How do the boys initially feel about Leper's enlistment? How do they eventually deal with it? Who refuses to participate in this method of dealing with it?

Leper becomes a rather unbelievable symbol of the events of the war for them; he is the fantastic liason between them and the newspaper reports they read everyday, a kind of window into the war that is no more realistic than the patriotic, glossed-over views they previously held. Phineas, strangely, draws away from his friends because of their ongoing fascination with Leper's alleged adventures in the war. Gene describes how Finny stops visiting the Butt Room, where the group usually gets together to discuss "Leper's" exploits, and he tries to draw Gene away with him, into Finny's little world where war and enlistment do not exist.