博士論文 國立台東大學兒童文學研究所

國立台東大學兒童文學研究所 博士論文

羅伯．柯米爾青少年小說寫作研究

A Study on the Writing of Robert Cormier’s Young Adult Fiction

研 究 生： 黃瑋琳 撰

指導教授：張子樟 先生

中 華 民 國 九 十 七 年 十 月

誌謝辭

打開了電腦，我對眼前的戰友說：「來吧，讓我們為這本論文寫下最重要的 一頁：我的誌謝辭。」說誌謝辭最重要，也許稍嫌誇張 (論文的每頁不都很重 要？)，但寫它的時機，肯定是全本論文已完成，而且通過學位考之後。透過誌 謝辭的書寫，我重新回顧了我的博士班生涯：從修課、發表研討會論文、翻譯一 整本理論書、考學科考、發表論文計畫，到寫完博士論文。每一關都有其辛苦處，

也有快樂的地方。而更重要的是，透過這篇短短的誌謝，我可以用文字表達出我 對許多人滿滿的謝意。謝謝他們在我攻讀博士時，給了我莫大的幫助和鼓勵。

我第一位要感謝的就是我的指導教授張子樟先生。人稱「大俠」的張老師，

在我迷失於兒童文學的多彩森林時，像智慧老人般給了我一盞明燈；還引我進入 兒童文學翻譯的領域。老師積極明快的做事風格與對學生的尊重和疼愛，是我一 生都要努力的目標。再來我要謝謝現任所長杜明城教授，我永遠忘不了在我博士 班入學考的口試會議上，杜老師暖陽般的和煦笑容，融化了我的不安；考進兒文 所後，修過杜老師幾門課，我深深折服於老師閱讀的廣度與深度。還有吳玫瑛教 授，她那份對兒童文學與教學的熱愛，以及分析事理的清晰頭腦，都讓我佩服不 已。台東大學英美系的溫宏悅主任與正修科技大學應外系的余光雄教授，不僅在 百忙之中，拔刀相助，擔任我的學位口考委員；也用這把鋒利的智慧之刀，指出 我論文的問題與盲點，但又不忘提出藥方來幫助學生改進。我非常感謝這幾位教 授對我的愛護與指導，而他們的胸襟與智慧，也是我最好的身教。

此外我也非常感謝，兒文所人稱阿寶老師的林文寶教授與永遠不失赤子之心 的楊茂秀教授，不論課內或課外，我都很喜歡和他們「聊天」，因為從中可以學 到很多東西，而且過程超愉快。還有游珮芸教授與郭建華教授，她們在兒童文化 與圖畫書方面的學識，也是我要學習的目標。再來我要謝謝兒文所這個大家庭的 每個成員，尤其是一起上課上最多的學姐、同學與學弟妹，我真的很懷念我們課 堂上的愉快時光。我還要感謝全方位的彥芬姐和曉琪，她們化繁為簡的辦事能 力，讓我好生佩服，有她們優秀的行政能力作後盾，兒文所的師生才得以安心的 教學、讀書與作研究。我也要感謝我在高雄的父母，以及在台東像我父母一般疼 愛我的羅叔叔與羅媽媽，一路走來，因為他們的支持與愛，我才能不悔且無懼地 走下去。真的很謝謝你們！我愛你們！最後我要感謝羅伯．柯米爾先生，他是一 位非常棒的小說家，謝謝他給了我動力寫出這本論文，也感謝他留給這世界這麼 多優秀的青少年小說。

羅伯．柯米爾青少年小說寫作研究

作 者 ： 黃 瑋 琳

國 立 台 東 大 學 兒 童 文 學 研 究 所 博 士 班

摘 要

羅伯．柯米爾 (Robert Cormier) 是美國知名的青少年小說家，但 是台灣的讀者對他知之甚少，關於他的研究也付之闕如。基於如此，

本研究者欲對柯米爾的青少年文學作品作一詳盡探討，希望能讓更多 的台灣讀者透過此一研究，對柯米爾的小說有更進一步的認識。本研 究除了提供全面性的觀照以外，也針對柯米爾作品中的主題、人物、

敘述與風格作系統性的分析。

本研究採作品精讀與文本分析法，研究範圍是柯米爾的十五本青 少年文學作品，其中包括一本短篇故事集、三本中篇小說，十本長篇 小說以及一本以無韻詩形式寫就的半自傳體小說。每個文本被詳細解 構，而且不同文本之間彼此對照比較，以期找出相似與相異之處。此 外，柯米爾在不同時期，其關注主題與寫作風格的發展與轉變，也在 探討之列。

本論文共分七章：第一章是緒論，包含研究動機與目的、研究問 題、本研究之重要性、研究方法與全文架構，以及本研究的限制。第 二章是關於柯米爾其人與作品的文獻探討，除了其人其作的個人歷史 外，也列出美國學者或評論家對柯米爾作品相關的批評與研究。第三 章是主題論，就柯米爾作品中常出現的主題，分三個面向來探討，這

三個面向是： 「善與惡」 、 「體制與個人」以及「罪愆與寬恕」 。第四章

是角色論，用兩節分析，分別是：「角色類型」和「角色刻劃」兩大

範疇。第五章是敘述論，計有「敘述順序」、「敘述觀點 / 視角」以

及「敘事者」三節。第六章是風格論，探討柯米爾作品裡的語言修辭

手法，計有三節，分別是： 「隱喻」 、 「明喻」與「用典」 。最後一章為 結論。

研究者分析發現：柯米爾的青少年小說，描述了真實世界與體制 的黑暗面，也揭露一個事實：好人不一定必勝，但重點是站出來和邪 惡對抗，讓別人看見。還有，人不免犯錯，但貴在能改過，才能獲得 原諒。柯米爾小說的主題強調了「做些什麼」的重要性。

在角色方面，柯米爾青少年小說的圓形角色，以主角與反主角居 多，而且在早期作品裡，圓形角色的比重較晚期作品裡為多。柯米爾 的小說角色，不論在外觀、語言和動作上，都恰如其分。而柯米爾對 邪惡角色或病態角色的著墨尤深，使人難忘。

在敘述順序上，柯米爾多用順敘與倒敘手法，偶有預敘；敘述觀 點或視角上，柯米爾視小說效果而定，採不同的聚焦方式，尤以內聚 焦最多；在敘事者方面，柯米爾的短篇故事，全部都是第一人稱敘事 者，但中長篇小說，就有較多不同的變化──有幾部小說甚至有不同 敘事者在同一文本中，例如《溫柔殺機》(Tenderness) 就是第一人稱 與全知敘事者兩者交互使用。總之，柯米爾的中長篇小說 (尤其長篇) 展現了較複雜的敘述方式。

在語言修辭風格上，柯米爾喜歡用隱喻和明喻手法來增加文本的 文學性，尤其在早期作品裡最多，如《巧克力戰爭》(The Chocolate

米爾會在作品裡引述聖經的句子，也喜歡借前人的詩句或童謠來當作 書名，使文本的涵義更豐富。惟對不熟悉聖經或西方文學的讀者來 說，會加深理解上的困難；不過相對來說，也增加了解讀的挑戰與樂 趣。

關 鍵 詞 ： 角 色 刻 劃 、 敘 述 順 序 、 敘 述 觀 點 、 視 角 、 聚 焦 、 敘 事 者 、 隱 喻 、 明 喻 、 用 典 。

A Study on the Writing of Robert Cormier’s Young Adult Fiction

Huang Wei-Lin

National Taitung University

Ph. D. Program in the Graduate Institute of Children’s Literature

Abstract

In the United States, Robert Cormier is considered one of significant writer in the history of young adult literature. However, there is little research on the writer himself or his literary works in Taiwan.

Therefore the researcher would like to do more research on Robert Cormier in order to have a thorough understanding of the writer and his works for young adults. The researcher hopes that more readers in Taiwan would understand Cormier and his young adult fiction better via this study. The purpose of this study is to provide panoramic overview and systematic analysis of Cormier’s books for young adults in terms of theme, character, narrative and style.

This study uses close-reading and the method of textual analysis to examine the data, which means taking all of Cormier’s fiction for young adults as a textual object for analysis. Fifteen books written by Cormier will be examined, including one short-story collection, three novellas, ten novels, and a semi-autobiography in the form of lyrical free verse. Every single text will be read, reread and analyzed, and then various texts will be compared and contrasted. The development and the change of Cormier’s writing, as well as the similarities and differences of his works, will be discussed, too.

This dissertation consists of seven chapters. Chapter one is the

introduction that contains the rationale and purpose, researcher questions,

significance, methodology, organization, and delimitation of the study.

Chapter two is the literature review of Robert Cormier and his Young Adult Fiction, including his personal history, the body of literary works, and the related criticism and research. Chapter three, Theme, is divided into three facets: good vs. evil, system vs. individual, and guilt vs.

forgiveness. The fourth chapter, Character, consists of two main categories: types of characters, as well as characterization by appearance, by discourses and by actions. Chapter five, Narrative, covers narrative order, point of view/perspective and narrator. Chapter six, Style, discusses three devices: metaphor, simile and allusion. Chapter seven is the conclusions.

Via analyzing, this study finds that Cormier’s novels do not guarantee that good will prevail, but the most important thing for ordinary people is standing up to confront the evil and evil system(s).

With respect to the theme of guilt vs. forgiveness, Cormier’s books imply that those who make a mistake must do something to make up for the guilt, and then there will be a possibility to gain forgiveness.

In terms of characters, there are more round characters in Cormier’s early YA novels, whereas there are more flat and static characters in Cormier’s later novels. In Cormier’s novels the wicked characters and psychopaths are more unforgettable because their characterization is very successful. Moreover, with respect to narrative, Cormier prefers to employ chronological order and flashback, and likes to use internal focalizations. And in terms of style, Cormier likes to use metaphors and similes, especially in his early works. Using biblical allusions and literary allusions is also a trend in Cormier’s writing.

Keywords:

Characterization, narrative order, point of view, perspective,

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1. Rationale and Purpose of the Study

1.2. Research Questions of the Study

1.3. Significance of the Study

1.4. Methodology of the Study

1.5. Organization of the Study

1.6. Delimitations of the Study

Chapter 2 Review of Literature 2.1. Personal History of Robert Cormier

2.2. Body of Literary Works

2.3. Related Criticism and Research

Chapter 3 Theme 3.1. Good vs. Evil

3.2. System vs. Individual

3.3. Guilt vs. Forgiveness

Chapter 4 Character 4.1. Types of Characters

4.1.1. Flat vs. Round………..52

4.1.2. Static vs. Dynamic………55

4.2. Characterization

4.2.1. By Appearance……….58

4.2.2. By Discourses………...63

4.2.3. By Actions………...69

Chapter 5 Narrative 5.1. Narrative Order

5.1.1. Chronological Order………...76

5.1.2. Flashback………..78

5.1.3. Flash Forward………...81

5.2. Point of View and Perspective: Who Sees?

5.2.1. Point of View………...83

5.2.2. Perspective and Focalizations………..85

5.3. Narrator: Who Speaks?

5.3.1. Narrator as a Character in the Story………...93

5.3.2. Narrator not a Character in the Story………...94

5.3.3. Multiple/Mixed Narrator………..95

Chapter 6 Style 6.1. Metaphor

6.1.1. Plain Metaphors in Cormier’s Works………...100

6.1.2. Implied Metaphors in Cormier’s Works………...102

6.2. Simile

6.2.1. Similes in Cormier’s Works.………...104

6.2.2. Trend of Metaphors and Similes that Cormier Uses………...106

6.3. Allusion

6.3.1. Biblical Allusions………...109

6.3.2. Literary Allusions………...113

Chapter 7 Conclusions 7.1. Summary and Discussions

7.2. Implications

Works Cited

Appendix

List of Tables

Table 1. Types of Focalizations in Cormier’s Nine Short

Stories

Table 2. Types of Focalizations in Cormier’s Fourteen Novellas and Novels

Table 3. Brooks and Penn Warren’s Types of Narrators

Table 4. Types of Narrators in Cormier’s Nine Short Stories

Table 5. Types of Narrators in Cormier’s Fourteen Novellas and Novels

Table 6. Biblical Allusions in Cormier’s Books

Table 7. Literary Allusions in Cormier’s Books

Table 8. Types of Focalizations in Cormier’s Nine Short

Stories

Table 9. Types of Focalizations in Cormier’s Fourteen Novellas and Novels

Table 10. Types of Narrators in Cormier’s Nine Short

Stories

Table 11. Types of Narrators in Cormier’s Fourteen Novellas

and Novels

Table 12. Biblical Allusions in Cormier’s Books

Table 13. Literary Allusions in Cormier’s Books

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1. Rationale and Purpose of the Study

In the United States, Robert Cormier is considered one of significant writers in the whole history of young adult literature. However, there is little research on Robert Cormier or his works in Taiwan except one M.A. thesis written by Hu. The scarcity of the study of Cormier is probably due to the lack of introduction and translation of his fiction; nevertheless, two novels of Cormier’s were translated in Taiwan, one is I Am the Cheese, and the other is After the First Death (the Chinese title is The General and the Son). The researcher began to read Cormier’s books in 2004, and has been intrigued and moved by his writing. As a result, the researcher would like to do more research on Cormier in order to have a thorough understanding of the writer himself and his literary works for young adults, including novels, novellas, short stories, and one free-verse style semi-autobiography. The researcher hopes that more readers in Taiwan will know about and understand Cormier and his works better via this study.

The purpose of the study is to provide a panoramic overview and systematic analysis of Cormier’s writing for young adults in terms of theme, character, narrative and style.

1.2. Research Questions of the Study

Based on the purpose of the study, the researcher sets five research questions as follows:

1. What are Cormier’s favorite themes in his literary works for young adults?

2. Which types of characters in Cormier’s fiction are employed frequently? Are there any differences between main characters and supporting characters in terms of types of characters (e.g., round vs. flat)?

3. How does Cormier reveal his characters in his fiction by appearance, by discourses and by actions?

4. With respect to narrative skills, how does Cormier use narrative order, point of view/ perspective, and the narrator to arrange and recount his stories?

5. What is Cormier’s writing style? Which literary devices does he like to use? Does he have a trend of using these devices?

1.3. Significance of the Study

It is hoped that the study will make some contribution to readers, writers, teachers and further researchers. For readers, they can have a better understanding of Cormier’s young adult fiction. For writers, the study provides a good resource of one distinguished writer’s writing skills, including characterization, narrative skills like narrative order, point of view/perspective and narrator as well as language devices such as the use of metaphor, simile and symbol.

Moreover, for teachers, since the themes in Cormier‘s novels are universal, such as good vs. evil, teachers can use Cormier’s books in class, along with this study which gives systematic overview of Cormier’s young adult fiction, to enhance students’ view of the world and life. Moreover, the problems happening to fictional characters in Cormier’s books parallel those that happen to real people, so teachers can employ Cormier’s novellas and novels to teach students how to deal with those problems. As a result, the study may become a guide to Cormier’s books.

Finally, for the sake of researchers in Taiwan, the study is the first dissertation

of Cormier’s fifteen young adult books, so it may be a good reference for further researchers in terms of the methodologies, the analytical interpretations, and the bibliography. Of course, it is inevitable to have the researcher’s personal viewpoint and opinions in this dissertation; however, it is a pioneering study in the area of children’s literature in Taiwan.

1.4. Methodology of the Study

The study uses close-reading and the method of textual analysis to examine the data, which means taking all of Cormier’s fiction for young adults as a textual object for analysis. Because the study deals with the whole body of Cormier’s literary works for young adults, the differences and similarities of different works will be discussed as well as the development and the change of Cormier’s writing style. Fifteen books written by Cormier will be examined, including one short-story collection, three novellas, ten novels, and a semi-autobiography in the form of lyrical free verse. Every single text category will be read, reread and analyzed, and then various texts will be compared and contrasted. The development and the change of Cormier’s writing, as well as the similarities and differences of his works, will be discussed, too.

There are main theoretical references as follows: Percy’s Lubbock’s The Craft of Fiction, E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel, Wayne Booth’s The Rhetoric of Fiction, Cleanth Brooks’ and Robert Penn Warren’s Understanding Fiction, and I. A.

Richards’ The Philosophy of Rhetoric.

And more recently, Gerard Genette’s Narrative Discourse and David Lodge’s The Art of Fiction.

In the area of children’s literature, there are three main references, they are: David Russell’s Literature for Children: A Short Introduction, Rebecca Lukens’ and Ruth Cline’s A

Critical Handbook of Literature for Young Adults, and Alleen Pace Nilsen’s and Kenneth L.

Donelson’s Literature for Today’s Young Adults.

1.5. Organization of the Study

The dissertation consists of seven chapters. Chapter one is the introduction that contains the rationale and purpose, researcher questions, significance, methodology, organization, and delimitation of the study. Chapter two is the literature review of Robert Cormier and his Young Adult Fiction, including his personal history, the body of literary works, and the related criticism and research. Chapter three, Theme, is divided into three facets: good vs. evil, system vs. individual, and guilt vs. forgiveness.

The fourth chapter, Character, consists of two main categories: types of characters, as well as characterization by appearance, by discourses and by actions. Chapter five, Narrative, covers narrative order, point of view/perspective and narrator. Chapter six, Style, discusses three devices: metaphor, simile and allusion. Chapter seven is the conclusions.

1.6. Delimitation of the Study

This study is limited to Robert Cormier’s young adult fiction, namely, one short-story collection: 8 plus 1 (1980); three novellas: Other Bells for Us to Ring (1990), Tunes for Bears to Dance To (1992), and Heroes (1998); ten novels: The Chocolate War (1974), I Am the Cheese (1977), After the First Death (1979), The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1983), Beyond the Chocolate War (1985), Fade (1988), We All Fall Down (1991), In the Middle of the Night (1995), Tenderness (1997), and The Rag and Bone Shop (2001), in addition to one semi-autobiographical fiction written in

free verse form: Frenchtown Summer (1999). These fifteen books will be examined and discussed in this dissertation.

Chapter 2

Review of Literature

This chapter presents a literature review of Robert Cormier’s works, including a personal history in section one, his literary works in section two, and the related criticism and research in section three. The aim of this chapter is to provide readers an overview of Robert Cormier’s young adult fiction as well as the writer himself.

2.1. Personal History of Robert Cormier

Robert Edmund Cormier was born on January 17, 1925, to a French-Canadian father and an Irish-American mother. He was the second of eight children in a close-knit family that was part of the community of Leominster, Massachusetts, a small city about forty miles west of Boston.

Cormier’s father worked in the comb factory in Leominster for over forty years.

When Cormier was four years old, he experienced the Great Depression of 1929; he remembered that his father had to struggle to make a living at a time of extreme poverty. When Cormier grew older, he attended a catholic school, St. Cecilia’s Parochial Grammar School. There, he considered himself an outsider, and felt threatened by an older boy. Although Cormier was never bullied by that boy, he saw that boy picking on his victims, usually younger, smaller, and rather quiet kids.

Cormier was a quiet boy who was not good at sports, but enjoyed going to the library to read. His favorite writers were Graham Greene, J. D. Salinger and Thomas Wolfe. He also enjoyed writing. In seventh grade, he was encouraged by one of his teachers, Sister Catherine. She praised a poem which Cormier had written, and called

him a writer. That was very important to Cormier, even years later, he still remembered Sister Catherine for her encouragement.

After he graduated from St. Cecilia’s he entered a junior high school in downtown Leominster. Cormier’s adolescence was not quite happy, but he continued to enjoy reading and going to the movies. Actually, the movies he had watched influenced his writing. For example, the 1933 film The Invisible Man later inspired Cormier to write his fiction Fade. Cormier graduated from high school in 1942, and then went to work at a comb factory in French Hill, just like his father did. He worked on the night shift, and took daytime classes at the State Teachers College at Fitchburg.

After his first year of college, Cormier dropped out and began to work at a radio station, WTAG, in Worcester, Massachusetts, writing radio commercials. He wrote radio commercials for two years, and during this time he continued to write freelance articles. In 1948, he was hired as a reporter for the newspaper’s Fitchburg Bureau. In the same year, on November 16, Cormier married Constance Senay at St. Cecilia’s Church. The marriage lasted fifty-two years until Cormier passed away. In 1955, Cormier took a job as a reporter for the Fitchburg Sentinel, a newspaper that later became the Fitchburg Leominster Sentinel and Enterprise.

In 1960, based on the experience of his father’s cancer disease and death, Cormier wrote and published his first book, Now and at the Hour, which deals with the mind of a former industrial worker. This novel earned critical admiration but not financial success. Afterwards, Cormier published his second novel A Little Raw on Monday Morning in 1963 and third novel Take Me Where the Good Times Are in 1965.

Both Books received favorable reviews, but still small sales.

By then Cormier was a father of four children. One day Cormier learned about a “Chocolate Sale” event from his son Peter, when Peter told him the school asked students to sell chocolate for the school foundation. Although there was nothing

terrible that happened after Peter did not sell any chocolate, Cormier used this idea to develop a story about a loner who refuses to sell chocolate in a catholic high school and then suffers from the peer pressure and physical attack. This story was The Chocolate War. After seven publishers’ rejections, this novel was finally published as a young adult novel in April 1974. The Chocolate War brought instant attention and controversy to Cormier. Three years later, Cormier published I Am the Cheese in 1977.

These first two young adult novels gave Cormier financial and critical achievement, and Cormier resigned from his job at the Fitchburg Sentinel, where he had worked for twenty-three years. In the same year, Cormier received an honorary doctorate from Fitchburg State College. In 1978, Cormier became a full-time writer, and published fourteen books in later years. He has been regarded as a leading young adult writer, and has received several important awards, including the ALAN Award from the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English in 1982, an International Reading Association Commendation in 1985, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his early young adult novels: The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, and After the First Death in 1991. In contrast to his recognized achievements, some of Cormier’s books have been censored and banned by conservative teachers and parents; for instance, The Chocolate War, Fade, and We All Fall Down made the list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

Not only did Cormier spend his time on writing, reading and talking to young readers, but also he fought against the censorship. Robert Cormier died on November 2, 2000, at the age of seventy-five. His last book, The Rag and Bone Shop, was published posthumously in 2001.

2.2. Body of Literary Works

As a writer, Robert Cormier published in total twenty books (including the posthumous novel, The Rag and the Bone Shop). The following is a chronological list of Cormier’s works.

1960 Now and at the Hour

1963 A Little Raw on Monday Mornings 1965 Take Me Where the Good Times Are 1974 The Chocolate War

1977 I Am the Cheese 1979 After the First Death 1980 8 Plus 1

1983 The Bumblebee Flies Anyway 1985 Beyond the Chocolate War 1988 Fade

1990 Other Bells for Us to Ring

1991 I Have Words to Spend: Reflections of a Small-Town Editor 1991 We All Fall Down

1992 Tunes for Bears to Dance To 1995 In the Middle of the Night 1997 Tenderness

1998 Heroes

1999 Frenchtown Summer 2000 Portrait of a Parish 2001 The Rag and Bone Shop

The first three published books in the 1960s are all adult novels. The Chocolate War is regarded as Cormier’s first novel for young adults. From 1974 to 2001, Cormier published fifteen works of young adult fiction (including his semi-autobiographical story in free verse form, Frenchtown Summer) and two works of non-fiction. These two works of non-fiction are I Have Words to Spend, which is a collection of articles from a newspaper column, and Portrait of a Parish, a gift to St.

Cecilia’s Church about the history of Cormier’s parish.

Among Cormier’s fifteen books for young adults, it is worthy to note that 8 plus 1 is a collection of his early short stories from 1965 to 1975, at that time Cormier still worked as a journalist in the Fitchburg Sentinel. As a result, the researcher regards 8 plus 1 as the first book in Robert Cormier’s writing for young adults.

Via analyzing Cormier’s fifteen young adult books, the researcher divides these works into seven periods, mainly based on the year of publication; however, the distinctive features and narrative forms of these books are considered. The following are the seven periods of Robert Cormier’s young adult fiction.

Period I: Short Stories (1965-1975)

The works of Period I are in 8 plus 1. They are:

“The Moustache”

“Mine on Thursdays”

“Another of Mike’s Girls”

“President Cleveland, Where Are You?”

“A Bad Time for Fathers”

“Protestants Cry, Too”

“Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight ”

“My First Negro”

“Bunny Berigan—Wasn’t He a Musician or Something? ”

The Synopses of Period I Stories:

1. “The Moustache”

Seventeen-year-old Mike goes to nursing home to visit his grandmother. Mike had grown a moustache recently, so his grandmother mistakes him for his grandfather.

She tells Mike that she feels so sorry about the car accident which killed Mike’s grandfather after an argument that she doubted her husband had another woman.

Mike’s grandmother asks Mike to forgive her, and Mike says it. After Mike arrives home, he shaves his moustache off.

2. “Mine on Thursdays”

A middle-aged father Howie regularly meets his daughter Holly on Thursdays since his wife divorced him because of his affair. This day he takes Holly to a playground, and lets her go on the Rocket Ride alone. As Howie sees Holly’s weak smile while rolling, he feels regretful for letting her alone, and more regretful that he will be moving to another State after their time together.

3. “Another of Mike’s Girls”

Mike’s father Jerry sees his son’s girlfriends coming and going into his house several times, and he thinks that they are all the same. However, he still worries if this one Jane will jeopardize Mike’s academic performance. But soon Jerry learns that his son has broken up with Jane, and Jerry feels sad for Jane.

4. “President Cleveland, Where Are You?”

This story is set in the period of the Great Depression: eleven-year-old Jerry and his friends collect a set of President Cards via buying candy in order to gain a Major League baseball glove. But they always get the same cards; the card of President Cleveland never appears. They are all desperate for this card. In the meantime, Jerry’s older brother, fourteen-year-old Armand falls in love with a rich girl Sally, and Armand needs money to take Sally to a fancy dance but he does not have enough money. Jerry wants to help Armand but he didn’t have money either. One day Jerry gets the President Cleveland Card, he decides to sell it to a rich boy, and gives the money to Armand.

5. “A Bad Time for Fathers”

Mr. Croft’s daughter Jane is about to depart for college. Mr. Croft and Mrs.

Croft hold a party for Jane. Mr. Croft is sentimental during the party and has a talk with Jane’s boyfriend Sam, who is not going to college with her. Mr. Croft remarks that “this is a bad time in her life for either one of us—lover or father.”

6. “Protestants Cry, Too”

This story is similar to “President Cleveland, Where Are You?” Even the characters share the same name: the narrator, younger brother Jerry and his older brother Armand. It is also set in the same period: the 1930s Depression. However, Jerry in this story is twelve years old, but Armand is already nineteen years old while in the other story he is fourteen. The name of Armand’s girlfriend in this story is Jessica, which is also different. The plot is different, too: nineteen-year-old Armand had a girlfriend named Jessica, and she is a Protestant. Armand’s father disproves of Jessica because Armand’s family is Catholic. Nevertheless, as Armand decides to join the Army after Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, it seems that the problem of his romance is temporarily solved. When the departure day arrives, Armand’s father and younger brother Jerry go to bid Armand good-bye. Both of them see Jessica come and cry. Finally Jerry tells his father that his father is wrong in saying that Protestants don’t cry, and Jerry’s father admits that he may be a fool. They run and catch Jessica, and Jerry’s father gives Jessica an embrace.

7. “Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight”

Teenager Mike has a normal family: middle-aged father James working as an office manager, mother Ellen, older sister Annie and younger sister Debbie. One day when Mike walks across a park, he sees his father sitting on a bench alone and pondering. Mike does not call his father’s attention but wonders why his father is sitting here during the office time. Afterwards, Mike is suspicious about his father; he doubts if his father has an affair. It finally turns out to be nothing, so Mike thinks that fathers are also people, and his father sometimes gets lonesome. One night Mike

wants to kiss his father goodnight, but he withdraws because of his embarrassment.

8. “My First Negro”

This story is the third one which describes the days of the Great Depression.

The narrator “I” (who has no name in this story) lives in Frenchtown, a French-Canadian Immigrant neighborhood, surrounded by an Irish immigrant neighborhood, and Yankee area. They are all poor. But the poorest area is at the end of Frenchtown called Alphabet Soup, where the black live. One day “I” wanders over to Alphabet Soup, he meets his first Negro in his life, Jefferson, and they become friends.

In the meantime, “I” and his friends plan to steal vegetables for an adventure, and “I”

decides to give these vegetables to Jefferson’s family. Yet they make a stir while stealing, and then Jefferson’s family mistakes this act for an attack because “I” and his friends throw vegetables to their house. After this turmoil, “I” dares not go to Alphabet Soup until several days have passed. But when “I” arrives at Jefferson’s house, “I” finds an empty one; they have moved. “I” feels sorry and weeps, hoping Jefferson will come back someday.

9. “Bunny Berigan—Wasn’t He a Musician or Something? ”

Precisely speaking, this one is not a young adult story—it has neither teen characters nor young readership. The story tells about two middle-aged men who have a small talk in a bar. The narrator Jerry asks his best friend Walt about Walt’s affair with a model. They talk about their friendship, both families, and the divorce. Then Jerry sees Walt’s girl friend Jennifer coming in. Jerry soon realizes why Walt divorced his wife for Jennifer. She is very beautiful and young. And Walt seems so happy that

Jerry cannot blame him anymore. However, as they talk about a trumpet player from their earlier days, Bunny Berigan, Jennifer knows little about him. That makes Jerry realize that they belong to different generations. When Jerry is finally going home, he feels sentimental about the missing opportunities in his life, and envious of Walt as a rule-breaker.

The Period I stories give readers a glimpse of daily life. Although there is hardly a climax or suspense in each story, readers may find a connection with their own life. Of those nine short stories, however, the protagonists of four are fathers. It is uncertain whether some of them are young adult stories or not, especially the last one.

Campbell argues that Cormier writes short introductions for each story because he tries to fill the gap between the young readership and the middle-aged point of view (Campbell 2: 113). By telling the young readers how he actually creates a story, Cormier gives them a lesson in writing.

Period II: Early Young Adult Novels, including The Chocolate War (1974), I Am the Cheese (1977), After the First Death (1979), The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1983), Beyond the Chocolate War (1985)

The Synopses of Period II Stories:

The Chocolate War (1974)

Trinity High seems like a normal high school, but under the surface there is a powerful organization called The Vigils keeping the school rolling in their way. When the school begins its chocolate sale, The Vigils’ assigner and real leader Archie

chooses a new student Jerry to challenge the assistant headmaster Brother Leon by not selling chocolate for ten days. After the ten days have passed, Jerry still doesn’t want to sell any chocolate for some reason that even Jerry doesn’t know very well. Brother Leon and Archie both are angry, and many school students feel that this is unfair. As a result, Jerry suffers from peer pressure and hostility, even harassment. Only Jerry’s best friend the Goober supports him quietly. Eventually Jerry and a school bully named Emile have a fight by the design of Archie, and many students pay to watch this fight. At last Jerry is beaten and tells the Goober: “Don’t disturb the universe.”

I Am the Cheese (1977)

Three narrations are interwoven in this novel: a bicycle journey that begins with the narrator “I”, tape transcriptions between a psychotherapist and a patient, and a narrative that always follows the tape transcription, which tells Adam’s story: Adam’s father used to be a reporter and is protected by the government because he has revealed something illegal. However, Adam has no idea until he finds a fake birth certificate. When Adam’s family starts a second runaway, they are murdered by unknown people. However, Adam survives but suffers from amnesia. At last it turns out that the narrator “I” is Adam, who is in a nursing home, and his journey is all imaginary. And that is the reason why the psychiatrist/interrogator Brint tries to ask the patient Adam for more details, to make sure that Adam forgets everything and he is harmless.

After the First Death (1979)

Terrorists Artkin, Miro and two other people hijack a school bus to force the

U.S.A. government to release political prisoners and to demolish a secret anti-terrorist organization called Inner Delta. A teen girl named Kate is the driver of this bus, who substitutes for her uncle this morning. Kate tries to save the passengers, who are all kindergarten kids, and herself by seducing the only teenager terrorist Miro, but it does not work out. In the meantime, the leader of Inner Delta, General Marcus sends his son Ben to the bus as a hostage. After Ben arrives at the bus, he is tortured by the terrorists. Ben cannot help telling them when the U.S.A. special troops will attack them. Yet Ben does not know that the time he told is wrong and this is his father’s plan. Special troops make an attack one hour earlier, and kill the terrorists except Miro. Miro manages to escape after he killed Kate. Later, Ben commits suicide after he has learned his father’s scheme. And Ben’s father regrets what he has done to Ben.

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1983)

There are many very sick even dying children and teens in a hospital called the Complex, including Mazzo, Ronson, Billy and Barney. But Barney thinks he is not one of them; he is the control subject. One day Barney sees an abandoned car made of wood in a junkyard; he is intrigued by it, and calls it the Bumblebee. Later, as Barney meets Mazzo’s twin sister Cassie, he immediately falls in love with her. Cassie asks Barney to watch over Mazzo and to tell her what happens every time they meet. After Barney has learned that Mazzo likes cars, he decides to steal the Bumblebee for Mazzo. Meanwhile, Barney finds himself a dying patient too, yet he is in remission.

He finally steals the Bumblebee, takes it to the roof, and pushes it off the roof. Barney, Mazzo and Billy all see the Bumblebee flying in the sky.

Beyond the Chocolate War (1985)

The sequel to The Chocolate War, this novel gives readers the further development of Trinity High. In the very beginning another newcomer named Ray appears. Ray is transferred to Trinity High, and he does not like it at all. Ray likes handiwork, especially magician’s stuff. In the meantime, The Vigils have a change:

the new-blood comes in; Archie’s right-hand Obie falls in love with a girl named Jill, and the “official” leader Carter loses his stage of football and boxing. Jerry returns to the U.S.A. from Canada, but does not go to school. His best friend the Goober feels very sorry for not standing up for Jerry .The third subplot is about a student David who always has good grades. He would like to kill the headmaster Brother Leon because Bother Leon flunks him, but finally David fails and later commits suicide.

Now the story returns to The Vigils: one day Obie meets Ray, and learns that Ray is building a guillotine; he suggests that the guillotine can be a big part of Skit Night.

Ray agrees, but he does not know that Obie and Carter, who both hate Archie, will use it to kill Archie by substituting a real blade for a fake one. However, nothing terrible happens at Skit Night because Ray checks out the details in advance. At last Archie and Obie have a small talk, and Archie tells Obie that he is not the evil one; actually he hasn’t forced anyone to do anything. Everybody has free choice. And Archie leaves, parting ways with Obie.

These five novels demonstrate Cormier’s sophisticated writing skills and humanitarian concern. From his first young adult fiction, The Chocolate War, Cormier always puts emphasis upon the persecution which the system or the institution imposes on the individual. In The Chocolate War and Beyond the Chocolate War, the institution is a high school, Trinity High. In The Bumblebee Files Anyway, the

institution is a hospital or a nursing home, the Complex. A nursing home also appears in I Am the Cheese, but even worse, the biggest system which oppresses both protagonists in I Am the Cheese and After the First Death is the Nation. Cormier uses a grim way to describe the miserable fate of most characters in these five books, even though they try to fight back. However, the last novel in this period, Beyond the Chocolate War, the reader does see a light of hope.

With respect to Cormier’s writing skill, these five books have many layers of narrations with plenty of metaphors and similes. In fact, it is thought that complicated narratives and colorful metaphors are the distinguishing features of Cormier’s writing.

The dissertation will discuss both characteristics in chapter five and chapter six.

Period III: Quasi Science Fiction: Fade (1988)

The Synopsis of Period III Story: Fade (1988)

Paul is a famous writer, and he writes a novel about a teenager with an ability to fade. This novel has never been published, and the manuscript is read by Paul’s friend Meredith and his distant relative Susan after Paul dies. Since the facts revealed in the manuscript are very real, they both think it might be Paul’s autobiography. Susan even begins to believe that Paul has the ability to be invisible. Paul writes that this ability emerged when he was a teen, and it passes from uncle to nephew. As Paul was young, he once used this ability to kill a man. After Paul becomes a grownup, he tries to find who has inherited this evil power among his nephews. He cannot find anybody until he discovers that his youngest sister has an illegitimate child. Paul eventually finds that boy named Ozzie, and kills him because Ozzie uses his ability to kill people too.

After Susan finishes reading this novel, she feels chilly and terrified.

Inspired by the 1933 movie The Invisible Man, Fade is the only science fiction Cormier writes. However, since there is little scientific knowledge in this book, it is better classified as “Quasi Science Fiction”. Compared to other books, Fade and Frenchtown Summer are the two books full of Cormier’s childhood memory and description, so both novels can be regarded as Cormier’s autobiography-like works.

Fade consists of three parts: Paul’s manuscript related to Paul’s adolescence and the following manuscript telling the story of Ozzie and Paul as well as Susan’s commentary and reaction after she finishes reading the manuscript. This design makes this novel a work of meta-fiction, which means “the plays with the nature and process of fiction” (The Harper Handbook to Literature 290), in some degree. The complexity and the length (310 pages) of this novel may indicate that Cormier wanted to enlarge the domain of his writing or to return to the category of adult novelist. However, Campbell argues that “after the critical, if not the popular, success of Fade in the adult literary world, devotees speculated that Cormier would go on to write other novels in that larger sphere. But his work was never predictable” (Campbell 1: 169).

After Fade, Cormier writes a story Other Bells for Us to Ring, the first book of his three novellas, to bring him back to the members of young adult writers. These three novellas will be discussed in the following section.

Period IV: Novellas, including Other Bells for Us to Ring (1990), Tunes for Bears to Dance To (1992), Heroes (1998)

The Synopses of Period IV Stories:

Other Bells for Us to Ring (1990)

Darcy, a lonely, timid, eleven-year-old girl, meets her best friend Kathleen Mary O’Hara after her family moved to Frenchtown because her father joined the Army. Opposite from Darcy, Kathleen Mary is very out-going, and she is a Catholic who Darcy is unfamiliar with. One day as they go into a convent, Darcy is touched by the atmosphere and the story of Sister Angela. Later, Darcy’s father disappears during the war, so Darcy and her mother are very worried. Moreover, another bad thing happens, Kathleen Mary and her family leave one night without any notice, and Darcy feels so sad even angry. Darcy goes to the convent to talk with Sister Angela and is told that she must believe and pray. Several months later, Darcy’s father comes home, all family members reunite. But Darcy later learns the terrible fact from Kathleen Mary’s brother that Kathleen Mary was hit and killed by a car the day before they moved.

Tunes for Bears to Dance To (1992)

Henry and his parents move to Wickburg from Frenchtown because his brother Eddie died several months ago. Henry’s father is too sad to work, so he works at Mr.

Hairston’s store after school. Henry meets an old man named Mr. Levine who is a handyman and a survivor of the Holocaust. Henry makes friends with Mr. Levine and

knows that the old man is carving a replica of his hometown. As Mr. Hairston receives this information, he tries to bribe Henry to destroy the model. At first Henry refuses, and then Mr. Hairston threatens Henry with firing him. Finally Henry goes into the craft center where the replica of the village is displayed, and smashes it by accident.

When Mr. Hairston offers Henry some money, Henry rejects it and asks Mr. Hairston why. Mr. Hairston says that he hates the Jews. Afterwards, Henry and his family move back to Frenchtown, and he gladly knows that Mr. Levine starts to rebuild the model of the village.

Heroes (1998)

Eighteen-year-old Francis is a war hero, who saves his comrade’s life but has his face badly injured. He returns to his hometown without a complete face nor a real identity. But he must return to finish his mission—to kill another hero named Larry, who has been adored, admired and respected by many teens for several years.

However, Larry betrays Francis and almost rapes Francis’ girlfriend Nicole. Finally Francis finds where Larry lives, but he does not kill Larry. Instead, Larry kills himself after Francis leaves.

In his writing career, Cormier writes three novellas for younger readers: Other Bells for Us to Ring, Tunes for Bears to Dance To, and Hero. Although they are not published in the continuous years, these books have been included as a part of this study for several reasons: first of all, these three books are shorter and simpler than any novels Cormier writes before. Second, the settings in these three novellas are all set in Frenchtown or a nearby city Wickburg. Third, the period of these three books is set during and/or after World War II. And last, the endings of these books are rather

optimistic.

Period V: Psychological Thrillers including We All Fall Down (1991), In the Middle of the Night (1995), Tenderness (1997)

The Synopses of Period V Stories:

We All Fall Down (1991)

Four teenagers break into a house and trash it. Furthermore, they hurt a girl named Karen who came home earlier than they expected. Karen was pushed down into the cellar and later found unconscious. Karen’s older sister, sixteen-year-old Jane feels guilty because she had a fight with Karen earlier that morning. In contrast to Jane, those teenagers do not have any sense of guilt except a boy named Buddy.

Buddy’s parents are recently separated and he is in pain. He begins to drink alcohol;

that eases the pain; however, it jeopardizes the judgment too. One day Buddy meets Jane in a shopping mall, and he falls in love with her. After they date each other, Buddy begins to worry that someday Jane might learn he is one of the people who trashed her house. Buddy’s fear comes to pass when his secret is revealed by a psychopath called the Avenger, who had seen what the boys did that day. The Avenger has killed two people before, and now he has a crush on Jane. Finally he kidnaps Jane and tries to kill her because he thinks that Jane should not go with Buddy. Jane saves herself by telling the Avenger the truth that he is not eleven years old any more (the Avenger always considers himself a teen). And then Jane tells the Avenger that he killed his grandfather many years ago. At last the Avenger commits suicide, and Jane is out of danger, but she breaks up with Buddy, and Buddy drinks alcohol again.

In the Middle of the Night (1995)

Denny seems to have a normal family—a quiet father and an affectionate mother except he is not allowed to answer the phone. For a long time his family has moved around quite often, and there have been lots of telephone calls in the middle of the night. When Denny is sixteen years old, he decides to do something. One day he answers the phone and talks with a female named Lulu. Gradually Denny falls in love with her, although he is attracted by another girl at bus stop before. But Lulu is a survivor from a fire and a collapse of a theater balcony twenty years ago, and she blames the accident which killed twenty-two children on Denny’s father John Paul, who was working at that theater as a head usher. Although it turns out that John Paul was not guilty but many people wanted a scapegoat. Finally Denny meets Lulu in her house, and Lulu tries to kill him. However, Lulu’s younger brother Dave saves Denny’s life and ignites a fire after Denny runs away. Denny calls the police after he is out of Lulu’s house.

Tenderness (1997)

Eric is a good-looking teenager but a cold-blooded murderer who kills his step-father, biological mother, and three girls. He confesses his sins of killing his parents because he claims they have abused him. Eric is sent to a facility and spends three years there. However, a police lieutenant Jake does not trust Eric; Jake believes Eric must have committed more crimes, and he wants to nail Eric down. In addition, a beautiful teen girl named Lori, who is a run-away, has a crush on Eric while watching him on TV by accident. Lori decides to stalk Eric after he is released. As Eric meets

Lori, he realizes that Lori has witnessed a murder he committed three years ago, although Lori seems innocent. Eric and Lori start their journey; unfortunately, there is an accident where Lori drowns in a lake. The police arrest Eric and accuse him of killing her on purpose. At last Eric is sent to prison.

Some main characters of these three novels are so-called psychopaths such as Harry and the Avenger in We all Fall Down; Lulu in In the Middle of the Night, and Eric in Tenderness. They are all teenagers (except Lulu, but her mind seems to stop maturing after she is badly injured); they hurt other people without any feelings, and never feel guilty. In these three books, a lot of details of committing a crime are described along with suspense and a final climax. All three books are movie-like and have a high-speed pace. These psychological thrillers are very entertaining for adolescents. However, the descriptions of these novels are in accordance with the behaviors of modern teenagers, who Cart called “a generation at risk” (164).

Period VI: Semi-Autobiographical Free Verse: Frenchtown Summer (1999)

The Synopsis of Period VI Story: Frenchtown Summer (1999)

This book contains thirty sections, and each section is regarded as a lyrical free verse. The main character and narrator Eugene is a shy boy, who lives in Frenchtown.

This book describes Eugene’s daily life such as his newspaper delivering, the relationship between his father and him, a secret love for Sister Angela, and a mysterious murder of a poor girl named Marielle LeMoyne. This semi-autobiographical verse novel ends up with a poem: “The Airplane”, which narrates how Eugene claims he saw a World War Airplane in a Frenchtown backyard,

but nobody believes him until his father says that he had seen an airplane that morning too. And Eugene earns respect and assures himself that his father loves him.

Frenchtown Summer is Cormier’s only novel in poetry. This book reveals Cormier’s childhood and his father’s love for him. Since this book is semi-autobiographical, it is not as dark as Cormier’s previous novels. Yet there is also a murder involved, and Cormier implies the killer may be one of his uncles. Why does Cormier like writing about the murder so much? Cormier used to say that “there are no taboos. Every topic is open, however shocking. It is the way that the topics are handled that’s important, and that applies whether it is a 15-year-old who is reading your book or someone who is 55” (Angel 75).

Period VII: Final Duet: The Rag and Bone Shop (2001)

The Synopsis of Period VII Story: The Rag and Bone Shop

There are two equally important protagonists playing this duel: twelve-year-old boy Jason and middle-aged interrogator Trent. When seven-year-old girl Alicia has been found murdered, the police suspect that if Jason is the killer because he is the last one who saw Alicia alive. Trent is called in for doing the interrogation. First Jason has no idea that he is a suspect, and then he feels trapped during the interrogation.

Finally Jason makes a fake confession of the killing. Yet it turns out that the true murderer is Alicia’s older brother Brad. Jason is released, but he feels like committing a real homicide—to kill a bully named Bobo.

This book is published in 2001, one year after Cormier’s death. The structure of

this novel is quite simple, almost like a “two-person show” (Campbell 1: 244). The process of the interrogation between Trent and Jason reminds the readers of the type-recording transcriptions of Brint and Adam in I Am the Cheese, yet this time Jason walks out free. However, this terrible experience makes Jason have a desire to kill people. Again, Cormier accuses the system that it persecutes innocent individuals.

In this case, even the persecutor Trent is a victim because he is also under pressure from a politician. It seems that the largest persecutor is the state apparatus.

2.3. Related Criticism and Research

Cormier’s first three novels for adults were critically acclaimed but did not cause much of a stir until his first young adult novel The Chocolate War was published in 1974. This book full of violence, sex and coarse language with an unhappy ending brought it critical attacks. Many critics, teachers, and librarians felt uncomfortable with the content that Cormier had given. Publishers Weekly warned that this novel was “bound to cause controversy and no little resentment, especially among Catholics….Its impact is weakened by the author’s excess bitterness” (qtd. in Campbell 2: 53). Also, the English children’s book review magazine, Junior Bookshelf, delivered the most biting opinion:

This may be brilliantly written tour de force but despite the publisher’s claim it is no more a children’s book than is The Exorcist….The Chocolate War depicts a life without hope in which boys prey upon each other like prohibition gangsters, masturbate in the lavatory and drool over girlie magazines. It presents in one neat package all the most repellent aspects of the American way of life. Here in embryo are the forces of

commercialism, of corruption, of sadism and the triumph of the beast. If you are an adult and an American it may shock you out of your complacency but English children will at the best be confused and at the worst enjoy it as a sadistic spectacle…. (53)

In addition, the New Statesman gave up on a serious verdict and settled for translating the plot into current British slang: “Brother Leon, most greasy of eminences, in dead shtuck unless he off-loads his whole consignment of chockies….”

(qtd. in Campbell 2: 53).

Moreover, in her article “The Absence of Moral Agency in Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War”, Tarr argued that the protagonist in this novel, Jerry, was not a rebel hero, but “the prototype of a popular kind of protagonist in young adult literature, one who is paralyzed by postmodern society’s anxieties” (113).

However, there were different voices. For example, Peter Hunt of the Times Literary Supplement, the publication that is the pinnacle of world literary opinion, recognized this novel’s stature immediately. “A tour de force of realism….If you must judge a rather remarkable achievement…, read the whole” (qtd. in Campbell 2: 53).

Moreover, the New York Times Book Review awarded The Chocolate War a place on its annual list of Outstanding Books, and the Young Adult Services Division of the American Library Association chose it as one of their Best Books for Young Adults for 1974. In 1975 The Chocolate War was firstly published in paperback, and it went through three printings quickly. “Young people devoured it, completely untroubled by the controversy” (qtd. in Campbell 2: 54). In 2000, Breen at el. selected the twentieth century’s most significant books for children and young adults in School Library Journal, and The Chocolate War was one of those books. They remarked that “The author’s commitment to portraying his characters realistically, even if that involves

violence and despair, blazed a trail for other writers” (53).

Cormier’s second novel for young adults, I Am the Cheese, also received controversial reviews. For example, some critics appreciated the complexity of the narrative structure in the novel. Bushman and Bushman admired this book as well as other novels written by Cormier: “Most, if not all, of Robert Cormier’s novels reflect this [high] quality of writing. The Chocolate War (1974), I Am the Cheese (1977), After the First Death (1979), Fade (1988), and We All Fall Down (1991) offer complicated, sophisticated plot structure, fully developed characters, settings that complement the plot and characters, a variety of literary devices, and complex, universal themes” (230). Several journals and periodicals also put a high value on I Am the Cheese—for example, a compliment from The Horn Book Magazine: “a magnificent accomplishment”; “a masterpiece” from West Coast Review of Books; the secret, revealed at the end, explodes like an H-bomb” from Publishers Weekly, and so forth. One publisher even said that “as I was getting my books signed, I felt compelled to tell him [Cormier] about my reaction to I Am the Cheese…I felt that the top of my head was going to come off” (“A Bouquet for Bob” 393).

However, some reviewers worried about the darkness of this novel and an unhappy—even hopeless—ending. For instance, Audrey Laski argued that “[this book]

could do real harm to a disturbed adolescent, since it communicates all too effectively the paranoid fear that a psychiatric questioner may be an enemy—and then shows that it is true” (qtd. in Keeley: 33). Some parents even asked their schools to ban this novel.

After the success and the debates of Cormier’s early young adult novels, the publisher collected his very early works from 1965 to 1975 to publish a collection of short stories, “8 Plus 1” (1980). The selection contained nine short stories, and four of them were written in the point of view of a middle-aged man (usually a father too).

This book did not receive high reviews, compared to his other books. For example, the Kirkus Review said that “fans …will be disappointed with these nine tepidly sentimental stories”; New York Times criticized that this collection was “an ill-written cliché-infested book awash in self-pity” (qtd. in Campbell 2: 113). And School Library Journal noted that “none of the tales are as dramatic as Cormier’s brilliant and imaginative novels” (qtd. in Campbell 2: 114).

Nevertheless, some critics still gave this book credit. For example, in the YOVA Reader Gallo wrote that “his [Cormier’s] own short stories in Eight Plus One…provide exactly the kind of sensitive, heart-warming contrast many librarians and teachers prefer” (160).

In 1985, Cormier published Beyond the Chocolate War, which was the sequel of The Chocolate War. For eleven years, readers anticipated the sequel’s coming. But this novel did not receive as high an evaluation as The Chocolate War. Campbell summarized many critics’ reviews in her Robert Cormier: Daring to Disturb the University. Campbell mentioned that:

Roger Sutton, however, writing for School Library Journal, felt that

“individually, many scenes are vividly horrific, but as a whole this is less compelling as fiction than it is a commentary on The Chocolate War—Cormier here intensifies and explicates what was powerfully implicit in the first book.” Hazel Rochman made a similar comment in the New York Times Books Review: “With its complexity, Beyond the Chocolate War is not as starkly dramatic as its predecessor. It relies too much on Mr. Cormier’s explication, and there is less action and more emphasis on the internal lives of many characters.” (96)

With respect to Cormier’s more recent novels, We All Fall Down, different critics had different evaluations. For example, Campbell regarded this book as a middle book. She argued that We All Fall Down (and his another novel In the Middle of the Night) “have not achieved the highest places in the ranks of his work, although they are respected and admired. They are regarded rather as middle books that fill out the Cormier panoply of ideas and genres” (195). Nevertheless, critic and reviewer Michael Cart had a different opinion. He spent a lot of pages to describe and review Cormier’s We All Fall Down in his own book, From Romance To Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature, and he argued that “As [Graham]

Greene was, so is Cormier a Roman Catholic whose beliefs, guilts, and questionings enrich all his themes and all his fictions. It’s obviously manifested in We All Fall Down, where polarity after polarity visits the book’s theme: good and evil, guilt and innocence.…as for me—I think of Cormier, and I am equally grateful that he lives among us too” (186-187).

Cormier’s last two books for young adults are Frenchtown Summer and The Rag and Bone Shop, the former was published in 1999, and the latter was published in 2001 after Cormier died. Frenchtown Summer was Cormier’s semi-autobiography written in a free-verse form. Containing thirty poems, each poem had an event or an observation of the protagonist Eugene, who might be a disguise of the author Cormier.

This small book revealed Cormier’s childhood and his father’s love for him. Because this poetry was semi-autobiographical, it was not as dark as Cormier’s previous works.

After this book was published, reviewers and critics highly recommended it at once.

In addition, Frenchtown Summer won an honorable award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for the Best Young Adult Fiction in 1999.

The Rag and Bone Shop was published posthumously, so some observers assumed that Cormier had not finished it before he died. Joel Shoemaker in the School

Library Journal claimed that “Cormier revisits familiar psychological and temporal territory in this memorable novella that was finished, but unpolished, at the time of his death” (qtd. in Campbell 1: 244).

Campbell argued that this book was indeed finished before Cormier’s death, but maybe he had not made it more perfect yet. Campbell also acknowledged that “He [Cormier] had an almost superstitious fear of talking away a book, so I learned never to ask about a work in progress” (“The Last Cormier” 623). However, she quoted a passage from “A Personal Remembrance” written by Cormier’s wife, Connie Cormier, to give the readers an explanation: “This is Bob’s last book. He always hated to see his books end, and he loved to tinker with them after they were finished—to ponder, to search for the perfect word, the perfect phrase. Tragically, he died…before he was able to do that with The Rag and Bone Shop….” (qtd. in Campbell 1: 245).

Critic and writer Michael Cart regarded Robert Cormier as “the single most important writer in the field that is made distinguished by his contributions to it” (qtd.

in Hyde: 29). In From Romance To Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature, Cart wrote that:

Cormier had the courage to write a novel of thematic weight and substance that actually suggested that there might be no happy endings in young adult lives; that conventional morality might not prevail; the evil might be real and even institutionalized; and that there are powerful, faceless forces that will destroy us if we disturb them. This may not be a revolutionary concept in the history of deterministic philosophy, but in the 1970s it was evolutionary as a view of the world upon which to construct a young novel. And it opened enormous areas of thematic possibility for writers who would come after Cormier…. (84)

Indeed, Cormier can be regarded as a ground-breaking and distinguished writer, especially in the area of young adult literature. This is understood or assumed by anyone who needs this study.

Chapter 3 Theme

What is theme? According to The Harper Handbook to Literature, theme is defined as “(1) A central idea. (2) A topic for discussion. (3) An expository essay written for class” (461). The first definition is used in this chapter. All writers have their favorite theme or themes in their writings, including Robert Cormier. Many critics and reviewers such as Campbell, Cart, Angel and Hyde have discussed that Cormier’s favorite theme is good vs. evil, which is many novelists’ preferred one. In addition, Cormier likes to write the stories about the individual against the system, particularly in his early works like The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. The third theme that Cormier prefers to conduct is guilt vs.

forgiveness, for he is a Catholic as well as influenced by a famous novelist Graham Greene. These three themes, good vs. evil, system vs. individual, and guilt vs.

forgiveness, will be discussed in the following sections.

3.1. Good vs. Evil

Since Cormier’s first young adult fiction The Chocolate War was published in 1974, many reviewers had already noticed Cormier’s favorite theme in his novels:

good vs. evil. Cormier creates several vicious teen characters in this novel: Archie and his stooges constitute an underground society named the Vigils, which controls the school in secret. Archie is extremely clever, indifferent, and manipulative. He used to say that “life is a shit” (The Chocolate War 16). Another “bad guy” is Emile, who likes power and fighting. Different from Archie, Emile is eager to win other’s