I Am the Cheese

"I Am the Cheese"
Laurel Leaf edition cover
Author(s)	Robert Cormier
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Young adult novel, Children's novel
Publisher	Pantheon Books
Publication 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)
OCLC Number	2645991
LC Classification	PZ7.C81634 Iac

I Am the Cheese is a novel written by American author Robert Cormier and first published in 1977. It is categorized as young adult literature.

Plot summary

Protagonist Adam Farmer is biking from his home in the fictional town of Monument, Massachusetts (based on Cormier's home town of Leominster, Massachusetts^{[citation needed]}). Interspersed with the story of his journey are memories of Adam's previous life with his parents, his love for prankster Amy Hertz, and the discovery that he is not who he seems to be. When he finally arrives at the hospital, Adam discovers that his father is dead, that he never really left the hospital, and that he makes the same bike journey daily. The people he meets on his journey are people from the hospital.

Characters

• Adam Farmer (Paul Delmonte) – teenage protagonist
• David Farmer (Anthony Delmonte) - Adam's father, an insurance agent and former newspaperman
• Louise Farmer/Delmonte - Adam's mother
• Amy Hertz - Adam's girlfriend
• Brint - Adam's questioner and "guide" as his psychotherapist
• Mr. Grey - agent in the Witness Protection Program
• Arthur - a fat man in the town of Hookset who tells Adam about Junior Varney
• Dr. Dupont - a kindly doctor in a mental hospital; Adam is his patient
• Junior Varney - a boy who steals Adam's bike while in Hookset, Arthur tells Adam about him
• Whipper - a boy Adam met while in Carver; he picks on Adam several times

Explanation of the novel's title

This quote is a verse from "The Farmer In The Dell", a song that Adam sings during the book:

The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cheese stands alone

He sings many of these songs throughout the novel. The song contains several characters, each taking someone with them when the farmer leaves, yet the cheese has nobody.

Adam believes that he is the cheese. He is alone in the world, his mother dead and his father missing, and he lives in a hospital. He thinks that he is not wanted anymore. Also, as in other works by Cormier, there is a dual meaning to the title. The words "I am the cheese" may also represent Adam's feelings of entrapment: himself being the bait used to lure his parents into their murders.

Another point was that his father had taught him the song, possibly in a way to reinforce the new name, 'Farmer', they had adopted.

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 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

Film adaptations

Main article: I Am the Cheese (film)

I Am the Cheese was released as a movie in 1983, directed by Robert Jiras and starring Robert MacNaughton, Hope Lange, Don Murray, Lee Richardson, Cynthia Nixon and Robert Wagner. The screenplay was written by David Lange (Hope Lange's brother) and Robert Jiras.

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

• SparkNotes novel analysis
• Robert Cormier at Random House Books
• I Am the Cheese at the Internet Movie Database