I suppose one of the things that is a deciding factor in which books get to be put on the GCSE line-up is how they are written, and in fact, the rich language used is something that all of my GCSE texts have in common, which I love.

Recently, I read a book called Heroes, by Robert Cormier. Robert is an American author and journalist known for his novels, which target young adults. His childhood life was mostly reading books, and staying home. Robert was the second of the eight children born to Lucien Joseph and Irma M.Cormier. He has won a number of awards and achievements. For instance, Robert won the Margaret A.Edwards Award, Phoenix Award from the the Children’s Literature Association, and many more, which captures the attention of more and more young adults. Francis is a good Catholic boy. He has been raised in the Catholic religion, like most people in Frenchtown. He went to St Jude’s Parochial School, which was run by nuns, and he used to be an altar boy in St Jude’s Church. He prays often, for his dead parents and brother; for men who were in the war with him; for the girl he has always loved, Nicole Renard; and finally, I pray for Larry Lasalle. He adds that this is the man I am going to kill. As a result of his religious upbringing, Francis also carries a lot of guilt with him. Before, I felt that Francis not killing Larry was a slight let down but now I realise that not every book needs a plot twist to be great. I don't think Robert Cormier wanted this novel to be exciting and intriguing - I think he would have wanted it to be thought-provoking and it is! I could argue that the book was anti-climatic but I wasn't disappointed when Francis wouldn't shoot Larry. I felt that Larry had got his deserved fate when he lost his legs because it meant he could no longer be the Larry LaSalle he was (strutting about like Fred Astaire and with an air of self-confidence) and LaSalle is described as a shadow of who he used to be. The book’s purpose was to show how much betrayal, love, hate, guilt, and forgiveness can impact a person. Also, it shows how some things cannot go the way you wanted. Additionally, those words are not always what you think they are, since all of those traits can hurt instead of help. The overall message of the book is to teach you a lesson about love, hate, guilt, and forgiveness.

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So, all in all, I'd say that, although it is not quite my favourite GCSE text, I do still adore it and I think that everyone should give it a go. Nicole is a kind girl, and wants to help people. She becomes a volunteer... with the Monument Red Cross... preparing food kits for servicemen. Larry is still manipulative when Francis visits him at the end of the novel. He already knows that Francis was injured in the war – Don’t be afraid to show your face, Francis. That face, what’s left of it, is a symbol of how brave you were, the Silver Star you earned... He is telling Francis what to think and feel, just as he always did. Larry seems old and unable to walk, even though he says, No wounds that you can see, Francis. But I’m worn out. Francis thinks to himself, Maybe your sins [are] catching up with you. After the two of them have talked about the past, and Francis has told Larry that he wanted to die because of what Larry did to Nicole, Larry honestly seems surprised, and replies, You wanted to die because of that? It is clear that he has attached no importance to the event, a fact which is supported by the suggestion that Nicole was not his only victim; he talks to Francis about the sweet young things... e=Even their heat is sweet... He adds, Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil. I love the sweet young things.

Left without a face or a future, but sustained by his deep sense of shame, Francis watches. He thinks of the gun in his duffel bag and waits, alone, for the return of another supposed hero. As the days pass in Frenchtown, Francis lives out the post-war period, reliving the days of his childhood as he waits for the return of another supposed hero. The revelation that both the protagonist and antagonist are flawed, and neither embodies the selflessness, bravery, or courage that we expect from a hero, is a gut-wrenching realization. Joey LeBlanc: Joey and Francis were childhood friends and went to the cinema together. He was a troublesome figure at school as he used to be talkative. He is a confident person and seems to be the antithesis of Francis. He also became a soldier, and is said to have died at Iwo Jima.

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To that end, Francis disguises his identity from the residents of his hometown, giving a fake name at his boarding house and always traveling with a scarf and hat to cover his wounds. As he stalks about Frenchtown hunting for any news of Larry, he meets other local veterans and begins to frequent their favorite bar, the St. Jude Club. At the bar, the other veterans talk eagerly of their future plans now that the war is over, but never of their experiences overseas. Eventually, one the veterans, Arthur Rivier, recognizes Francis but agrees to keep his identity secret. Not long after, Francis encounters Arthur drunkenly slumped over in alley. As Francis helps him, Arthur begins to pour out his emotions, lamenting that nobody wants to talk about the horrible truth of what happened during the war, and exclaiming that the war wasn’t a stage for glamorous, heroic soldiers, but merely a group of terrified children caught up in a violent struggle for survival. There are many other characters in the novel that are important but not as important as Francis, Nicole and Larry: I also really liked Nicole, up until a certain point. She wasn't to blame for what happened, and how she reacted, but her behaviour still irritated me. But, prior to that, she came across as a genuinely kind girl, who was very sweet to Francis.

I’ve had many ‘heroes’ in my life- most of them my friends, many inspired me to be a better me, a better Brice. But does that ultimately constitute them as heroes? According to dictionaries, being a hero means to be a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Each individual story is paced nicely, and all three intertwine, all the pieces coming together to form the picture that is Francis' life. The ramifications of war are explored within the text, arguably with the trauma inflicted upon Nicole & Francis by Larry LaSalle representing the way war pays no regard to its effect on people, especially the young.Throughout the past few years, I have grown as a person- and so has my taste of books. I used to adore YA books, with cliché romance plots and heartwarming love stories to more sort of philosophical books, which most of the stories took part in 20th century america. Francis is plagued by the fact that he couldn’t stop his then-girlfriend, Nicole Renard from getting raped by Larry LaSalle. For his past holds a bitter secret, one which he has vowed to revenge and which he can resolve only through his final, desperate plan: to destroy the man who betrayed him as a boy. This book was interesting and I thought that the characters were well introduced as we are given a lot of information for such a short book but overall it just wasn't my cup of tea. Ultimately both men are flawed, both carry out heroic acts for the wrong reasons. Thus Cormier questions whether 'true heroism' can ever truly exist. Is the notion fact or fiction? Yet he doesn't stop there. The rape of Nicole also seems to question the morality of of society's acceptance of actions carried out during war-time whilst in uniform against those perpetrated when out of it. Which rather begs the question, can might ever be right?