I read up to the seventh section of the book, from Tape OZK007.
The seventh section begins with the Adam’s bike journey narrated in a first person account as he is eating clam chowder in a small restaurant, watching three guys eating popcorn. The counterman then comes over, dropping a huge chunk of butter into Adam’s clam chowder, believing that he is doing Adam a favor as Adam has no option but to simply thank the thin counterman. As he is eating, the three guys eating popcorn start
throwing popcorn at Adam, annoying him, but he ignores them. The popcorn having no affect on Adam, one of the guys called Whipper approaches Adam, irritating Adam with numerous questions, picking a fight. However, Adam doesn’t do much, eating and answering the questions. Whipper pretends to be a bit angered that Adam shows distrust by putting his bike in the police station for safekeeping. Whipper’s interest turns to the package that Adam has, but Adam fights him off from even touching the package, soon leaving the restaurant. The scene changes to the conversation between Brint and Adam in two-fifteen in the morning as Adam is extremely troubled, asking Brint to fill in the blanks that he has in his memories. As Brint is thrown into confusion of Adam’s words, Adam remembers the time he has awoken, in terror, feeling isolated, unable to find out who he is, where he is, and all the other questions filling up his head. He finds himself in deep pain, unable to fill in the blanks in his identity. The scene returns back to the conversation as Adam is in frightening confusion, unable to recover enough memory to figure out his identity. Brint tells Adam that the reason may be that the memories were so frightening that Adam cannot recall them. Adam continues, telling Brint that he hates everybody and has a feeling that they hate him too. Adam decides to rest as he takes the pill recommended by Brint. The story changes to the first person narrative of the bike journey as Adam finds a telephone booth. He calls Amy through a male operator, but he realizes that he had called the wrong number. As he on the phone, he finds the guys from the small restaurant walking at his direction, quickly escaping the place on his bike, frightening him.
Although the bike journey from a first person narrative and the conversation between Brint and Adam seems to have no connections, more connections are built in this section between the two different scenes. It was first the German shepherd that had connected the two, the dog appearing in both scenes. The second connection is the three guys picking on Adam during his bike trip. The conversations following soon after the scene in which Adam was picked on, Adam tells Brint that he will say no more because he knows that the people hate Adam, stating that he hates them as well, replying in anger. Although Robert Cormier doesn’t directly tell that the people who hate Adam in the conversation are the three guys who are picking on him during the bike trip, he gives enough clues for readers to figure out that the three guys in the bike adventure and the same people that Adam hates as he mentions them in the conversation. The critical clue is that Adam, during the taped conversation, says the reason the people hated him is because of his difference which is exactly why the three guys from the restaurant had hated Adam, for coming from a different place.
Adam is in devastation as he cannot recover enough memory to discover his identity. He is
waking up at nights, terrorized, trapped into a place in which he has no idea of. He cannot figure out where he is and why he is there. Memories create identity. Identity creates a life. Without memories, Adam is without identity, and without identity, he is without life. He is living without life. However, the more horrifying part for Adam is that the reason he cannot recover his memories easily is because his mind doesn’t want to recover them because the memories are too terrible. Adam is in such a desperate situation, needing someone to depend on. When he wakes up in two fifteen in the morning, he doesn’t have anyone to go to for comfort. He doesn’t have any option but to go to Brint and trust him at that moment. Even though he had previously gone against Brint, he simply agreed with Brint in taking the medicine, having no one else to depend on during such desperate moment. This shows how people depend on even those whom they have never trusted, when terrorized and frightened until such a point. I have had the experience during a camp in which I awoke at one in the morning. It was a nightmare about the building that my friends and I secretly spray painted with. I was in such terror that I immediately went to the counselor in that camp and told it all. Even though I abhorred the camp and the counselor was mean, I told him that I was to be blamed for the building because the nightmare had shocked me to such a point that I would have said anything. Despite the hostility Brint and Adam had between each other, Adam was frightened to a destructive point that he had to go to someone, even if he couldn’t trust them. This also shows how formidable it can be to be without memories and identity, in a place you have no idea of with no one to trust.
The seventh section begins with the Adam’s bike journey narrated in a first person account as he is eating clam chowder in a small restaurant, watching three guys eating popcorn. The counterman then comes over, dropping a huge chunk of butter into Adam’s clam chowder, believing that he is doing Adam a favor as Adam has no option but to simply thank the thin counterman. As he is eating, the three guys eating popcorn start
throwing popcorn at Adam, annoying him, but he ignores them. The popcorn having no affect on Adam, one of the guys called Whipper approaches Adam, irritating Adam with numerous questions, picking a fight. However, Adam doesn’t do much, eating and answering the questions. Whipper pretends to be a bit angered that Adam shows distrust by putting his bike in the police station for safekeeping. Whipper’s interest turns to the package that Adam has, but Adam fights him off from even touching the package, soon leaving the restaurant. The scene changes to the conversation between Brint and Adam in two-fifteen in the morning as Adam is extremely troubled, asking Brint to fill in the blanks that he has in his memories. As Brint is thrown into confusion of Adam’s words, Adam remembers the time he has awoken, in terror, feeling isolated, unable to find out who he is, where he is, and all the other questions filling up his head. He finds himself in deep pain, unable to fill in the blanks in his identity. The scene returns back to the conversation as Adam is in frightening confusion, unable to recover enough memory to figure out his identity. Brint tells Adam that the reason may be that the memories were so frightening that Adam cannot recall them. Adam continues, telling Brint that he hates everybody and has a feeling that they hate him too. Adam decides to rest as he takes the pill recommended by Brint. The story changes to the first person narrative of the bike journey as Adam finds a telephone booth. He calls Amy through a male operator, but he realizes that he had called the wrong number. As he on the phone, he finds the guys from the small restaurant walking at his direction, quickly escaping the place on his bike, frightening him.Although the bike journey from a first person narrative and the conversation between Brint and Adam seems to have no connections, more connections are built in this section between the two different scenes. It was first the German shepherd that had connected the two, the dog appearing in both scenes. The second connection is the three guys picking on Adam during his bike trip. The conversations following soon after the scene in which Adam was picked on, Adam tells Brint that he will say no more because he knows that the people hate Adam, stating that he hates them as well, replying in anger. Although Robert Cormier doesn’t directly tell that the people who hate Adam in the conversation are the three guys who are picking on him during the bike trip, he gives enough clues for readers to figure out that the three guys in the bike adventure and the same people that Adam hates as he mentions them in the conversation. The critical clue is that Adam, during the taped conversation, says the reason the people hated him is because of his difference which is exactly why the three guys from the restaurant had hated Adam, for coming from a different place.
Adam is in devastation as he cannot recover enough memory to discover his identity. He is
waking up at nights, terrorized, trapped into a place in which he has no idea of. He cannot figure out where he is and why he is there. Memories create identity. Identity creates a life. Without memories, Adam is without identity, and without identity, he is without life. He is living without life. However, the more horrifying part for Adam is that the reason he cannot recover his memories easily is because his mind doesn’t want to recover them because the memories are too terrible. Adam is in such a desperate situation, needing someone to depend on. When he wakes up in two fifteen in the morning, he doesn’t have anyone to go to for comfort. He doesn’t have any option but to go to Brint and trust him at that moment. Even though he had previously gone against Brint, he simply agreed with Brint in taking the medicine, having no one else to depend on during such desperate moment. This shows how people depend on even those whom they have never trusted, when terrorized and frightened until such a point. I have had the experience during a camp in which I awoke at one in the morning. It was a nightmare about the building that my friends and I secretly spray painted with. I was in such terror that I immediately went to the counselor in that camp and told it all. Even though I abhorred the camp and the counselor was mean, I told him that I was to be blamed for the building because the nightmare had shocked me to such a point that I would have said anything. Despite the hostility Brint and Adam had between each other, Adam was frightened to a destructive point that he had to go to someone, even if he couldn’t trust them. This also shows how formidable it can be to be without memories and identity, in a place you have no idea of with no one to trust.
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