Robert Cormier Heroes Literary Analysis

“The contemporary world can only appear unified if discordant voices, those not representing the dominant ideological view, are marginalized” (Head). In Heroes, Francis Cassavant has just returned to his hometown after war. His face has been ruined by a grenade during war and he is back for one thing, to kill his childhood hero. Along the way running into a girl he met back in 7th grade. Robert Cormier uses imagery and characterization to show deception in society.

One of the literary elements Cormier uses in Heroes is imagery. Throughout the story, Cormier, creates images that represent the material sense of society. “Anyway, this gives you an idea of what I look like when I walk down the street. People glance at me in surprise and look away quickly or cross the street when they see me coming. I don’t blame them.”(Cormier 4). People who read Cormier’s books get a taste of the bitter society we live. He creates the pictures of how deceiving society can be. His use of imagery is a good thing that speaks to young adults more than adults. Young adults can relate to some of the troubles and judging society he describes throughout the book. He does the

job of being able to put you into the situation making you connect to the stories.
Along with imagery, Cormier displays deception in society through his characters. One character this is shown in is Larry LaSalle. “The biggest headline at the top of one page proclaims: ‘LT. LASALLE EARNS SILVER STAR.’ ‘There are a lot of medals,’ the big bartender croaks, ‘for outstanding service, but only the Silver Star is for heroism.’”(Cormier 52). Although Larry LaSalle is described as a hero in this quote, he wasn’t to Francis Cassavant at this time. Larry and the main character, Francis, used to be best friends until Larry raped his girlfriend at the time. Cormier uses Larry’s character to show that not everyone is how they seem, which is the deception in society. This is a strong element in representing deception. Francis had trusted Larry and idolized him because he helped him to talk to this girl and was a hero in the war. However, Larry ends up betraying him as a friend by doing this causing Francis to hate him and trying to seek revenge years later. People love this because it shows what actually happens in the real world. Unlike other stories, he shows that when something happens between friends that really affects you, you don’t just let it go untouched.
Through his characters, Cormier creates dilemmas that we see in real life, unlike other novels.

The character Nicole who was Francis’ girlfriend at the time has some that she realizes many years later. “‘He was…’ ‘Don’t say it Francis. I know what he was. For a while there he made me feel special. Made me think I was a ballerina. Now I’m starting to find out what I am, who I really am…’”(Cormier 127). Cormier created problems for his characters that represented what life was actually like and how people really are. People aren’t all heroes in life no matter what they may perceive you to think, which Nicole witnesses this first hand with Larry. When Larry rapes nicole, she starts to realize then the true horror in people. Before that moment she was lead to believe that he was a hero because that’s how their society saw

him.
Cormier uses his characters to show there is deception in society especially if you are only willing to see the good in people. Nicole is kind of a symbol of love in this story. Francis’ love for Nicole is misleading, throughout the whole story, he searches for her and hopes to see her again but one he does he realizes something. “She looks at me with affection. But affection is not love. I’ve known all the time we’ve been talking that we’re filling up the empty spaces between us with words. I’ve known that I’ve lost her, lost her a long time ago.” (Cormier 130-131) This shows the deception in society because Francis hadn’t seen her in a couple years because of what happened with Larry and because they believed him to be a hero and turned out not to be that ruined their love and mislead Francis to think he loved her this whole time.
In Heroes, Robert Cormier portrays the theme of deception in society through imagery and characterization. Most critics of Cormier's work believe that he is one of the best young adult authors out there because of his thematic elements used. Cormier is astute in his work. He may write fictional books, however they show the reality of what society is really like. Young adults love his novels. He writes something they can relate to and that puts them into the story. He also uses his characters in a way the shows the reality of the world through the dilemmas they face.