A member of Gene and Finny’s circle of friends at Devon, Leper is an eccentric student who enjoys communing with nature. As the other boys play sports and leap from trees, Leper photographs beaver dams and goes cross-country skiing. His shy, gentle demeanor makes his decision to enlist in the Army all the more shocking. His ensuing breakdown and desertion from military service becomes a key facet of the novel’s critique of World War II, which destroyed innocent boys like Leper emotionally and physically. Furthermore, the fact that joining the military destabilizes Leper so thoroughly is what finally forces both Finny and Gene to admit the overwhelming reality of the war, suddenly sensing its proximity and severity by registering its profound effect on their otherwise mild-mannered friend. When Brinker holds a mock tribunal to determine whether or not Gene intentionally caused Finny’s fall, Leper serves as the key witness, confirming that Gene bounced the tree limb and sent Finny plummeting to the riverbank.
Elwin “Leper” Lepellier Quotes in A Separate Peace
The A Separate Peace quotes below are all either spoken by Elwin “Leper” Lepellier or refer to Elwin “Leper” Lepellier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he.
Related Characters:
Gene Forrester (speaker), Phineas (“Finny”), Elwin “Leper” Lepellier
Related Symbols:
The Tree
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
Across the hall […] where Leper Lepellier had dreamed his way through July and August amid sunshine and dust motes and windows through which the ivy had reached tentatively into the room, here Brinker Hadley had established his headquarters. Emissaries were already dropping in to confer with him.
Related Characters:
Gene Forrester (speaker), Phineas (“Finny”), Brinker Hadley, Elwin “Leper” Lepellier
Related Symbols:
Fall (Autumn) and Finny's Fall, The Devon School
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10
Quotes
Fear seized my stomach like a cramp. I didn’t care what I said to him now; it was myself I was worried about. For if Leper was psycho it was the army which had done it to him, and I and all of us were on the brink of the army.
Related Characters:
Gene Forrester (speaker), Elwin “Leper” Lepellier
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Elwin “Leper” Lepellier Character Timeline in A Separate Peace
The timeline below shows where the character Elwin “Leper” Lepellier appears in A Separate Peace. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...in spite of himself. They are standing beneath the tree with three other friends: Elwin “Leper” Lepellier, Chet Douglass, and Bobby Zane. The tree itself is the focus of many boys...
(full context)
...torpedoed by enemies. In response, Gene throws himself into the water, and when he surfaces, Leper suggests that his jump was even better than Finny’s, though Finny tells him to hold...
(full context)
Chapter 2
...they will soon be old enough to enlist or get drafted. In fact, he says, Leper will be eligible to go to war before the end of the upcoming academic year....
(full context)
Chapter 4
...him to go to the tree. In a characteristically jovial mood, Finny informs him that Leper will finally be making the jump. Gene slams his book shut and begrudgingly prepares to...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...home. Across the hall, a popular and well-rounded student named Brinker Hadley has moved into Leper’s old room—a development that would normally please Gene but does little to stir him. Leper,...
(full context)
...visit Brinker, but stops before he enters, realizing that he doesn’t want to see how Leper’s former room has changed. Instead of saying hello to Brinker, then, he turns around and...
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Chapter 7
...volunteers to shovel away the snow, and nearly everyone signs up—everyone, that is, except for Leper, who Gene suspects didn’t listen during the announcement. After all, Gene thinks, Leper is always...
(full context)
...his way to shovel the tracks, Gene takes a shortcut through the woods and finds Leper, who is “touring” the area on cross-country skis and looking for a beaver dam. Preoccupied...
(full context)
...him, calling him a spy for the enemy. Then, when they reach campus, they spot Leper as he slides slowly by on his skis. Brinker makes a sarcastic remark about him,...
(full context)
After listening to Leper, Brinker laments the fact that he’s forced to go to a “school for photographers of...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...the destruction that supposedly exists beyond the confines of his own experience. In January, though, Leper Lepellier enlists in the military after watching a video that a recruiter from the United...
(full context)
Within a week, Leper is gone. He is the first boy to enlist, despite the boisterous claims that people...
(full context)
...it aloud, his face falls. He hands it to Gene, who sees that it’s from Leper, who has escaped from the military and needs Gene’s help. The telegram instructs Gene to...
(full context)
Chapter 10
The “Christmas location” is Leper’s home in Vermont, to which Gene takes a train that very night. In retrospect, he...
(full context)
Gene hopes that Leper’s use of the word “escape” doesn’t meant that he deserted the military. Hurtling toward Vermont,...
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As Leper tells Gene what happened, he senses that Gene thinks he’s a “psycho.” This word deeply...
(full context)
Outraged, Gene jumps up, but Leper only laughs hysterically. He reminds Gene that he ruined Finny’s life, and Gene can’t stop...
(full context)
Gene begs Leper to stop talking, but Leper either won’t or can’t. Unable to bear it any longer,...
(full context)
Chapter 11
After dinner, Brinker visits Gene and Finny’s room and asks about Leper. Gene is vague, not wanting to talk about what happened to his friend, but Brinker...
(full context)
...his best friend. And this is why, he says, he believes what Gene said about Leper becoming unstable.
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Finny continues to talk about Leper, saying that he now understands once and for all that the war is real. If...
(full context)
Brinker asks who else was present when Finny fell, and somebody says that Leper was there. Brinker remarks that Leper would know exactly what happened because he was always...
(full context)
Brinker asks Leper to identify if the person who fell was Finny, but Leper refuses to do so,...
(full context)
