What causes Gene to attack Leper?
Towards the beginning of chapter ten, Gene travels to visit Leper at his house in Vermont to find out what he meant when he wrote that he "escaped". Gene finds out that Leper has become meaner and more aggressive, and less like himself. Leper ends up telling Gene how he's always felt and that the thinks Gene has always been, "'Like a savage underneath. Like...like that time you knocked Finny out of that tree.' (Knowles 145)" Gene, taking this personally and very seriously, impulsively kicks Leper out of his chair. Gene took this personally on many levels; Gene has been lying to himself and most of his friends for so long that he started to believe it himself, and having Leper yell the truth at him was infuriating and caught him off guard. This was also a verbal attack towards Gene and he reacted how Finny would've. Gene still feels bad about what happened and when Leper insulted him and Finny, Gene was hit with confusing and frustrating emotions that led him to push the chair from under Leper.
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