Friendships

Spoiler Alert.


In the 1942 summer session of the book A Separate Place by John Knowles, all of the boys in Gene's class are in a summer daze. There were no laws -- which made the return of Gene's classmate, Leper, mental illness included, harder on everyone. Now, Gene has two close friends that are considered "damaged goods". It would be so easy for Gene to simply leave behind his "damaged" friend. However, I believe doing this would only make him a "damaged" friend if he were to leave at the first conflict. I think now more than ever it is important for Gene to cling to his friendships. For he never knows when the war will come and ruin it all. 

Even before Leper enlisted, he was pretty... peculiar. No one had a problem with him, but no one was that close with him, either. For most, this sort of isolation would be unbearable. Surprisingly though, not for Leper. I believe that he even liked it. Which was probably why the army was so hard for him. To have all of this blood and gore thrown into your face at once would be hard on me, too. If I were Leper, my motivation to escape would be the idea of my friends being there to comfort me. But if my one true friend wasn't there for me in my time of need, I would go insane too. In Leper's case, more insane. After going through Lepers train of thought, I understand why he seems phsycho to Gene. I also understand why Gene doesn't want to be around the new, raw Leper. But Gene doesn't actually know what Leper has gone through. Though I admit I did take Genes path when I first heard about Leper, I hope Gene will now realize what I have realized about Leper.

Leper has been on the wildest roller-coaster of them all. He's gone so far that he is now past the point of return. And that scares Gene. But in order to maintain their friendship, Gene must go on the roller-coaster too, despite his fears. Because while it seems scary in the middle, the end is the best part.