"Leper" Lepellier-Semi Scapegoat, Partly Pharmakon -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 18:56:21 04/20/08 Sun
Author: Janelle
Subject: "Leper" Lepellier-Semi Scapegoat, Partly Pharmakon

I am using the novel "A Separate Peace" for my term paper and in addition to the mimeticism that rules the story I noticed something about the character of Leper Lepellier. In a way he is a kind of scapegoat. A lot of the boyutcast on campus, their anger is turned against him. Even if a friend of his is present while he is being verbally attacked no one stands up for him. Leper, however, is not forced off campus, he leaves voluntarily. He enlists in the army and, after combat scars him emotionally and psychologically, he doesn't return to school. While he is gone the boys practically deify him by pretending he is a war hero; every great military attack that occurs is attributed to Leper. He is also given a pharmakon type of status. When some of the students form a council to investigate an accident that has occurred they discover that the only eye witness to the event was Leper. Just like a pharmakon, his presence is required to restore order and, when it is discovered that he is visiting the campus, they find him and force him to testify. I just found it interesting that though one couldn't exactly say that the character of Leper fits the definition of a scapegoat or a pharmakon exactly, the parallels are too obvious to ignore.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]