Reading Assignment 7 – pp. 105 – 123 (Tuesday, January 25)
- How does the interaction between Francis and Larry on pages 109 through 118 resemble a game of ping pong?
- Furthermore, how is ping pong a larger metaphor for Francis’ and Larry’s relationship, in general?
2. What is the big secret that Francis reveals to Larry about his motivations for going to war?
o Was his act of throwing himself on the grenade an act of heroism or selfishness, in your opinion?
o In your opinion, can Francis still be considered a hero even though he didn’t intend to do what he did?
3. During their conversation, Larry asks Francis, “Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?”
o First, do you really think Larry only committed that “one” sin as he claims? Why or why not?
o More importantly, if you were Francis, how would you respond to this question that Larry poses?
I think Larry did not only commit that one sin as he claims. I believe he raped many more girls because earlier in the book he says that he loved young sweet love which is a sign and that he wasn't going to be able to enjoy young girls anymore, so in that conclusion i believe he raped many more girls. If i was Francis, when larry says “Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?” I would have responded with something along the lines of no your still a hero in my heart but on the outside i hate u because he did many more good than bad things i believe and he may have just had a mental disorder which could have forced him to rape girls, he may have had lack of love as a kid which is why he gives all he can to the kids of the rec center.
ReplyDeleteIn Francis’s childhood, Larry LaSalle was his hero, his idol. But one heinous crime and Larry became the one person Francis wanted to kill. When he finally finds out where Larry LaSalle is, he knows what he wants to do – what he has to do. Francis pockets his gun and sets off to where Larry LaSalle is supposedly living. The conversation between them, even when Francis holds up the gun, points it at the fallen “hero”, and puts his fingers on the trigger. “Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?” This statement rubbed me the wrong way. This one sin? One sin? Larry LaSalle himself said just moments before that he had invaded more young girls other than Nicole Renard. He made all the kids at the Wreck Center feel special, and they all trusted him. And, even if he had only done those things to just Nicole, that is worse then ten crimes together. He wrecked a girls’ life, a life she had barely started at the young age of thirteen. Those memories now haunt a teenager, something no one, let alone an eighteen year old girl, should fret about. If I were Francis, I would respond as simply as this: yes. Yes, Larry. Yes, that “one” sin wipes away all the good things, all the table-tennis games and turning bullies into bringing-tears-to-the-eyes singers and making Nicole a star and giving children a false sense of trust and confidence and security. Yes, Larry. Yes.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Larry had committed more than one sin, although he claims to have only committed one. I do not think so because there was a rumor that he came to Frenchtown because he had been kicked out of New York for doing something bad. Also, he had experience in making children feel special so that he could easily manipulate their minds. People gave him respect and looked up to him like a hero, so nobody would have ever thought that he would commit such a crime as he did to Nicole and possibly others.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Francis I would tell Larry that the question he poses is incorrect and false. I would tell Larry that no matter how much “good” you do in life, those things will never replace one sin you do. A sin is a sin, and should never be done. If people found out about what LaSalle had done to Nicole and others, he would no longer be regarded as a hero and everyone would look down on him and have no respect or sympathy for him. He would also be sent to jail. I would attempt to teach Larry that all good things are done because you choose to and should not be done for a reward.
Journal Entry 7 - Response 3
ReplyDeleteDuring Francis and Larry's last conversation, Larry asks Francis, "Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?"
I don't think that Larry only committed "one" sin, as he claims. What he did to Nicole, he has done to many other girls, so it is not one sin. I think that if somebody does bad things over and over, it doesn't count as one - regardless of whether it is the same sin every time or not. Depending on how many times he committed that sin, it could wipe away all his good deeds.
If I were Francis, I would have said something along the lines of, "This is not the first time, Larry. So, it is not only "one" sin. It's many, and you should be ashamed. You're a terrible man and yes, what you've done does wipe away the other things." I would've said this because I really believe it. Larry should feel bad about what he did. One nefarious act can ruin everything else good.
Larry asks Francis whether his "one" sin should wipe away all his other good deeds. I believe it does and if I were Francis, I would've said "yes".
The big secret that Francis reveals to Larry LaSalle is that he intended on going to war not to help save his country, but to die in honor. Instead of committing suicide by jumping from a church balcony, being dishonorable to whatever family he has left.
ReplyDeleteI think Francis throwing himself on the grenade was not selfish even though he did it for those reasons. If Francis was not going to kill himself something would have told him to block the grenade and he would have done it. It is like what they say about time traveling, “No matter how many times or ways you try to go back to change what happened, it will somehow find a way to happen.” Just like Larry I think Francis would have jumped on that grenade anyway and it would be an act of heroism.
Yes, I do think he can still be considered a hero even though he only told one person why he did what he did, he still did the action and he confessed about it. Only a true hero can do a truth confession about an act that really impacts their life.
#3:
ReplyDeleteI think that Larry committed more than that one sin. If he didn't get caught or thought that nobody saw him, why should he stop? If he seems to like it, what's going to stop him? He could also have been addicted. If I were Francis I would tell Larry yes. Yes, it wiped away all the good things. Yes, you hurt her. Yes, you made her life miserable. Yes, you ruined her completely. How could that not wipe away the good things in her life? Even worse for Francis, she lost trust in him. What was Francis supposed to do? They both could have been hurt very badly. He did stay with her, just hidden so he wouldn't get into trouble. It's not his or her fault, it's Larry's fault.
On pages 109 to 118 Francis goes to confront Larry and he brings a gun. That situation is like a intense game of table tennis. Because in both situations you need to make very important judgments. If you should kill the man with the gun and be accused. In table tennis if you don't react fast enough and make your judgment in time your time to make a return is gone and you lost a point. When Larry takes out his gun, they could have had a shoot out but instead they didn't. Had there been one both of them would need fast reflexes so they can react to shooting each other or bringing the gun up. Just like table tennis you have to decide how to kill the man as well
ReplyDeleteTable tennis could be a metaphor between the two of them because in table tennis Larry and Francis were both opponents and in the situation to shoot hey are enemies who still oppose each other. It also is a metaphor because in the end you always end up winning and for Francis walking away was his victory. But because you lose it brings you either closer to the victor or brings you apart even more.
Francis reveals a big secret to Larry. It was his real intention of going to war. He said that he went to war to die. He jumped on the granade to kill himself but make it seem like he triped and fell. He said that he didn't want to bring dishonor and shame to his family name. (considering he is the last of his family) I think that his act was an act of selfeshness and heroism. He was being selfesh by taking advantage of the oprotunity to fuffill what he origanally intended to do. But it was a heroic act too because in the back of his mind I'm sure he knew that he would be saving multiple lives in the prosess. And also, even if Francis wasn't going to kill himself, I bet he would've jumped on ten granades to save the lives of his other comrades. It just seems like the thing he would do.
ReplyDeleteJournal #7 choice 2
ReplyDeleteFrancis revels that his motivations for going to war were actually to kill himself. He chose to go to war to do so because he wanted to die in a way that people wouldn’t suspect he was trying to kill himself, instead think that he was risking his life for his country. In my opinion, Francis throwing himself on the grenade was definitely not an act of heroism because he was doing it to please himself. It was selfish of him to only think of himself and only how it would benefit him. His reasons for going to war were completely dishonorable as well. Although I am against his reasons for enlisting in the army, I have to say that he is a hero in his own way. Francis can still be considered a hero even though he didn’t intend to do what he did because later on, he did take the consequences for his actions and realized where he went wrong. He had to live with people referring to him as a hero, when he knew those people had no idea how selfish of a person he was back then. He knew he didn’t deserve to be called a hero, and barely a veteran. It was a relief to see that Francis realized he had made a big mistake and I think that was all he had to do. He could’ve tried to kill himself again, but he didn’t, and that’s what makes him a hero in my eyes.
Francis reveals to Larry that he only wanted to go to war because he wanted to die. That is why he threw himself on the grenade, to die, not to save his fellow soldiers. In my opinion, I still think that it was an act of heroism because he was willing to risk his life for absolutely nothing. Even though he just wanted to die, he saved soldiers unintentionally. I think that is an act of heroism. He deserves that Silver Star because in my opinion, an act of heroism is something that you do without even thinking about how it will end up. You just do it. The way Francis did. He thought he was going to die, but he didn't. Instead, he saved the lives of other soldiers that were fighting with him.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Rodriguez Strazicic
ReplyDeleteMs. Drosdick
Language Arts Period 2
January 25, 2011
Reading Assignment 7 – pp. 105 – 123(number 3)
An obvious thing I can point out is that Larry LaSalle has committed more than just one sin. I can tell because of how the author wrote his line. I can picture her saying that in a sarcastic way. Usually people who rape like he did must have did it once or twice before. He had experience because the way he first approached her when Nicole and Larry danced. “Does that sin of mine wipe away all the good thing?” Well yes it does. It really depends on what the sin is. If you lied, that would be like nothing. Rape is a crime and one of the biggest sins. There are no excuses for something that ruthless. I am happy that Francis killed Larry. Even though he knows that his relationship with Nicole is long over, they are still friends and not fighting. Killing Larry brought a little more confidence to Nicole.
Francis is considered a hero to all the people of Frenchtown, but as he reveals to Larry, this heroic act was really out of selfishness. He didn't jump on the grenade to save his platoon and milions of people; it was to try and kill himself. This selfish act has him in all sorts of huilt and emotional distress, because wherever he turns theres someone who calls him a hero. I suppose that even though this act was selfish and purely for himself, you may be able to still consider him a hero. He DID save a ton of lives, and that deserves some sort of credit. If someone tried to kill a butterfly but ended up saving this endangered speices, they would get some form of credit. They saved an endangered species! Even though Francis's act was selfish, he is still a hero.
ReplyDeleteThe big secret Francis tells Larry LaSalle is that he went to war because he wanted to die. He did not want to live anymore because he did not help Nicole when she got raped. He could not just kill himself because it would bring shame to his family. He saw the war as an easy way to die. He jumped on the grenade to die an honorable death, not to save his comrades, but he survived some how. I think he was being selfish by jumping on that grenade because he was doing it to kill himself. Does a act of heroism have to be unselfish? Do sports heroes win games for the team or for their personal records? I think even though he did it in a act of selfishness, he still is a hero because he saved every one around him. Even though he did not try to save anyone, the result came out to be the same.
ReplyDeleteThe big secret that Francis reveals to Larry about his motivations for going to the war is to die. He was too scared to kill himself and give his parents a bad name, so he went to war because there it would be easy to get killed, but being killed in the war is much more honorable. He admitted that he looked for ways to die in the war, but only killed other in return, like the two German boys in the alleyway. Originally, falling on the grenade would have been extremely selfish. He would be trying to kill himself more than trying to work together with his team. But instead of killing himself, he saves his GI’s and gets his face blown off for it. I can see why some people can see him as a hero and others as a selfish child. Personally, I see him as a hero. Whatever his intentions were, he saved his GI’s. Who cares if he wanted only to die: he didn’t die and he saved people which is all that matters.
ReplyDeleteReading Journal 7
ReplyDeleteHeroes by Robert Cormier
Francis has had a troubled life since the 7th grade. This was the year that Larry LaSalle, the teacher of the Wreck Center, came back from the war and decided to set up a dance. At this dance, Larry raped Francis’ beloved Nicole. Larry left Frenchtown after this tragedy and Nicole mysteriously left Frenchtown too.
Francis revealed the truth about going to the war, with Larry LaSalle after they both got back. In the 7th grade, when Larry raped Nicole, Francis could not live with himself. His hero Larry betrayed him and Nicole, his love, left Frenchtown for good. Francis went to the top of a church steeple to end his life. He looked down at the ground but did not want to put shame on his mother’s and father’s name. So, he told Larry that this is why he wanted to go to war, to commit suicide. Francis thought that if he died in the war everyone would feel sorry for him. But, he ended up killing two boys his age and others in the war and surviving at a cost. During the war, Francis landed on a grenade to hopefully end his life, but he lived.
I believe the act of landing on the grenade was selfish but at the same time an act of heroism. Although his main intention was to end his life, he did end up surviving and saving his platoon. I think it was more heroism than selfishness because he saved many men and still survived. I believe he can be called a hero because first, no one except Larry, who killed himself, knows why Francis even went to war. Also, no one knows the true identity of Francis, except one of the boys at the veterans club, after his accident. He should be known as a hero because he saved the lives of many men from his decision.
During their conversation, Larry asks Francis, “Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?” i do not think that that was his only "sin" because at one point he says those little things and the keyword there is the s in things so he's talking about multiple people. if i were francis i would have said no because he still comitted a sin and a sin is a sin
ReplyDelete#3
ReplyDeleteI think that Larry did not only commit that one sin as he claimed. Someone capable of committing that sin is not as good of a person as he claimed he was. The fact that he committed that sin proved that his was warped. He was unable to feel remorse for other people. His only priority was himself and he didn’t care how other people felt. Larry killing himself said again that he was selfish.
If I were Francis in this situation I would have done something similar. Francis made Larry realize that he had to face his victim by telling him to ask Nicole. This made him a hero because Francis gave Nicole the power in the situation. Francis made sure Nicole got her revenge. This helped Francis feel like he made up for what he didn’t do that traumatic night.
#2
ReplyDeleteThe secret that Francis reveals to Larry is that he went into the miltary to kill himself. I feel that it is a little of both heroism and selfishness. Even though he did it to try and kill himself, he still saved other soldiers lives. This part is heroic, but his motives were selfish.