I Am the Cheese

I Am The Cheese

By Robert Cormier

1. PLOT

A. The plot is developed dramatically. It follows the model of the Freytag pyramid.

The story begins with the exposition. It reveals Adam Farmer’s character, a lonely, shy, fearful, paranoid, alienated teenage boy. It presents the situation of Adam leaving Monument, Massachusetts, and going on a bike trip to visit his father, David Farmer. He is traveling with a package for his father, in Rutterburg, Vermont. Adam meets with a doctor named Brint. He gets Adam to talk about his earliest remembrances. The earliest thing Adam can remember is a bus trip in the middle of the night when his family left their home. They move to another town and everything is different, his father is secretive and paranoid, and his mother is fearful and sad. Ex. “Take your time…series of impressions.” (pg. 6) “It was spooky, scary…her eyes. So sad.” (pg. 9/10) The inciting force is that Adam’s family is being chased, and he is just learning of their secret identity. People are trying to kill David Farmer, who is really Anthony Delmonte, and his family because he discovered certain evidence. As a reporter in Blount, New York, he uncovered important documents at the State House in Albany. The evidence linked officials in the government to corruption and organized crime. Anthony testified in Washington, D.C. and was promised protection and given a new identity. Ex. “But as if we were being chased…were running away.” (pg. 9) “We lived here…necessary to lie?” (pg. 54) Then comes the rising action. In Adam’s investigation of his family’s secrets, he finds out he may not be from Rawlings, Pennsylvania, and he finds he has two different birth certificates. Ex. “It was a birth certificate…I born twice?” (pg. 64)

Later, he hears his mother talking to an ‘aunt’ when he eavesdrops on her phone call. He finds out his parents have been lying to him, in telling him that they had no living relatives. Ex. “How’s my fine nephew…alone in the world, Adam.” (pg. 73)

Then, Adam finds his father and Grey conversing secretively in the cellar. His father knows Adam is suspicious, and tells him the truth about his identity. He tells him he is really Paul Delmonte from Blount, New York, and because of a testimony he made, they were forced to change their identities. Ex “That my name in Paul…no Adam Farmer.” (pg. 118) “His father’s real name…about thirty thousand.” (pg. 119)

The major crisis is when Grey’s organization hears a suspicious conversation over a wiretap. He says he is afraid someone may know their identities and wants them to leave Monument, and take a trip to Vermont, to be safe. Ex. “Grey called an hour…precautions be taken.” (pg. 179)

The climax is the highest emotional point, it is when the Farmer/Delmonte family are on their trip. They stop to lose someone tailing them, and admire a view, when a car comes rushing at them from around a curve. It hits all three of them. Adam’s parents are killed, his mother by the car, his father when they catch him. Then, Adam arrives at Rutterburg, which is really a psychiatric hospital, and we find out the bike trip was just an imaginary search for his dad. Ex. “Into his father…saw his mother die.” (pg. 199) “I glance outside…bike out there.” (pg. 205)

The decrement occurs directly after the climax. Adam is in a mental hospital. Brint, who evaluates him annually, advises that Adam should be terminated (killed), or continue evaluation until he obliterates. After remembering everything in his life up to his parents’ death, Adam loses the memory of his past. The story begins again with Adam taking a bike ride to see his father. Ex. “Modification of Agency…Subject A obliterates.” (pg. 212/213) “I am riding…I keep pedaling.” (pg. 214)

B. The scenes of the novel are developed credibly. Everything happens for a reason, and everything that happens is believable. For example, some people do seek protection and new identities after they testify or give evidence against criminals or corrupt organizations. It is also believable that they would change after the move, from happy to sad and fearful. Ex “We never went back…everything was different.” (pg. 10) “To testify in Washington…given in secret.” (pg. 124)

C. I don’t think there are scenes that are pointless, or irrelevant to the plot. I did not think the book was interesting at the start, but as the plot develops it gets better, and stays interesting throughout the rest of the story. Everything that is needed to understand of get involved in the story is described or explained. It does this without there being irrelevant parts in the story, just to make the book