I Am the Cheese

Louise Holden alludes to Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye. Compare Holden’s journey to Adam’s journey and the role of the unreliable narrator.

Does the novel present Adam as resilient or vulnerable, or both? What effect does this have on the novel’s overall effect?

The novel’s ending is ambiguous. Write an ending that clarifies what happens next, drawing on the novel’s narrative clues and following its style. Consider why you have chosen this ending.

Read Cormier’s novel The Chocolate War. Compare and contrast the way the two novels treat corruption.

Cormier published I Am the Cheese in the 1970s for a teenage readership. Research the lived experience of young people in 1970s America and analyze how Cormier uses and subverts teenagers’ everyday lives and concerns.

Why do you think I Am the Cheese still resonates with readers today? What does it have to say about life and culture in the 2020s?

Amy is intelligent and independent. Why does the story portray her this way and what does this reveal about Adam?

Adam’s mom is less present in the story than his dad, but Adam calls his mom a “rebel.” In what ways does Adam’s mom disrupt the story? What makes her different from the other characters?