Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 11, 2023 October 4, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
“They’re ruining skiing in this country, rope tows and chair lifts and all that stuff. You get carted up, and then you whizz down. You never get to see the trees or anything. Oh, you see a lot of trees shoot by, but you never get to really look at trees, at a tree. I just like to go along and see what I’m passing and enjoy myself.”
Leper compares the new sport of downhill skiing with his own preference, Nordic or cross-country skiing. His critique reveals his core personality: Leper likes to pause and reflect, to enjoy nature, and to go at his own pace. His observations foreshadow the incompatibility of Leper’s temperament with serving as a soldier.
Early in January, when we had all just returned from the Christmas holidays, a recruiter from the United States ski troops showed a film to the senior class in the Renaissance Room. To Leper it revealed what all of us were seeking: a recognizable and friendly face to the war…. It was the cleanest image of war I had ever seen…
Gene explains how he and his friends reacted to the film of ski troops. Immediately upon seeing the film, Leper, an avid skier and outdoorsman, decides that joining the ski represents the perfect way for him to serve in the military. Thus Leper becomes the first boy of his class to enlist, to everyone’s surprise. Unfortunately, the “clean” image of war shown in the film misleads Leper, who will suffer when reality disproves his illusions.
“Iescaped! ” the word surging out in a voice and intensity that was not Leper’s. His face was furious, but his eyes denied the fury; instead they saw it before them. They were filled with terror.
Gene reflects on the moment Leper reveals that he ran away from the military. After enlisting, Leper was sent to basic training. There the combination of stress, lack of sleep, and bad food eventually caused him to have a mental breakdown, which took the form of frightening hallucinations. As a result, he has deserted. Even though he “escaped” military service, Leper continues to relive the experience. Even preparing for war produces permanent internal scars.
“You always were a lord of the manor, weren’t you? A swell guy, except when the chips were down. You always were a savage underneath. I always knew that only I never admitted it…. Like… like that time you knocked Finny out of the tree…. Like that time you crippled him for life.”
Leper confronts Gene with troubling truths he never let himself express before. Leper’s experience of breakdown and failure in the military help him see and express reality, even painful or ugly truths. It has made him more willing to describe honestly what he already knew. Here, Leper confronts Gene about Gene’s true nature, which he sees more clearly and describes more accurately than anyone else has, including Gene himself.
“And the perfect word for me… psycho. I guess I am. I must be. Am I, though, or is it the army? Because they turned everything inside out. I couldn’t sleep in bed, I had to sleep everywhere else. I couldn’t eat in the Mess Hall, I had to eat everywhere else. Everything began to be inside out. And the man next to me at night, coughing himself inside out. That was when things began to change.”
Leper shares his understanding that he failed in his military service and that his time in training has, in some way, driven him crazy. But his description of why he became ill implies that his breakdown was the army’s fault, because nothing there made sense. Ironically, Leper, while in a state of insanity, sees the truth more clearly than anyone else.
Please wait while we process your payment