Heroes by Robert Cormier

Reminder of the Novella
The story is told in first person (Francis Cassavant), through a series flashbacks of his childhood and how he came to the point of where he is now (plotting revenge and thinking of taking his own life.) The flashbacks are set between three times – the events of Frenchtown during Francis childhood, war events and the present.
Remember chapters aren’t labelled in the book! This is to help the reader have a more realistic feel to the book and to show the way the book is in flashbacks rather than an order, but also to show that Francis life is not straight forward and all organised.
Chapter 1
Francis returns from the war to Frenchtown, he is horribly disfigured, no eyebrows, teeth or nose, his cheeks not healing. He wears a bandage, a silk scarf and a baseball cap to cover his face to stop people being scared of him, but also as a disguise. He uses his money to rent a room in a tenement in Mrs Belanders three decker home, she doesn’t recognise him, but he used to run errands for her when he was younger. He goes to church and prays for a number of people including Larry LaSalle and we are revealed that he plans to kill him. We recognise that Francis is still in love with his childhood sweetheart Nicole Renard.

Chapter 2
Francis recalls the time he met Nicole, although he has no contact with her she is friends with a girl who lives in his block, called Marie LeCroix. He is too shy to talk to her but enjoys seeing her come and go.

Chapter 3
Francis is walking around Frenchtown and visits Nicole and her familes old house, he is aware that they are gone as an old soldier told him during the war. The owener of the house doesn’t know where the Renards have gone. He dreams of the time when he killed the two german soldiers. He finishes with his new mission of killing Larry.