e saw that Lepper really had gone crazy. Finny believed that there was really a war from that point on because his theory was; it takes a war to make a man crazy. Gene had many aspects of the war to deal with in addition to his emotional stress. Gene had a difficult time dealing with Finny’s denial of the war and Lepper’s insanity from the war. Finny and Lepper both made a great impact on how Gene emotionally felt and viewed the war. Gene always listened and followed Finny. When Finny told Gene his imaginary story of the war not existing, Gene didn’t know what to think. The more Finny told Gene that there wasn’t a war, the more Gene believed him. Then there was Lepper who had enlisted in the war and “escaped” because he had gone crazy. The more stories and thoughts that Lepper shared with Gene, the more that Gene became afraid of the war and realized that he wasn’t ready to enlist. Like Lepper, Gene also had to grow mentally before he was ready for the service. He decided that he wasn’t going to enlist but instead wait to be drafted. Gene’s character in the novel was an idealist, and he was fighting with himself and his own feelings about the war. All of the characters in this novel had different ideas, personalities, and situations having to do with the war, not that any individual can ever be prepared for war. No character in the novel was mentally stable or ready for war. War was not a pleasant time at Devon school, thinking about what lied, ahead was probably the greatest challenge of the boys at Devon....
