Browse Items (61 total)
- Creator is exactly "Robert Cormier"
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Heroes handwritten notes
In these two handwritten pages of thumbnail sketches, Cormier lays out his conceptions of sections of Heroes. The outline is particularly concerned with when characters are introduced and when their backstories are revealed. The collaboration between…
Heroes cut and pasted typescript pieces
Twelve strips of cut sections of Heroes show Cormier's active revision process where he literally cut then pasted sections as he worked on the Heroes manuscript. Scenes on the Wreck Center sexual assault, Francis's meeting with Nicole after the war,…
"When It's Time To Say Goodbye" John Fitch IV Column
In this column Cormier writes about saying goodbye to his son after settling him in at the college dormitory. He ponders the differences between saying goodbye to a son than to a daughter, who allows for more sentimentality. He comes to realize that…
"The Trouble with Parents" Woman's Own
This piece recounts a boy's discomfort with watching his parents argue, as told in his trademark detailed narrative style. By talking to his parents, he finds their similarities. His sister's observations also inform him of the role of nonverbal…
"The Tenderness" The Sign
This story recounts the efforts of thirteen-year-old Phillip as he tries to impress his piano teacher Sister Angela and win a spot in the orchestra for the Christmas recital.
"The SOS Signals Not Always Noticed" John Fitch IV Column
Robert Cormier's adopted persona, John Fitch IV, articulates in this bi-weekly column, how closely related specific positive or neutral qualities are to those that are destructive. He claims that we misunderstand distress signals that reveal…
"The Price of Truth" The Sign
This story in The Sign tells how 11-year-old Jerome takes up painting in an effort to impress his teacher, the nun Marie-Thérèse, whose later departure from the convent serves as the story's subplot. The story takes place in Frenchtown, the setting…
"The Moustache" Scholastic VOICE
Cormier's often reprinted story "The Moustache" presents a seventeen-year-old protagonist whose mustache provokes a case of mistaken identity. When he visits his grandmother in a nursing home, she takes him for her long-deceased husband. His…
"The Impossible Thank-You Note"
In this column Cormier writes on the impossibility of writing a simple thank you note to a mother. He writes of the great encouragement and warmth his mother offered him as a budding writer. He recounted movie plots with her on the weekends and…
"The Days of Sweet Innocence" John Fitch IV Column
In this bi-weekly column written under the name "John Fitch IV", Cormier blends verse and prose to poke fun at our naïve innocence of the world as viewed through the lens of movie clichés. Amongst the roughly three dozen clichés are some on female…
"The Beauty That Lingers" St. Anthony's column 1177 Main St. USA
This short reflective piece is a meditation on the aging process. Cormier's observation of two groups of women at different stages of life leads him to contemplate the nature of beauty. He concludes that our real beauty is our ability to "survive and…
"That Summer"
In this short story, 15-year-old Jean-Paul visits his uncle in Canda to recover from an extended illness. During his stay, he develops a crush for an older woman from Montreal, as does his uncle. While Jean-Paul comes of age through this unrequited…
"Suddenly She's 10 Years Old" St. Anthony's Messenger column 1177 Main St. USA
This column recounts Cormier's daughter's transitional stage as a ten-year-old. Among the topics of discussion are her love of horses and her new-found preoccupation with getting the right haircut and crushing on television actors.
"St. Cecilia's and Me" St. Anthony's Messenger column 1177 Main St. USA
In this column, Cormier writes about the closing of his alma mater, St. Cecilia's. He talks of his memories of the school including the house fire he witnessed from his classroom, his crush on Sister Emile who taught music, the poem on spring he…
"Pretend, A Verb: To Make Believe"
In this short story, Jerry's father receives a questionnaire attached to a letter from New York about an inheritance. The family spends the summer dreaming of the amount they would receive and that optimism carries them through a summer layoff and…