Leper, Gene’s old friend, acts younger than other boys and has an easygoing mild quality about him. Leper seems more juvenile than other guys by being almost oblivious to the war, by playing in the snow and by looking for beavers. Leper displays his easygoingness when he meats Gene and Brinker after they return from shoveling the snow beneath the trains. When Gene questions Leper about the beaver dam with tempered happiness, Leper replies, “”I did.” His smile was wide and unfocussed, as though not for me alone but for anyone and anything which wished to share this pleasure with him.” (knowls p99). When Brinker makes fun of Leper for trying to find a beaver dam, Leper answered, “The beaver never appeared himself.” Leper did not start a fight in response to Brinker’s rudeness, but instead, without awareness, supplied more information about the beaver dam. Leper spent time with Gene over the summer, but Gene matured beyond boyish interests during their time apart in the winter session, while Leper has more or less stayed the same.
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