We All Fall Down
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| Author | Robert Cormier |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Released | October 1991 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-385-30501-X (first edition, hardback) |
We All Fall Down is a novel by Robert Cormier.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The story setting is in a small town in the United States called Burnside. Life changes for the Jerome family after a group of boys vandalize their house and knock a girl down the stairs. The Avenger, who has seen everything, plans his revenge on the vandals.
[edit] Plot summary
On the evening of April Fools' Day, Harry Flowers, Buddy Walker, Marty Sanders and Randy Pierce decide to amuse themselves by vandalizing a family home. Without breaking any windows, they manage to trash the furniture, urinate on the walls, attempt rape and push a girl (Karen Jerome) down the cellar stairs when she arrives home earlier than expected. Karen falls into a coma, and the incident destroys the Jeromes' lives. Karen's parents and her siblings, Jane and Artie, are shocked and unable to understand who would be able to do such a terrible thing to them.
A middle-aged (although he believes himself to be eleven), mentally disturbed man who calls himself the Avenger watches the vandalism and promises himself that he will take revenge for the crimes when the time comes.
Then Harry Flowers is caught by the police, acting on a neighbor's memorization of Harry's license plate. Under questioning, Harry claims he acted alone and does not mention the involvement of Buddy, Marty, and Randy. He also claims that Jane Jerome personally gave him the key to the house, when she had actually lost it at a shopping mall.
Jane meets Buddy Walker, and they become a couple. Jane, however, is unaware that Buddy is one of the criminals who upset her life. Buddy, an alcoholic since he met Harry, has problems with not telling Jane the truth.
All is relatively well until the Avenger, who has been in love with Jane for a very long time, gets to know that Buddy, is one of the vandals. He decides to kidnap and kill her. Jane manages to convince him of his insanity and he commits suicide.
Later Jane finds out the truth, and she ends her relationship with Buddy. Karen Jerome awakes from the coma, but she cannot remember what happened.
[edit] Characters in "We All Fall Down"
The main characters in We All Fall Down are Jane Jerome, Buddy Walker, and Micky Stallings. After the vandalism, the book separates into three discrete storylines: one from Jane's point of view, which reveals how she and her family feel after the trashing; one from Buddy's point of view, which reveals his problems, family, and friends; and one from the Avenger's point of view, which reveals his cruel past and plans and cars.
[edit] Jane Jerome
In the novel “We all Fall down” the sixteen year old Jane Jerome is one of the main characters. She goes to High School and lives together with her parents, her younger sister Karen and her younger brother Artie in Wickburg. After the trashing early in the novel, right after the incident Jane feels bad about arguing with her sister. A lot of thoughts come up to her mind about her relation to Karen and in which way their relation had been, before the trashing took place. Due to the incident in the house Jane’s behaviour changes in the ongoing novel. She doesn’t feel as comfortable in her environment especially at home and also around her best friends Pattie and Leslie as before. After the police finds one of the thrashers, Harry Flowers, she is accused of giving him the key to their house. On account of this, Jane feels more lonely and desperate than ever before affirmed by the mistrust of her father. Her life changes again when she meets Buddy, one of the thrashers, with whom she fells in love with. She is happy and spends a lot of time with him. After different outer factors already strongly influenced her life in the close past she suddenly gets involved into another circumstance she can’t prevent. Mickey Stallings, who’s actually the avenger, captures her with help of Amos Dalton against her will and ties her up. Stallings is going to kill Jane but with taking over the conversation Jane achieves the suicide of The Avenger himself. Stalling states in the conversation that Buddy was one of the thrashers what makes Jane feel even more upset. Therefore she quits the relation she has with him because of his background and also because he didn’t tell her what he had done. Her feelings for him were gone. In the end they meet a last time in a mall but their conversation doesn’t take long. While Buddy still has feelings for her Jane she isn’t interested in him anymore at all.
Devastated by the incident, sad for her sister, and uncomfortable in her own home, Jane finds out that Buddy is responsible in part and breaks up with him.
[edit] Buddy Walker
Buddy is a 16-year-old boy who takes part in the trashing of Jane's house and ruins the upper floor, including Jane's bedroom. Despite this, he does not harm Karen, and tells his friends to stop hurting her. Buddy's parents divorce, and Buddy's only communication with his father is the reception of pocket money. The isolation makes Buddy depressed and, under Harry's influence, he becomes an alcoholic. He hides his depression from his mother and Jane.
[edit] The Avenger (Mickey Stallings, Mickey Looney)
Mickey Stallings is a 41-year-old man, a gardener, and the neighbor of the Jeromes. Jane and Karen nicknamed him Mickey Looney, because he lives in his own world. He is mentally ill, and believes he is an 11-year-old boy called the "Avenger". When he really was eleven, he murdered a bully (Vaughn Masterson), and his grandfather, a former policeman. He was never caught due to his expert planning. Now, thirty years later, he is secretly in love with Jane and intends to hurt the boys who hurt her family. He creates the suspense in the novel and a potential threat to the main characters lives. He commits suicide in the final climax in the novel after kidnapping Jane.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
Because of its frank language and adult themes, the book is very controversial and was named one of the top 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000, by the American Library Association 1, and has been banned from some libraries. 2
