Francis Cassavant

Question 0

Mission/Guilt

Answer 0

‘not only to hide the ugliness of what used to be my face but to hide my identity’
‘I feel like a spy in disguise’
‘here is the point where my life becomes a lie’
‘a stranger slowly taking shape’
‘the gun is like a tumour in my thigh’

Question 1

Physical appearance

Answer 1

'no face'
'bits of dangling flesh'
'Red Sox cap'
'face like a gargoyle'
'nostrils like the snout of an animal'
'jaw and mouth jammed together as if by invisible clamps'

Question 2

Nicole Renard

Answer 2

‘it would always be Nicole Renard’
‘like a knight at her feet’
‘I never knew that my love could be so agonising’
‘My betrayal in her eyes’
‘It’s amazing that the heart makes no noise when it cracks’
‘You were there all the time’

Question 3

Larry LaSalle

Answer 3

‘you’re going to be a champion’
‘Larry LaSalle was letting me win’
‘I had always wanted to be a hero, like Larry LaSalle….but had been fake all along’

Question 4

War

Answer 4

‘I silently recite the names of the guy in my platoon’

‘I want to forget everything that happened…but every night the recitation begins’

Question 5

Heroism/Anti-heroism

Answer 5

‘I am not the hero he thinks I am’
‘they respect my silence and my anonymity’
‘I felt invincible’
‘My table tennis champion. My Silver Star hero’

Question 6

Bravery/cowardice

Answer 6

‘How could I die by leaping from a steeple’
‘I was too much of a coward to kill myself’
‘My own Silver Star, for an act of cowardice’
‘I start to close doors…to the future’

Question 7

Ending/forgiveness

Answer 7

‘I always thought you’d be a writer’

‘the weight (of his bag) is nice and comfortable on my back’