separate Peace, how does Leper's theory of evolution apply to Gene and himself?

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In A Separate Peace, Leper is academically sound, but he is also a socially awkward introvert. Gene, on the other hand, is socially adept as well as an academic achiever. Neither boy is perfect, but each maintains his niche in a private boarding school for boys in early 1940s America. Leper is the boy that wanders off on his own to explore nature, catch butterflies, and examine snails. On the other hand, Gene has a competitive edge and seeks approval socially and academically. When Leper suggests that succeeding in life's test depends on proper evolution, he's referring to what he has studied in nature and at school: only the strong survive. In the case for humans facing war, one would need to be strong in many categories: mental, physical, emotional, and so on. When Gene goes to visit Leper, he describes his friend as follows:

Leper had the kind of fragile fair skin given to high, unhealthy coloring. He was all color, painted at random, but none of it highlighted his grief. Instead of desperate and hate-filled, he looked, with his checkered outfit and blotchy face, like a half-prepared clown (148).

This description certainly is not one of a person who is capable, prepared, or evolved enough to fight a war. Leper, though, describes Gene in chapter 10 in the following way:

You always were a lord of the manor, weren't you? A swell guy, except when the chips were down. You always were a savage underneath. I always knew that only I never admitted it. . . . like that time you knocked Finny out of the tree. . . . Like the time you crippled him for life (145).

From Leper's description above, Gene seems to have it all together, but deep down he has a crazy side, too. Maybe this crazy side is one that could handle the stresses of war because Gene has also been able to keep his head above water and stay out of trouble as he manages all of the facets of his high school career. Leper, on the other hand, hasn't succeeded socially or mentally; thus, he isn't as well-rounded to face life at school, let alone war.

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In A Separate Peace, how does Leper's quote about evolution apply to Leper, Gene, and Finny?

If you look at the characters of Leper, Gene and Finny, in the end, it is only Gene that actually makes it through the war with sound health and mind.  Leper cracks under the pressure of training, and his mind becomes the victim to the rigorous schedule and lifestyle of a soldier.  Finny, because he can't be on the front lines participating in the war, is torn apart by it and copes by making up stories about it.  Also, Finny was so good-natured that Gene accurately concludes of him that he would be no good at fighting.  He doesn't have the nature to be any good at war.

To "evolve the right way," you must steel yourself to the harsh realities of war; Leper was unable to do that, and Finny was caught off guard by the cruelty of war himself.  In the book, Gene symbolically declares war on Finny through is declaration of it at the tree; his jealousy and insecurity led him to an act of thoughtless cruelty; in the end, that cost Finny his life.  Finny was too nice to recognize that cruelty in Gene; when he finally was forced to confront it, he couldn't handle it, and it broke him.  He didn't evolve with the proper amount of perspective and hardness to handle war.  Leper did not evolve with the proper amount of hardness and resolve to survive it.  Gene, however, did.  He knew what cruelty was--he had seen it in his own heart.  He knew the war was hard--he had seen it break Leper.  He developed the attributes that needed to survive the war.

I hope that those thoughs helped a bit; good luck!

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