How does Cormier present the character Nicole in Heroes?-
In this essay I will be talking about how the character, Nicole, is portrayed in Cormier’s novel; Heroes. This will include mentioning the events that Nicole has been through, how they have affected her as a person throughout her life in the novel and if they determine if she is a hero or not.
Nicole is first mentioned in the novel by Francis whilst he is on his own in church, ‘I pray of course for Nicole Renard’. Francis is speaking to us as reader in first person, telling us without any background information on the 4th page of the novel the name of a girl who is the person he would ‘of course’ pray for. This shows that Nicole is of significance to the character and to the rest of the novel, we assume as his mentioning of her was so brief but exact that she will be expanded on more. ‘It will always be Nicole Renard’ as she is mentioned again it assures the reader that she will definitely be included more. The structure of the name drop raises interests and we become intrigued, Cormier is wanting us to make assumptions about her.
The second paragraph starts with ‘I saw Nicole Renard for the first time in seventh grade’. It’s an instant impact to the reader similar to the effect we assume Nicole had on Francis. The suddenness of the statement shows there was an automatic spark for Francis as he still remembers the exact time they had their first encounter. ‘followed by the most beautiful girl I had ever seen’ Nicole is presented as very pretty, ‘the pale purity of her face reminded me of the statue of St Therese’ Francis is so overwhelmed that his he even compares her to a religious icon. Fresh faced, innocent and pure looking, we get the impression that Nicole is untouched. This reflects the events later in the novel when her innocence is forced from her in the rape scene. When Francis first laid eyes upon her he was knelt down by her feet whilst she stood tall over him. This foreshadows how that the power status of the two levels and how much Francis is in awe of Nicole remains the same throughout their lives together.
At the Rec Centre Nicole was a popular dancing girl who had won over Larry’s attention. But, it was clear that she had feelings for Francis as during the ping pong tournament she ‘brought her hand to her lips and flung it away’, blowing Francis a kiss. This small gesture left Francis astonished again showing the power she has over him. Francis is also very jealous of the relationship between Nicole and Larry, especially during the dance they practise together which ends with Nicole ‘lay at (Larry) his feet’. This shows the power status of her and Larry, he is dominant and this foreshadows how again he is physically dominant over her in the rape scene. The way ‘Larry manipulated a spotlight’ also foreshadows how he manipulates Nicole too, forming an inappropriate bond with her, without her even realising, this shows her innocence. The spotlight mentioned was ‘for her performance’ showing the importance of Nicole to Larry. Out of all the children at the centre it is Nicole who gets her own performance and spotlight, she is his prized possession that he wants to put on show.
The novel is filled with the development of Francis and Nicole’s romance. It is shown as young, fun and romantic. A key scene in the movement of their relationship is the date they had at the cinema. It starts with Nicole allowing Francis to treat her to some candy, then it shows Nicole allowing Francis to give her ‘an innocent kiss’. This shows that Nicole is in control, Francis is only happy when he feels like Nicole is excepting his moves on her. Later from that Francis asks her about what she hopes for in the future, she replies with ‘oh a lot of things… such a big world out there’. This shows that Nicole is a wondrous character with big goals and that she anticipates life beyond Frenchtown. Francis also tells us about how Nicole helps out to provide goods for the American soldiers showing that she is a kind and caring person, adding to the perfect image we have of her.
The rape of Nicole abolishes the images of a strong and powerful young woman we had made of her and leaves us feeling great sympathy for her. We see her power deteriorating when Larry is trying to remove Francis from the Rec Centre so he can have a ‘last dance’ with Nicole. He orders Nicole to find out the record and she does so obediently. Nicole tries desperately to get Francis to say, almost begging ‘Don’t go’ in a whisper to him. Her whispering really begins to darken to mood of the scene, the audience become clear that she is trying to hide from Larry and this makes us feel uncomfortable. The curiosity for the fate of Nicole is quickly over powered by the feeling or sorrow for her and anger towards Larry when we realise he has raped her. Cormier’s description of her whimpers ‘like a small animal, caught and trapped’ are disturbing and hard hitting, her innocence like her ‘white blouse torn’ has been caught, chewed and spat out and now she is completely defenceless and fragile. She then reflects the pain she is feeling into anger, ‘her eyes flashed back in anger’ towards Francis which shows how betrayed she is feeling that he supposedly let this happen to her. Overall this scene contrasts Francis’ love and Larry’s lust over this young girl.
When Nicole meets with Francis she partly blames him for the suffering she endured from Larry. She is angry and hurt, two important people to her have caused her life to come to a stop and she doesn’t know how to handle her emotions. ‘the accusation in her voice was worse than the harshness’ Francis is hurt by this, showing that Nicole has the power to be spiteful, even though I think she deserves to be.
After three years Francis and Nicole meet again, Francis can hardly recognise Nicole as her appearance has changed from before. He looked at her as if ‘studying a painting at a museum’, he still idolises her after all this time. When Nicole greets him she ‘frowns and her eyes show concern’ she is still worried about the pain Francis endured no matter what happened previously, I think this shows she is unconditionally kind to others. But when she is asked about herself she turns cold and ‘her voice is sharp and brittle’. This shows she hasn’t got over the past and she would rather avoid talking about it as she still has her defences, which she had to rebuild, up. Francis can no longer read her, he even asks her ‘’who are you, Nicole?’’ to which she replies ‘’I told you- I’m just finding out’’. We know that before the rape Nicole was a confident ambitious character with hope and assurance in her own future, now we see her as someone who’s having to build her character all over again. The rape destroyed her dreams and personality, she became an empty shell of a person and is now only being able to continue again. Her goals have progressed and we still see that she continues with her aims to help others as she wants to be a teacher. Nicole still cares for Francis as she looks at him with affection but even Francis knows that the ‘affection is not love’. What them two had is over, Nicole can’t be involved with someone who reminds her so much of the horrors of her past, but she still calls him ‘my good Francis’ as she will always be aware that he provided her with such good times and was precious in her life. Nicole is forgiving, whether that be the influence from the church or her good will.
Overall I do believe Nicole is a hero in a way, for persevering with her life after the pain she encountered and moving on with the hopes to help others. However she hasn’t the hopes to help other rape victims she only hopes to help with the academic education of others. Is this heroic? I don’t think so but she never asked to be anyone’s hero. She was just a poor unfortunate girl who got trapped by a sick, twisted paedophile. A paedophile who she sacrificed the peoples image of. She kept it secret because she knew she wouldn’t be believed but in doing that she also saved the Rec Centre children’s precious views on him from being tainted. She saved the monstrous Silver Star hero on accident, she is not a hero but she is someone the readers have hope and admiration for.