As the novel starts we come across Francis Cassavant telling the reader his terrible facial injuries that he has received during the war. We know this because in the book at chapter one in the starting it says ‘’my name is Francis Joseph Cassavant and I have just returned to Frenchtown in Monument and the war is over and I have no face’’. The author included this right at the beginning of the novel to show that this incident has already happened as in past and the author also included this to show what remains Francis has got after the war and what terrible injuries people can suffer in a war. From this sentence at the start it makes the reader straight away think that Francis had suffered terrible injures to his face during the war as he doesn’t have much left of his face.
The two Incidents that happened in the novel that I think revealed a lot about Larry LaSalle and where the most dramatic and interesting are when Larry LaSalle decides to join the war as he wants the Japanese to pay back and when he takes advantage from Nicole Renard by raping her.
When Larry LaSalle says he wants to join the war and fight against the Japanese and for his country the reader knows straight away Larry LaSalle’s character in this particular incident is that Larry LaSalle is a brave man and will do absolutely anything to represent his country. I know this because he says ‘’’we can’t let the Jap’s get away with this’’. The writer wrote this to suggest that Larry LaSalle is angry and wants the Jap’s to pay back big time as he wants to join in the war and he wants to represent his country no matter what. The people at Frenchtown in Monument all think that Larry LaSalle is a great brave hero as he joins the war. I know this because in the book it says ‘’As we were about to cheer his announcement, he held up his hand, ‘none of that,’’. The writer wrote this because he wanted the reader to think that Larry LaSalle is a brave hero and he isn’t sacred at all. He already has been known as a great hero as he opened The Wreck Centre.
When Larry LaSalle takes advantage of Nicole Renard by raping her the reader then knows the actual truth behind Larry LaSalle as he is then known to the readers as a really terrible sick person who only really cares about himself as he just uses people and likes taking advantage from others no matter who or what they are and no matter what they feel about it. I know that Larry LaSalle had done some thing bad before he arrived to Frenchtown in Monument because in the book it says ‘’Rumours told us that Larry LaSalle had also been a star, performing in night-club place that read ‘Starring Larry LaSalle’. ‘’Why did he turn his back on show business and return to Frenchtown?’’. With this information from the book the reader knows that Larry LaSalle came back to Frenchtown because he must have done some thing bad, because no one would leave their career as a star and come to Frenchtown and open a Wreck Centre.
This incident also changes Francis Cassavant’s and Nicole Renard’s relationship between them as it falls apart and ends here. After this incident Francis Cassavant’s romantic dream world with Nicole Renard is destroyed. Francis feels really guilty and terrible as he thinks it was his entire fault because he didn’t do anything about it, he felt so terrible and guilty that he almost committed suicide but in the end Francis got back to his senses as he through about his parents but as a punishment for him self he decides to join the war by changing his date-of-birth. I know that Francis Cassavant felt this bad because in the book it says ‘’The heat intensified and the stairs barrowed as I ascended, my heart beating heavily, my breath coming in gasps, the sound like cloth ripping.’’ ‘’I thought of my mother and father – could I disgrace their name this way? Did you hear what Lefty’s son did last night, jumped to his death from the steeple of St Jude’s? I could not die that way’’. The writer wrote this to show the reader how dreadful Francis Cassavant feels but he still cares about his family as he doesn’t want to disgrace his parents names by committing suicide, this was the only think that could stop him from committing incident so this just shows that how dreadful Francis Cassavant really felt. This incident of Larry LaSalle raping Nicole Renard also revels that before Larry LaSalle arrived to Frenchtown in Monument he also could have raped other small girls too like Nicole Renard.
The Theme of this novel is Romance and mystery because most of the time Francis is taking about Nicole Renard, the girl of his dreams he loves and I think it is mystery too because the reader doesn’t really know what happened at the beginning of the story as the story starts off with telling about Francis Cassavant’s Injures as the reader has to read through the whole book to find out what the story’s main incident was. I think Robert Cormier done a great job with this novel as it was really exciting and interesting all the way from beginning to the ending.
