The Rag and Bone Shop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rag and Bone Shop (2001) is a book written by Robert Cormier. The book was published posthumously in 2001; Cormier died in 2000.
| The Rag and Bone Shop | |
| Author | Robert Cormier |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Victor Stabin |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Delacorte Books for Young Readers |
| Publication date | Oct 9 2001 |
| Pages | 160 |
| ISBN | 978-0385729628 (hardcover) 978-0440229711 (paper back) |
[edit] Characters in The Rag and Bone Shop
Trent - no first name given. Widower, Special Interrogator called in to investigate a murder. Has never lost a case.
Jason Dorrant - 12 year old. Friend of Victim and last known person to see victim alive.
Alicia Bartlet - 7 years old, Intelligent, murder victim, her body carefully treated after; dress smoothed, “buried” under leaves
Brad Bartlet - brother of victim. Jokester.
Emma Dorrant - Jason’s little sister,7 years old, Didn’t like Alicia, Writing a mystery novel
George Braxton - Detective, Uses instinct, Finds Jason to be the only suspect, Calls in Trent to interrogate Jason
Sarah Downes - Works for the District Attorney, Doesn’t like interrogations – thinks methods may give false results, Reminds Trent of dead wife.
[edit] Plot summary
The story is of the brutal murder of a seven year girl named Alicia Bartlett and the interrogation of a twelve year old boy, named Jason Dorrant, who is her friend and the last known person to see her alive. Trent, an expert interrogator - known to get confessions which seemed impossible to obtain, is called in for the case. Trent does this "favor" to be in good graces with a senator.
Under the guise of "helping" the investigation, Jason is brought to police headquarters and introduced to Trent. After a long session of questioning, Jason is eventually driven to his breaking point and, innocent though he was, is pushed to confessing to the murder. Earlier in the book, Jason recounts an encounter with a bully in school who molested a girl and regularly tortured fellow students. Jason had swung at the bully, but to the principal, it appeared to be an act of spontaneous aggression. This was mentioned by Trent and labeled "violent tendencies." This, plus being seen last with Alicia, was enough to make him the prime suspect, and was part of Trent's manipulations to convince Jason of his guilt.
Immediately after Jason confesses, Trent steps from the room excited about his latest win just to find out that the alibi of the brother of the murdered girl, Brad, has been broken and his friends told the truth. Jason is released, but the damage has been done.
The book ends with Jason wondering whether he could or could not commit such a crime as murder, obviously confused by Trent's extraction techniques during the intense interrogation. He thinks of the bully. Knowing the bully would be at the local Y Center, he removes a butcher knife from the kitchen drawer.
[edit] Major themes
Irony is used throughout the book, particularly in the ending. When Trent at last extracts a confession out of Jason, he then learns that the real killer has been found. Thus, his seeming salvation has been his downfall.
The novel ends with the frightening ironic scene of Jason becoming a murderer even though he was not actually guilty of any murder before. The idea behind the story is the corruption of innocence because Jason was a normal, peaceful boy and he was only turned into a killer via Trent's ruthless interrogation.
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