Quotations
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Quotations Heroes by Robert Cormier © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 7903 Page 1 of 3 Read the following quotations carefully and complete the table below. Explain what each quotation tells us and its significance to the novel. You may need to remind yourself of the relevant section of the novel. Page numbers have been provided to help you do this. Quotation Page Explanation People glance at me in surprise and look away quickly or cross the street. 2 The pale purity of her face reminded me of St Thérèse. 8 A child’s small face appears at a window… like the ghost of the little girl Nicole once had been. 13 I saw how young they were, boys with apple cheeks, too young to shave. Like me. 19 It’s a bad luck place… a place of doom. 25 Uncle Louis… seldom spoke but I never doubted his affection. 28 Dazzled by his talent and his energy, none of us dwelt on the rumours… the air of mystery that surrounded him added to his glamour. 29 I turn away from the Wreck Centre, knowing that poor Joey Le Blanc, who died on a beach on Iwo Jima… had been right, after all. 30 This is the pause between one life and another. 31 There are lots of medals… for outstanding service but only the Silver Star is for heroism… for gallantry. 33
Transcript of Quotations
Quotations Heroes by Robert Cormier
© www.teachit.co.uk 2009 7903 Page 1 of 3
Read the following quotations carefully and complete the table below. Explain what each quotation tells us and its significance to the novel. You may need to remind yourself of the relevant section of the novel. Page numbers have been provided to help you do this.
Quotation Page Explanation
People glance at me in surprise and look away quickly or cross the street.
2
The pale purity of her face reminded me of St Thérèse.
8
A child’s small face appears at a window… like the ghost of the little girl Nicole once had been.
13
I saw how young they were, boys with apple cheeks, too young to shave. Like me.
19
It’s a bad luck place… a place of doom. 25
Uncle Louis… seldom spoke but I never doubted his affection.
28
Dazzled by his talent and his energy, none of us dwelt on the rumours… the air of mystery that surrounded him added to his glamour.
29
I turn away from the Wreck Centre, knowing that poor Joey Le Blanc, who died on a beach on Iwo Jima… had been right, after all.
30
This is the pause between one life and another. 31
There are lots of medals… for outstanding service but only the Silver Star is for heroism… for gallantry.
33
Quotations Heroes by Robert Cormier
© www.teachit.co.uk 2009 7903 Page 2 of 3
Quotation Page Explanation
Two games were being played… the sharp, take-no-prisoners game the hushed audience was observing and the subtle tender game in which Larry La Salle was letting me win.
44
No heroes in that scrapbook… only us, the boys of Frenchtown… We weren’t heroes. We were only there…
47
When I study myself in the mirror, I don’t see me any more but a stranger slowly taking shape.
55
I knew what they were doing- the thought streaked through my mind…
63
I recognised in her eyes now what I could not deny: betrayal. My betrayal of her.
64
Soldiers were dying with honour on battlefields… Noble deaths…The deaths of heroes. How could I die by leaping from a steeple?
69
Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil… Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?
76
The sound of a pistol shot cracks the air… almost like a ping-pong ball striking the table.
79
Quotations Heroes by Robert Cormier
© www.teachit.co.uk 2009 7903 Page 3 of 3
Quotation Page Explanation
For one lightning moment, I don’t recognise her, fail to see Nicole Renard in the girl who has just entered the room.
83
You weren’t to blame for what happened there.
84
For a while, he made me feel special. Made us all feel special… Now I’m starting to find out who I am, who I really am…
85
‘I don’t know what a hero is any more, Nicole.’ I think of Larry La Salle and his Silver Star. And my own Silver Star, for an act of cowardice.
88
We were only there. Scared kids, not born to fight and kill. Who were not only there but who stayed, did not run away, fought the good war. And never talk about it…The real heroes.
89
Maybe if I’m going to write as Nicole hopes I will, I should write about them.
89
