Heroes Francis Cassaavant Character Analysis

Have you ever felt so much guilt and shame that you want to kill yourself? Francis Cassavant in Heroes, by Robert Cormier, is a realistic and relatable character who has suffered from this feeling ever since he was little. Even as a child, he has felt unusual and out of place compared to everyone else. Francis’s characteristics determine his actions throughout his story and motivate him to join the army, beginning his expedition as a so-called “hero”.
Francis’s self consciousness drives him to join the army and begin his journey. As a child, he has always felt left out and independent from everyone else. “I’m rotten at everything.’ I confessed. ‘I can’t sing. I can’t dance. I’m no good at baseball.” And I can’t even get up the nerve to hold a normal conversation with Nicole Renard, I added silently,”(Cormier 56). Francis has always been a little self conscious of himself, causing him to hide and seem different than everyone else. This drives him to join the army in an attempt to kill himself.

Ever since Francis’s went through seeing Nicole and Larry, he has felt the repercussions and guilt causing him to become depressed and suicidal.

These feelings push him to attempt to kill himself in a heroic way and joining the army. “And I recognized in her eyes now what I could not deny: betrayal. My betrayal of her in her eyes,” (Cormier 96-97). Throughout the whole story, Francis feels remorseful about Nicole’s corruption, he feels didn’t do anything to help. Guilt and betrayal follow him when he thinks about Nicole because he just stood there and didn’t do anything. Even though there was nothing really for him to do, he still thinks that he is responsible for what has happened to Nicole and thinks he has to do something to fix

it.
Lastly, Francis’s guilt and confidence cause him to become suicidal. After enduring everything from his lifetime, he thinks that the only way to make things right is to kill himself. He decides that the only way he can is to join the army so he doesn’t disgrace his family name. “I went to war because I wanted to die.’ Lowering my voice as if in the confessional with Father Balthazar: ‘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. And I wouldn’t be disgracing my father and mother's name. I look for chances to die and instead killed others, and two of them kids like me…” (Cormier 113). Multiple reasons for Francis’s suicidal thoughts are his confidence level and inequity . He was never very confident in himself but once he went through Nicole’s corruption, he finally decided to go through and attempt it but failed.
Ultimately, Francis Cassavant still feels a little self conscious, but ends up working out his internal and external conflicts throughout the story after the hard life he had endured when he was little. Going to war progressed his feelings and builds up the courage to finally say what he is feeling. Even though he originally went to war to kill himself, he came back to Frenchtown with different intentions. Doing so finally gets him closure and no longer feels as reprehensible about Nicole and Larry LaSalle, but doesn’t completely forgive himself yet. He doesn’t see himself as a hero completely because of his low-self esteem, guilt, and suicidal thoughts, but others all agree that he has the true qualities of a hero.