Guilt and forgiveness - analysing the evidence
How Francis behaves
How does Cormier show this?
Example 1
Francis prays for forgiveness in church.
Evidence
Then I am filled with guilt and shame, knowing that I just prayed for the man I am going to kill.
Pray for your enemies, for those who have done you harm.
Analysis
This shocks the reader because usually a sin needs to have been committed before a person can ask for forgiveness. Here, Francis is praying in advance.
Francis remembers Sister Gertrude’s words. The scene acts as a very effective plot device, because it intrigues the reader as to why Francis would want to kill Larry, and as to what Larry could possibly have done to deserve this.
Example 2
He hides in the church until it is locked for the night.
Evidence
Saying a prayer before committing the worst sin of all: despair.
I thought of my mother and father – could I disgrace their name this way?
Analysis
The taking of a life is the worst sin, even suicide – the taking of one’s own life. Francis has second thoughts and does not go through with his plan, but he feels guilty for even considering it. This acknowledges his deeper inner strength.
Example 3
Francis arrives at Larry’s apartment intending to kill him.
Evidence
Say your prayers,
I tell him.
Analysis
As a Catholic, Francis still wants Larry to be able to repentSay sorry for doing wrong. his sins before he dies. This will ensure that Larry does not go straight to hell.
How Nicole behaves
How does Cormier show this?
Example 1
Nicole blames Francis for not stopping Larry from raping her.
Evidence
You didn’t do anything.
Why didn’t you do something? Tell him to stop. Run for help. Anything.
Analysis
Nicole cannot report Larry LaSalle because she fears that nobody will believe her. Instead she takes out her pain and anger on Francis. Sadly, he accepts the blame because he feels he betrayed her. He vowed that he would always protect her but he failed.
Example 2
After the war Nicole tells Francis that it was not his fault.
Evidence
I shouldn’t have said those things to you that day on the piazza. You weren’t to blame for what happened.
Analysis
Francis does not realise it at the time, but this relieves him of the guilt he has been carrying all this time. As he leaves Nicole and waits at the station, he notes that his burden is now manageable - nice and comfortable.
He can deal with it because he has finally forgiven himself.
Analysing the evidence
Question
How does Robert Cormier explore ideas about guilt and forgiveness in the novel?
Cormier uses the Catholic faith, with its emphasis on sin and forgiveness, as a background to the plot. Francis has a strong awareness of what a sin is, and that it needs to be confessed and finally forgiven.
He carries the burden of the sin he feels he has committed – namely that he did not protect Nicole from Larry. When he is released from the sin at the end of the novel, by both Nicole and, ironically, Larry, he is finally able to start looking forward to the future rather than back to the past. Also at the end of the novel, Nicole has spent the time since the rape thinking about what happened, and she realises that Francis was never to blame.
She does not need to forgive him; she believes that she needs to apologise to him. She does this and it lightens Francis’ heart. Larry dies in the worst way for a Catholic; he commits suicide and he never says sorry for his sins. Cormier is showing that there is redemption for everybody as long as they are sorry for what they have done wrong.
