Narrative Conventions In Robert Cormier's I Am The Cheese

Robert Cormier is a renowned American author who has written many award winning literature novels such as The Chocolate War, After the First Death and The Bumblebee Flies Away. His books are often concerned with the themes of abuse, mental illness, revenge, betrayal and conspiracy. Another well-known novel written by Robert Cormier is called I am the Cheese. The story revolves around a teenage boy who embarks on a bike journey to visit his dad in Rutterbug, Vermont. Narrative conventions such as symbols, novel structure, point of view, setting and tone were used to develop the two main themes in the novel which were an individual against the society and abuse of power by the government. These narrative convections also affect the reader’s response
The most apparent symbol in the novel is the title, ‘I am the Cheese’ which was taken from the nursery rhyme ‘The Farmer in the Dell.’ As the song goes each character takes someone with them when the farmer leaves, but the cheese has nobody and it stands alone. Therefore, Adam is known as the cheese. Adam is left in this world alone and believes that he is not wanted by anyone since his parents’ death. This symbol develops the theme of an individual against the society. Another symbol in the novel is the character, Brint. He stands for corruption of the government because he works in the same company as Grey and is only interested in getting information out of Adam. This helps construct the second theme of the novel which was abuse of power by the
The novel is set in the 1970s when there were many political conflicts, such as the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Act and the Women Liberation. These conflicts had influenced Robert Cormier to write and develop one of the main themes in the story, the government’s abuse of power. Furthermore, the novel is located in a small town called Monument, Massachusetts but Adam’s imaginary travels set out for Rutterbug, Vermont. However, at the end novel the reader’s will find out that the entire bike journey only occurs within the confinement of an institution in Vermont. The reason why Robert Cormier uses small towns as his settings is because he was raised and lived in these areas. The tones of the novel are suspenseful, vague and enthralling. This is because the reader is only given enough information to understand what is immediately happening and they have to fill in the blanks as they go along. Moreover, when new information is revealed both the reader and the main character, Adam learns about it together. Thus, the tones have an effect on the reader’s response towards the