Why do you think Cormier focused on a youth protagonist? Analyze how the novel makes use of childhood tropes and images and the effect of these.

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?