What role does Leper's paranoia and mental state play in the narrative's tension?

• A. Leper's calm demeanor heightens the tension.
• B. Leper's happiness masks worry.
• C. Leper's paranoid delusions are unrelated to the war.
• D. Leper's mental breakdown after enlisting serves as a stark counterpoint to the other boys' boyishness, highlighting fragility and the effects of war on perception.

Answer: (D)

The tension comes from how a single character’s deteriorating mental state can destabilize a protected world and reveal war’s reach into everyday life. Leper’s paranoid delusions after he enlists act as a stark counterpoint to the other boys’ boyish confidence, showing that innocence is fragile and that war can warp perception from the inside. His breakdown makes the group wary and uncertain: it raises questions about what is real, what can be trusted, and who among them is truly safe. This amplifies the narrative's unease because the boys must reckon with the possibility that someone they know can unravel, and that the war is not a distant event but something that can invade minds and alter relationships. The choice captures how the story uses Leper’s mental state to probe fragility, the fragility of certainty, and the psychological cost of conflict.