Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Key Quotations
Chapter 1 – page 1
“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.”
Establishes the setting
confidence
Presented as single-sentence
Creates mystery
her
Makes the reader ask questions
Chapter 1 – page 4
“She had always been generous when I
did her errands and her tips paid for my
ten-cent movie tickets at the Plymouth
on Saturday afternoons.”
Francis knows Mrs Belander from before
the war
In a first reading, the Plymouth seems
unimportant
Chapter 1 – page 4
“At that moment, I knew that I was really
anonymous, that I wasn’t Francis
Joseph Cassavant anymore but a tenant
in Frenchtown.”
Why does Francis want to be
anonymous?
Contrasts with the opening sentence
Chapter 1 – page 5
“I was home again in Frenchtown. I
thought of the gun hidden away in my
duffel bag and knew that my mission
was about to begin.”
What is Francis’s mission?
more often?
He wants to forget the past
Chapter 1 – page 6
“Then I am filled with guilt and shame,
knowing that I just prayed for the man
I am going to kill.”
Francis frequently feels guilt and shame
feelings
Statement creates dramatic tension
Chapter 1 – page 7
“‘You’re a big hero,’ he said. ‘A Silver Star
hero.’”
This is the first reference to being a
become agony
Chapter 2 – page 12
“I wondered whether she’d been waving
at Joey LeBlanc or me.”
Again, Francis lacks the confidence to
him?
Chapter 3 – page 13
“I feel like a spy in disguise as I walk the
streets of Frenchtown.”
This is a simile
Cormier
Chapter 3 – page 15
“All kinds of rumours about her Francis.
She began to stay at home… She was
like… a hermit.”
Adds to the mystery of Nicole Renard
Shows that Francis did end up going-
out with Nicole but that something must
have gone wrong
Chapter 3 – page 15
Francis explains that he joined the army
at fifteen.
This makes the reader ask lots of
questions e.g.
Why did he enlist?
Why wasn’t he missed?
How did he feel about this?
Chapter 3 – page 16
“I can keep going on a minimum of food
because I lost my appetite somewhere
in France and eat now only to sustain
myself for a while.”
Suggests that Francis has given up
hope
Doesn’t reveal why he has no appetite
Chapter 3 – pages 18 – 20
Francis dreams about the war in France
This suggests Cormier’s attitude to war
description
Chapter 3 – page 18
“Not like the war movies at the Plymouth,
nobody displaying heroics or bravado”
Francis repeats the idea that he wasn’t
heroic or brave
Chapter 3 – page 19
“I explode into wakefulness… my bursts of
gunfire killed the soldiers quickly, no
exploding head, no body cut in two… I saw
how young they were, boys with apple
cheeks, too young to shave. Like me.”
Francis explains that his dream is more
German soldiers
Chapter 3 – page 20
“The next day, the grenade blows my
face away.”
We finally find out what happened to
mission
Chapter 4 – page 21
“I wanted to be like them, these heroes,
fighting the Japs and the Germans,
going off to battles on land and sea.”
Francis used to have a romantic idea
about war
Later, he learns that they weren’t
physically
There are many ‘then and now’
here
Chapter 5 – page 25
“It’s a bad luck place, people had said.
A place of doom, others added”
The first description of the Wreck
single-sentence paragraphs.
Chapter 5 – page 26
“The men worked frantically… but the
work was haphazard.”
The Rec Centre was part of the ‘New
for Larry
Chapter 5 – page 28
“I had never been a hero in such places,
too short and uncoordinated for
baseball and too timid to join the
gangs.”
Another reference to being a hero
qualities
‘Timid’ suggests he is afraid
Chapter 5 – page 28
“I had no best friend.”
Other than Nicole and Larry, Francis
people
Chapter 5 – page 28
“Home was now the tenement where I
lived with my Uncle Louis… He took me
in after my father died.”
This is striking because Francis doesn’t
chapter
Reinforces the idea that something
Francis play
Francis highlights this moment by the
use of paragraphs
Chapter 7 – page 40 & 41
“Her words filled me with both delight and
agony, delight at her invitation and the
instant agony of jealousy, the way she had
casually said his name… ‘Larry’, spoken off-
hand as if they were more than teacher and
pupil.”
Why does Francis feel jealous?
details
Chapter 9 – page 49
“A thrill went through me – a wartime
secret in Frenchtown! Should we be on
the look-out for spies?”
As a child, Francis shares the excited
secure
Chapter 9 – page 50
“We cheered our fighting forces and
booed and hissed when Hitler came on
the screen, his arm always raised in
that hated salute.”
The newsreel footage becomes an
entertainment
Civilians saw the war as dramatic and
exciting
Chapter 9 – page 51
“‘How about writing books? Didn’t you
win Sister Mathilde’s medal for
composition?’
‘Oh, I could never write a book.’
‘I think you could.’
Similar to Cormier’s own life
him
Chapter 10 – page 55
“When I study myself in the mirror, I
don’t see me any more but a stranger
slowly taking shape.”
The war has changed Francis as a
person
He is gradually becoming someone new
up anticipation
Larry’s heroism will contrast with his
hero
Movie heroes are only actors, however, and
he is a fake
Chapter 11 – page 58
“Fred Astaire still in his walk but
something different about him. His
slenderness was knife-like now, lethal.”
The movie-star image is contrasted with
one of violence
Larry is a killer and Francis implies he is
dangerous
Chapter 11 – page 58
“Larry was our hero, yes, but he had
been a hero to us long before he went
to war.”
Francis reminds us that Larry is admired
by everyone in Frenchtown
This helps to reinforce his unforgivable
possible moment
As Francis is telling the story, he must realise
(61) = doubt
“His face was flushed and his eyes shone with
wrong
Echoed by Nicole, who doesn’t want
him to leave
Chapter 11 – page 63
“I made my way towards the front door but
drew back, didn’t leave, stationed myself in
the small foyer… miserable in my aloneness,
wanting to be dancing with her, the way
Larry LaSalle was dancing with her, holding
her close…”
“Miserable in my aloneness” – sums up
to do anything
Chapter 11 – page 63
“I heard a sigh and a sound that could
have been a moan and a rustle of
clothing.”
This is Francis’s description of the rape
the reader
He confesses to us – is the whole novel
image
This contrasts with how Francis had
to die?
Notice the use of sentence structures for
effect
Chapter 13 – page 70
“I always thought I would spot Larry LaSalle on
Third Street, would see him striding along like
Fred Astaire, bestowing that movie-star smile
on people that he met.”
Francis reminds us of how fake Larry is by
says this
Chapter 13 – page 71
“I have heard enough.
Larry LaSalle has returned to
Frenchtown.
And I know where to find him.”
Use of single-sentence paragraphs
about to do is wrong
Chapter 14 – page 72
“I am calm. My heartbeat is normal. What’s
one more death after the others in the
villages and fields of France? The innocent
faces of the two young Germans appear in
my mind. But Larry LaSalle is not innocent.”
Suggests Francis has killed more people than
we know about
Rhetorical question suggests his guilt
Chapter 14 – page 73
“He is pale, eyes sunk into the sockets like in
the newsreel at the Plymouth, and he seems
fragile now, as if caught in an old photograph
that has faded and yellowed with age.”
Larry has changed physically
voice
They show what he wants to say but
can’t say
Chapter 14 – page 75
“I had always wanted to be a hero, like Larry
LaSalle, but had been a fake all along. And
now I am tired of the deception and have to
rid myself of the fakery.”
Francis views his actions as a fraud – he is
not really a hero
This quote shows that he has realised Larry is
a fake
Francis confesses to Larry that he is not a
hero
Chapter 14 – page 75
“‘I went to war because I wanted to die…
I was too much of a coward to kill
myself. In the war, in a battle, I
figured it would be easy to get killed.”
Francis’s explanation twists his feelings
Francis
He tries to make him realise it wasn’t his fault
before
Larry sees the girls as treats or gifts –
thinks?
Chapter 14 – page 78
“‘Let me tell you one thing before you go,
Francis. You would have fallen on that
grenade, anyway. All your instincts would
have made you sacrifice yourself for your
comrades.’
Still trying to make me better than I am.”
Larry recognises that Francis is a true hero
in himself
Chapter 14 – page 79
“The sound of a pistol shot cracks the air. My
hand is on the doorknob. The sound from
this distance is almost like a ping-pong ball
striking the table.”
This simile is used in an ironic way – table
previous chapter
Chapter 15 – page 81
“‘Has she gone away to become a nun?’ I
ask. The possibility dashes my hopes of
ever seeing her again.
Francis reveals his reasons for being
here
This is the first time Francis has ever
experiences
Francis still sees her as a work of art
Chapter 16 – page 84
“‘This is nothing… It’s not as bad as it
looks…’ Still lying but not to a nun.”
Francis differentiates between his lies,
Larry
Chapter 16 – page 85
“‘Are you going to write? I always
thought you’d be a writer.’
‘I don’t know.’ Which is the truth, for a
change.”
Provides a biographical link with the
author
Provides hope for Francis
Chapter 16 – page 85
“To see if maybe you could still be my
girl. Which would maybe change my
mind about the gun in my duffel bag .”
This is Francis’s hope – that he and
italics
Chapter 16 – page 86
“‘Who was I going to tell...? He was a big
war hero.’”
Again, Cormier challenges the idea of
his options
He thinks about what he could do
Chapter 17 – page 90
“I think of the gun inside the duffel bag
at my feet…
The weight is nice and comfortable.”
The gun gives him comfort