Discussing Robert Cormiers' Heroes.

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Jessica Moore                                                                                                         10PAI

Heroes

Robert Cormier is a famous and highly successful author who wrote books such as: ‘Heroes’, The chocolate war’, ‘Beyond the chocolate war’, ‘Fade’, ‘Tenderness’, ‘After the first death’, ‘I am the cheese’, ‘The rag and bone shop’, ‘The bumblebee flies anyway’, ‘Summer in Frenchtown’, ‘We all fall down’, ‘Tunes for bears to dance to’ and ‘In the middle of the night’. Cormier was born in 1925 in French hill, a French-Canadian neighbourhood of Leominster, Massachusetts. Bought up in a busy household of seven brothers and sisters, he attended a catholic grammar school- some nuns gave him a terrible time there but one read an early poem of his and claimed ‘you’re a writer!’ He married in 1948 and he and his wife had four children- all four were sent to local catholic schools. Robert Cormier was a controversial author, and semi-autobiographical accounts appear in all his books. Cormier believed people should ‘tell it like it is’ (quoted from an interview) and that teenagers should learn the truth. This may be why he writes in such a frank style with gory details. E.g. ‘my legs are gone… No more dancing for me... No more sweet young things… No more anything’ He thinks children shouldn’t be patronised and that happy endings aren’t always the case, so children should be shown the reality of life. Most books he’s written are in the first person and the main character is usually a boy of 12-18. Most characters he’s created are shy and timid, which is perhaps a reflection on himself as a boy.

        The book ‘Heroes’, is set in Frenchtown based upon French hill in Monument, after WWII. This is reflected by the use of the French-Canadian accent by Mrs. Belander. We also know people in Frenchtown have French influenced names: e.g. Marie LaCroix and Joey Leblanc. In addition in chapter 3 Mrs. Belander asks Francis a question in French and Francis is able to answer.

The main protagonist throughout the book is Francis Cassavant. However the book is also based on the stories of Nicole Renard and Larry LaSalle. Cormier uses dramatic irony and the audience doesn’t always find pleasure in prediction whilst reading. Some problems are resolved in this story- others aren’t. First person is used as Francis retells us his past whilst talking about his present, and hopefully future. Pearl Harbour is mentioned in chapter 7 but not directly. The chapter ends with him planning on meeting with Nicole on December 7th 1941, the date the Japanese launched an attack Pearl Harbour. Cormier uses this event s an axis for the main events- Americas involvement in the war is a catalyst for Francis’ personal life. The story is mainly based events during WWII and how people (Francis Cassavant and ‘war heroes’ beside him) were affected. Cormier spices up the novel with a story of a mission set to be carried out by Francis- to kill Larry LaSalle the man who raped ‘his girl’ when he and Nicole were just 15. Graphic and shocking details are used again by Cormier to describe: Francis’ appearance after he fell on a grenade (to save other CIS), the rape and many other incidents in the book.

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        Cormier writes in a structure which varies chapter lengths E.g. chapter 7 and chapter 8, and also chapter 10 and 11.  This is to keep the reader drawn in, so they don’t get bored reading endless descriptions chapter after chapter. The beginning is filled with questions and he introduces the storyline and the main characters, the middle is leading up to ‘the mission’ and the tracing down of Nicole, the resolution is finding Larry, only to find he can’t kill him. He commits suicide and Francis seeks Nicole only to find she’s drastically change.

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