As the story progresses Francis starts to unfold and we find out more about his character. Francis seems to be just a normal guy; he falls in love with a girl called Nicole Renard and doesn’t appear to be a hero, even though we know he is. Francis tries to hide the fact that he has won a silver star, and is a war hero. He should have been proud of being awarded for his courage, something wasn’t right; nothing seemed to be heroic about Francis. “I am not a hero, of course, I turn away in disgust.” “The scarf was working, to hide my identity. He just doesn’t see to want recognition for his heroic acts.
As the chapters go on everything starts to come together. We actually find out that Francis is determined to kill Larry because of what he has done. Raped Nicole. Francis’s love.
Well why does that make Francis want to hide is identity? Francis let it happen. He was there, he listened, but he never stopped it from happening. Larry told Francis to leave so he did; but he stayed nearby. This is in a way ironic, as earlier on Francis made a promise to Nicole. “I’ll never leave you.” This is when we know why Francis felt so ashamed of what he had done. “It’s amazing that the heart makes no noise when it cracks. We also find out that Francis didn’t actually fall on the grenade to save lives, but in fact he jumped on it to take his own.
Francis let the girl he loved get raped, tried to take his own life more than once, and near the end of the book tried to kill Larry LaSalle. What type of hero would do that?
Larry LaSalle was the man who was seemingly destined for death, and Francis was the man who would try to take his life. At the beginning of the book Larry appears to be every inch the hero, unlike Francis. They both gained silver stars, but there seems to be a huge difference in their characters. Larry LaSalle seemed to be the perfect role model. Good looking “Tall, slim man, a lock of blond hair tumbling over his forehead, and a smile that revealed dazzling movie star teeth.” Talented “He was a dancer with the touch of Fred Astaire.” “Dazzled by his talent and energy.” People looked up to him, and he sounded like the perfect hero. He had all of the great qualities, and Guys wanted to be him, girls wanted to be with him. He was their “champion” and they were “Happy to be in his presence. Larry did rape Nicole, which seems far worse than what Francis did, but he still doesn’t go out of his way to hide his heroism.
Before the rape occurred Larry must have known that Francis fancied Nicole, as it appeared to be really obvious. Could he maybe have raped Nicole with spite? This seemed to be the turning point for Larry, as his character changed immensely. He was no longer that nice, friendly, helpful guy. He had changed to being someone with no consideration for others and who didn’t care about the consequences of his actions. That hero that Larry appeared to be at the beginning must have been an outer covering for what lied beneath. “Nicole and I are going to have one last dance. Just her and me alone.” Larry acted as though he had planned what he was going to do in advance. He managed to get Francis out and away from Nicole in a rather heartless way. He must have known that Francis loved her, and he obviously didn’t like the idea of coming second best. “Get going” Even though Larry wasn’t acting like a hero, he still has the power and control like one. “We always did what Larry LaSalle told us to do.”
When Francis goes to visit Larry to attempt to kill him, he doesn’t go through with it. Larry ends up killing himself. A cowardly way to die, to try and get rid of the pain that he has caused. At least Francis tried to die a heroic way, it just didn’t work out. In my eyes they are both as bad as each other, and neither are worthy of heroism. Had some of the situations been different they might have been worthy of being called “Silver star heroes.”
Nicole Renard. Nicole is one of the other characters in the book, who we get to know quite a bit about. Nicole used to live in Frenchtown, but soon moved to “Albany” and went to “St Ann’s Academy.” whist she was there. We found out the reason that she moved away. It wasn’t because she wanted to, “She didn’t seem happy when she came to say goodbye.” It was because of her being raped by Larry LaSalle and because of Francis Cassavant not doing anything about it. When he could have stopped it from happening.
Nicole is one of the only other people that makes remarks about Larry and Francis’s heroism. Before everything happens and changes Nicole’s views on both of the guys, Nicole did think of both of them as heroes at the time. “My champion” She said to Francis when he beat Larry at table tennis. And Larry was just one of those people that she looked up to. We kind of knew what was going to happen at this point, as it things had been building up. Francis’s love for Nicole, and then the way Larry talked about her, and then the rape. Larry wanted Francis to go “Just one last dance, her and me alone” “So you’d better go” Francis didn’t want to, but he did. “Larry LaSalle had told me to go, so I’d better leave.” Nicole probably knew what was going on. “Stay and watch, don’t go.” Nicole wanted Francis to protect her, but he didn’t and she probably didn’t trust Larry. In the end she chose to forgive Francis “I’m sorry, you weren’t to blame.” Even though I doubt she will ever be as close to either of them as she once was. But she doesn’t know about Francis’s attempt of suicide.
I don’t think that Larry or Francis could be known as heroes. They have done some things with good intentions and may have acted as heroes; but any of the bad things that they have done just overrule the good things. At first I thought that Larry LaSalle raping Nicole was worse, making Francis more of a hero. Then I realised that even though Francis leaving Nicole with Larry wasn’t that bad; he did try to take his own life on various occasions and even try to take Larry’s. I have come to a conclusion that both of the characters are as bad as each other, and neither of them deserves to have the title “Hero.”
Robert Cormier uses flashbacks to before the war and things that happened after it. I think that it is quite effective in creating tension and building it up as the story goes along. After the war; we hear of what happened just after and what is happening in present time. Before the war; the flashbacks help us to learn a bit about each character and their history, and what they did to affect the future.
Tsuki Harris
