I Am the Cheese

Infobox Book |
name = "I Am the Cheese"


image_caption = Laurel Leaf edition cover
author = Robert Cormier
country = United States
language = English
genre = Young adult novel, Children's novel
publisher = Pantheon Books
release_date = 1977 (September 1, 1991 reprint)
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 234 pp (first edition, hardback) & 214 pp (paperback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-394-83462-3 (first edition, hardback) & ISBN 0-440-94060-5 (paperback edition)

"I Am the Cheese" was written by American author Robert Cormier and first published in 1977. It is categorised under young adult literature.

Plot summary

The book starts off with the central character, Adam Farmer, riding his bike to Rutterburg, Vermont with a package for his father. However, as he travels, he starts to remember the events leading up to the end of the book. These same memories are also being filled out in psychiatric interviews that occur at an undetermined time through out the book. Adam Farmer's real name is Paul Delmonte. His father had been an investigative reporter who uncovered a large conspiracy and testified against it in Washington. After several attempts on his life, he and his family entered the Department of Re-identification. Adam had not been told about his past for his entire life. One day he receives a phone call from his girlfriend, Amy Hertz. She says that her father met a reporter from the town Adam supposedly was born in, and the reporter had never heard of any "Farmers" in the town. This gave Adam suspicions, and he began spying on his parents. He later found two birth certificates, one with his birthday listed as February 14, and another with his birthday as July 14th. This aroused his suspicions further. He started looking around the house and then his father told him the truth. Later, they received a phone call from their protector, Mr. Grey, saying that they may been discovered. They go on "vacation" to hide. One day while on vacation, their "protection" attacked them, killing Adam's mother instantly. Either Mr. Grey and his men were killed as part of the conspiracy, or Adam's father had become too large a liability for the "bad guys", and thus was to be terminated. Adam survived and heard that his father was being pursued, but he was not sure whether he had been found and killed. He was placed in a hospital where he is interrogated every year by an enemy agent named Brint. Brint seems to be an agent in the witness protection program. Each time he ends up forgetting everything that he learned due to mental stress when he regains all of his memories of what happened and begins the journey all over again. The people he meets in his journey are the same people who reside in the memories. It is also revealed that his bike ride is not one to Rutterburg at all. In fact, it is merely going around the mental care facility again and again, meeting the patients and workers there. Adam, however, imagines them to be the ride to Rutterburg, putting fake identities onto everything and everyone. The sessions with Brint in the novel represent the third time he has been questioned. The final interview ends with a list of several possible outcomes, but none bode well for Adam: questioning him until he dies or terminating him.The chapters alternate between first-person, present tense, during Adam's journey, and third-person, past tense, during the psychiatric interviews.

Characters

* Adam Farmer (Paul Delmonte) – Protagonist
*David Farmer (Anthony Delmonte) - Adam's father
*Louise Farmer/Delmonte - Adam's mother
*Amy Hertz - Adam's girlfriend
*Brint - Adam's questioner and "guide"
*Mr. Grey - Agent in the Witness Protection Program

Literary significance and criticism

The 1975 novel "I Am the Cheese" began Cormier's experimentation with first-person, present tense, narration. When Cormier sent the manuscript off to the publisher of his previous novel, "The Chocolate War", he was confused and depressed, convinced that he was alienating his new young adult audience due to the complex and ambiguous story.

However, "I Am the Cheese" proved to be a success.

Awards and nominations

* Phoenix Award
* Gold Medal Finalist

Film adaptations

In 1983, "I Am the Cheese" was made into a movie directed by Robert Jiras and starring Robert MacNaughton, Hope Lange, Don Murray, Cynthia Nixon and Robert Wagner.

Release details

*1977, USA, Pantheon ISBN 0-394-83462-3, Pub date ? ? 1977, hardback (First edition)
*1977, USA, Laurel-Leaf Library ISBN 0-440-94060-5, Pub date ? ? 1977, ? binding

External links

* [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cheese/ SparkNotes novel analysis]
* [http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=5740 Robert Cormier at Random House Books]
*imdb title|id=0085706|title=I Am the Cheese