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Realistic Writing cormier

Realistic Writing cormier Every day across the world people are put in situations where their morals are questioned. It isn’t easy for one to say no to something when there is peer pressure or a reward coming, even if what they are going to do is against their morals. I have been in situations where I had to choose to either go along with my friends, in an illegal act, or try to talk them out of it. I chose to try to talk with them and it worked, but this won’t always be the case. When I read novels by Robert Cormier they talk about the society we live in. Most of the topics Cormier writes about deal with what my friends and I are going through. These topics or problems deal with a wide range of subjects, the most common are sibling’s death or illness, teen drinking, and parental divorce. When Robert Cormier writes a novel he doesn’t pretend that humans are perfect. Instead Cormier confronts the evil in our society and world. He shows this style of writing in most of his books. Throughout Cormier’s novels he writes with a very strong sense of realism. Cormier’s realistic style of writing ranges from evil events to family problems. The following four novels by Robert Cormier show this realistic style of writing best: The Chocolate War, We all Fall Down, and Tunes for Bears to Dance to. The Chocolate War is full of evil actions that occur in our world. In this novel there is a gang that bosses other students around. Although our school might not have a gang with a lot of control we do have clicks that perform some of the same acts. Archie’s gang, the Vigils, singles people out just because they aren’t cool enough or because they aren’t in the gang and don’t have high status among the students. One of Archie’s members had a notebook full of everyone who attended Trinity; it contained information on their parents, birth dates, and other personal information that the Vigils use to single out who they want. After some of the members of the gang looked at Jerry’s file Archie said, “He’s just a skinny kid…”(16). Some don’t want to pick on him because he is skinny and others just want to more. The clicks in our school also single out people they don’t know or don’t dress cool. Many respectable people are probably guilty of doing this but when asked to think about it some would feel that people should be judged for who they are not what they look like. Archie also gives members of the gang assignments to perform on students and teachers. In The Chocolate War Archie’s assignments are very cruel and uncalled for. These assignments usually didn’t hurt other students but just harass them. One assignment Archie gave a student was to unscrew the screws on a desk so when a student sat down it would collapse. Archie gave this assignment to Goober, another member, Archie commanded: Everything in Brother Eugene’s room is held together by screws. The chairs, the desks, the blackboards. Now, with your little screwdriver—maybe you’d better bring along various and assorted sizes, just in case—you start to loosen. Don’t take out the screws. Just loosen them until they reach that point where they’re ready to fall out, everything hanging by a thread…(31). The assignments were very cruel and evil and were only done to make the students that weren’t in the Vigils feel left out. These acts of evil by the Vigils continued throughout the novel. The type of actions that occur in novels by Robert Cormier, also occur in the public and private school systems of the great United States. Robert Cormier writes about this gang to show the reader a form of evil that students us on other students in the school. When Laura B. Hoffman interviewed Robert Cormier she asked him “Your books are often considered dark. Why do you choose to write about the dark side of life?”(2). Mr. Cormier responded by saying “…On the surface they may look dark, but a closer reading reveals moral values…The implicit lesson is that bad things happen when good people don't do anything. All the books tend to have these values if people care to look”(2). This interview with Robert Cormier shows the readers of his books that things can happen to people that don’t do anything to disserve it. The interview with Robert Cormier explained told exactly what the Vigils do and also what happens in the real world. The events that occur in The Chocolate War also occur in We All Fall Down. In The Chocolate War Jerry is forced into performing an assignment he didn’t ask for this form of treatment happens repeatively in We All Fall Down when people are forced into situations they shouldn’t have to deal with. During teenage years one faces tons of choices where your morals will be questioned. In We all Fall Down the teenagers are put into many situations but the one that hit me the most was when they had to decide whether or not they were going to drink. Joyce Hamilton, from Voice of Youth Advocates points out that the book We All Fall Down “…is a thoughtful and thought-provoking novel dealing with two harsh realities in contemporary society--parental divorce and teen alcoholism…”(1). Joyce was right on the money when she stated her opinion on the novel. When these teenagers decided to drink they made a choice that changed their life and the life of another family. They entered the Jerome's household while they were gone and vandalized it from top to bottom. This act of vandalism was unexpected and uncalled for. Cormier uses this terrible event in We All Fall Down to show what can and does happen in our society when teenagers make the decision to drink. Not only did a house get wrecked but an undesired injury to one of the family members. The actions that occurred because of teen drinking were very wrong and damaging. Harmful events occur throughout this novel but I am going to focus on what happened to the family because of this horrific event. The family was destroyed and ripped apart because of these teenagers and it is a main part of We All Fall Down. While the group of teenagers were vandalizing the house Karen Jerome, a member of that home, came home early and was thrown down the basement stairs. Cormier writes, “She was surprised to find the front door ajar and most of the lights on”(2). This had to me extremely scary for Karen, who is only fourteen. Karen slipped into a comma, which tore the Jerome family apart. Having someone, whether it is a friend or a family member, go to hospital is an event everyone could go without. In Karen’s case her family members and friends couldn’t even communicate with her, it was like talking to a wall because Karen was in a comma. The total damage of the household was an estimated 20 thousand dollars. Robert Cormier used these types of events in an effort to show the reader not only what can happen when you can’t control yourself under the influence but also to show what the aftermath can be. Tunes For Bears To Dance to is full of real life instances where your morals and confronted by the evil of our society. Just like in We all Fall Down people of all ages are faced with decisions that might oppose the morals that have been imparted to them by their parents. Although Tunes for Bears to Dance to is a short novel it still has many instances where morals are confronted and evil prevails. When Henry’s brother died Henry and his parents fell into a deep depression. Henry works at a local grocery store under the supervision of his boss Mr. Hairston, who controls Henry’s every move with forms of manipulation. One day Mr. Hairston asks Henry “Do you want to keep your job (after saying he was fired)?”(67) Henry responded promptly with “Yes”(67). Mr. Hairston later told Henry the task he would have to perform, I want you to go to that craft center one day next week. On any day you choose. In the afternoon…When the center closes for the day—you said it closes at six o’clock?—you stay behind without being seen…You wait a while. To make sure everyone’s gone. Then you come out…Then you find a hammer. There must be a hammer there, right? You said they have tools of all kinds there. All right, find a hammer. Or even an ax. Something like that…I want you to take the hammer and smash the old man’s village. Smash it, break it….(69-70). Mr. Hairston doesn’t like Mr. Levine because he is Jewish, for this reason he tells Henry to destroy a miniature Jewish village, which Mr. Levine has handcrafted over many weeks. Henry knows that this is very wrong but if he goes through with it his boss will let him keep his job and he will also give Henry the tombstone that he wants for his brother’s grave, which Henry doesn’t have the money to buy. When Henry goes to the craft center to destroy the village a lot of thoughts run through his mind. Henry thought, “Do it. But could not. Could not move either”(89). Henry obviously has moral values otherwise he wouldn’t be contemplating on whether or not smashing his friend’s handcrafted village is worth it. Then suddenly a rat ran a crossed the village, which made Henry drop the mallet destroying Mr. Levine’s village. After Henry dropped the mallet he said to himself, “I didn’t want to do it”(90). He didn’t want to do it but his selfishness of the rewards he would get put him in the situation that would forever change his life. Also in the novel Tunes for Bears to Dance to, Henry’s family was overwhelmed with the death of their family member. The family of Henry and his mother and father were devastated from the death of Eddie, the oldest son. When Henry’s brother died of pneumonia his father sinks into depression, forcing Henry to take a job at a local grocery store. Henry’s mother was forced to take two jobs in order to support the family because Henry’s father was in a deep depression and could not work. When a close one passes away you are left with memories. These memories were too painful for the family so instead of trying to deal with the memories the family fled to a larger city twenty miles away, Wickburg. More often than not, when you run from a problem it only makes things worse. This was the case when Henry’s family moved to Wickburg. Henry had trouble with the move because he was “homesick for the people and streets of Frenchtown in Monument”(6,7). Also Henry’s parents would have been better off in their hometown where friends could give them support. Henry remembers every detail about his brother Eddie. When thinking back about what happened to Eddie, Henry explains, “He died…sprawled in the gutter of First Street in Frenchtown, his neck broken like a chicken bone snapped apart to make a wish. The car that had struck him sped away and was never seen again”(8). Since Henry has these vivid memories in his head he continually thinks of Eddie as just a dead brother and not for what kind of person he really was when he was still with the family. This is very tough on Henry because he isn’t old enough to understand how final death is. “Sometimes Henry felt guilty because he could go, oh, three of four hours without thinking of Eddie, but his mother and father seemed to be thinking of him every minute of the day”(2,3). When you are haven’t witnessed the loss of someone special as much as an older person, you might not understand the finality of death. Realism is an effective way to write and capture the reader. Robert Cormier used this throughout almost all of his novels. Cormier choose topics that people in the every day life are effected with, such as: parental divorce, teen drinking, and death among friends and family members. Robert Cormier uses these types of negative events to remind the reader he or she lives not in a fairy tale but rather a harsh society. Bibliography:

Word Count: 2076