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Essay on "I am the Cheese" by Robert Cormier
I Am the Cheese; published in 1977, and a lot of the ideas in it, as in Cormier's other work, were particularly pertinent to the time. It was Robert Cormier's second young adult novel. It tells the story of a teenaged boy who discovers that his family is part of a witness protection program and that his parents have been keeping secrets from him all his life. As he tries to determine who and what he is, he is threatened and finally overcome by the terrifying forces of a government that is more interested in preserving its own power than in protecting one small boy. The idea for the book grew out of Cormier's reading a magazine article about the then-new federal witness protection program and his fascination with the idea of individuals struggling against an unjust society.
The book has sold time and again well since its publication, but it has also attracted controversy. Some have felt that the book's complicated structure and pessimistic ending are inappropriate for young people, and the novel has occasionally been challenged and banned in school libraries. Nonetheless, it has been recognized for excellence by several influential organizations, including the American Library Association and the Children's Literature Association.
Unprecedented social upheaval occurred in the United States during the '60s and '70s. Unlike the '50s, where people tended to conform to social norms, individualism was celebrated in the '60s, and single individuals, such as Rosa Parks, could help galvanize an entire movement. Cormier takes a darker view of individualism. In his novel The Chocolate War, an individual takes a principled stand against his evil school—and loses. The school, or society, is too powerful for a single person, and in I Am the Cheese, Cormier takes this idea to even greater levels. The Vietnam War in the '60s and '70s, and President Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal in the early '70s....
