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‘the most beautiful girl I had ever seen’
francis adores nicole and is instantly enamored with her.
‘I knelt there like a knight at her feet’
francis adores nicole and worships her.
‘I silently pledged her my love and loyalty forever.’
francis is loyal and already committed to nicole.
‘my mouth would instantly dry up and I would look away’, ‘plunge into an agony of regret’
word ‘agony’ shows the intensity of francis’ feelings. he is suffering at each brief moment they share.
‘a fellowship that I wish I could be a part of’
feels like he doesn’t fit in with the other veterans/heroes
‘I am not the hero he thinks I am’
francis feels like an imposter - doesn’t feel like a hero due to what happened with nicole and larry
‘For the first time in my life, a tide of confidence swept through me.’
larry coaches francis and grows his confidence.
‘I stood spellbound by his words.’
larry is a hero to francis.
‘I am not supposed to play favourites, Francis, but you and Nicole are special to me.’
Larry singles out nicole and francis as his proteges
‘he led the cheers’
francis realises larry is letting him win in order to boost his morale. makes the reader wonder why francis wants to kill him.
‘the earth paused in its orbit.’
shows the intensity of francis’ feelings to nicole when she agrees to go to the movie with him.
‘I saw what the boy had seen-my face. No face at all actually, the nostrils like the snout of an animal, the peeling cheeks,the toothless gums-’
francis hadn’t thought of covering his face because the nurses at the hospital weren’t scared of his face.
‘this might be the day when larry lasalle will show up and i start to close doors.’
francis is determined to hide his identity and is decided he will have no future after this.
‘we always did what Larry LaSalle told us to do.’
although francis feels uncomfortable about leaving nicole with larry, his influence is so strong that francis obeys him.
‘I couldn’t breathe, my body rigid, my lungs burning’
it takes francis a while to realise that nicole is being raped and is helpless to respond.
‘and i recognised in her eyes now and what i could not deny: betrayl’
francis is horrified at nicole’s reaction as she rushes past him.
‘my head so heavy, pounding with blood, that i could barely nod’ - ‘as if all my sins had been revealed and there was no forgiveness for them.’
francis finally sees nicole four days leter. language used conveys intense suffering and explains francis’ guilt and hatred of larry.
‘i thought of my mother and father - could i disgrace their name this way’
after seeing nicole after she was raped, francis is debating suicide and as a catholic, suicide would be a great sin for him
‘soldiers were dying with honour on battlefields all over the world. noble deaths. the deaths of heroes.’
francis decides to die honorably by enlisting as a soldier. this quote explains why he doesn’t see himself as heroic.
‘the gun is like a tumour on my thigh’
use of the word tumour suggests that killing larry would be like cutting out a cancer.
‘when i fell on that grenade, i wasn’t trying to save those GIs, i saw my chance to end it all.’
explains why francis refuses to accept he’s a hero
‘you couldn’t have stopped me anyway francis. you were just a child’
larry tries to make francis feel better for not saving nicole.
‘i knew i had lost her, had lost her a long time ago.’
francis realises nicole has moved on
‘the weight is nice and comfortable on my back’
the bag which was originally described as a hunchback’s hump has now become comfortable. suggests he’s grown comfortable/ at peace with himself.
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