Assignment 9, question 1 Chris Bornhorst

1.) Gene spends the first part of the chapter traveling to Leper’s house. Choose two or three phrases of description about the landscape (location, weather, temperature) and explore how Knowles is using them. Why does he include these details here and why at this time? What does it reveal about Gene at this time?

In this chapter, Gene travels to Leper's house after he escapes from the war. When Gene is arriving at Leper's house, he describes at being warm and comfortable. ", and the houses are fragile havens, unforgettably comfortable, simple though they are, just because of their warmth"(Knowles, 139). In this quote Gene is telling the reader that Leper's area in which he lives in is cold on the outside but warm and comfortable on the inside. This relates to Gene because that is his personality and who he is as a person. Also, he has described the landscape in which Leper's house is on. He says that it is a white snow covering the hills, and there was sun shining down onto the land. He describes it as a beautiful place. John Knowles uses these details to describe how pretty the land is, and then how within the land there is a huge war going on and a man who has escaped from it. Gene also uses the word glory which relates to the poems that we read in class. Glory is one of the things you get from war, but death and fear are others. John Knowles uses the landscape and details to describe the beauty and hate of the land and war. He also uses it to describe Gene.