Who is the first to enlist?

Who is the first to enlist?

• A. Gene
• B. Brinker
• C. Leper
• D. Finny

Answer: (C)

Leper is the first to enlist because his character is driven by a hunger for action and a desire to prove himself in something larger than Devon's sheltered world. He sees the war as a real, tangible challenge and eagerly volunteers to join the army, seeking experience and courage in a dramatic, visible way. That impulse—to leap into a concrete ordeal—pushes him to act before the others, making him the earliest among his friends to enlist. The other boys respond differently: Gene tends to wrestle with guilt and doubt, Finny resists harsh truths and clings to his own idealized view of life, and Brinker is more cautious and calculating. Their slower, more reflective or skeptical responses mean they don’t precede Leper in taking such a bold step. Leper’s choice to enlist foreshadows how the war’s reach intrudes on their schoolboy world and upends the characters’ dynamics.

Leper is the first to enlist because his character is driven by a hunger for action and a desire to prove himself in something larger than Devon's sheltered world. He sees the war as a real, tangible challenge and eagerly volunteers to join the army, seeking experience and courage in a dramatic, visible way. That impulse—to leap into a concrete ordeal—pushes him to act before the others, making him the earliest among his friends to enlist.

The other boys respond differently: Gene tends to wrestle with guilt and doubt, Finny resists harsh truths and clings to his own idealized view of life, and Brinker is more cautious and calculating. Their slower, more reflective or skeptical responses mean they don’t precede Leper in taking such a bold step. Leper’s choice to enlist foreshadows how the war’s reach intrudes on their schoolboy world and upends the characters’ dynamics.