49 pages • 1 hour read
Robert CormierI Am the Cheese
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1977A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
“The Farmer in the Dell”
The significance of this motif alters as the narrative progresses. At first, it symbolizes encouragement, with Adam regularly singing the song to lift his spirits. Adam doesn’t take “medicine” before the journey and the song has a therapeutic role. Caught in a rainstorm, Adam contemplates abandoning his journey. He chooses to continue, declaring, “I lift my face and the rain pours down. And I begin to sing” (66). Adam ties persistence to the song. He bikes through the rain as he sings the first verses to “The Farmer in the Dell.” The song supports his persistence. It’s a symbol of encouragement. When he sings, he gives himself hope. In Arnold’s station wagon, feeling achy and carsick, Adam turns to the song for strength, stating, “I begin to sing to myself, silently so that the man and woman won’t hear me” (116). Once again, the song generates encouragement. As Adam sings it “silently,” the symbol isn’t for public consumption—it’s a private boost for his ears only.
Separate from the bike journey, the song encourages Adam’s parents. When Dave sings it, he pulls Louise out of her gloom. Louise calls Dave a “nut,” but “[t]here was laughter and tenderness in her voice” (25). Though Dave and Louise are in a precarious situation, the song gives them the chance to have fun, and this is a memory Adam returns to. The song’s family associations are increasingly dark and complex, however, as Dave has linked the song to the family’s false identity of “Farmer.” The song is therefore also linked to Adam’s disillusionment and anxiety as he learns about the secret dangers of his family’s identity and circumstances.
As the transcripts increasingly give context to Adam’s imaginary bike journey and his use of the song, “The Farmer in the Dell” becomes a more sinister sign of Adam’s lack of control and unsettled psychological state. Cormier thus draws on the nursery rhyme, traditionally an aspect of innocent childhood, to emphasize the danger and pathos of Adam’s situation. By the novel’s conclusion, Brint is shown encouraging Adam to self-comfort using the song, showing that the song has become part of Adam’s incarceration and a tool of Brint’s control.
The Cheese
The cheese is the focus of the “Farmer in the Dell” folksong and its importance is flagged to the reader immediately by the novel’s title. Gradually, as the narrative unfolds and it becomes clear that the song is a metaphor for Adam’s emotional state, the cheese increasingly becomes associated with Adam himself. This culminates in his statement that “I know, of course, who I am, who I will always be. I am the cheese” (229). The statement “I am the cheese” is therefore both the opening and the conclusion of Adam’s narrative: It mirrors the nightmarish circularity of the novel’s structure, where the concluding section of the bike journey repeats the opening chapter.
Adam’s statement is ambiguous. Although taken by his corrupt doctor to be expedient evidence of mental illness, Adam’s statement eloquently expresses his isolation and unhappiness. While “I am the cheese” connotes a delusional or psychotic mental state on face-value, the reader’s growing intimacy with Adam’s experience and feelings emphasizes the statement’s metaphorical significance: On a metaphorical level, Adam’s statement is relatable and rational.
Adam’s reference of the cheese also references the victimization he is subjected to. In Adam’s version of the folksong, “the rat takes the cheese” (229), a departure from the standard US version of the nursery rhyme. This unusual line introduces an abuser/victim dynamic that suggests that Adam is (subconsciously) aware of his incarceration even during the imaginary bike journey he creates as an escape.
The Bike
The bike symbolizes independence and freedom, with Adam choosing the bike over the bus. Adam declares, “I don’t want to be confined to a bus. I want the open road before me, I want to sail on the wind” (6). On the bike, he’s in control, and he’s not cut off from the world around him. Yet independence isn’t glamorous, and Adam provides a detailed image of the bike to highlight the grit of liberty, “[T]his is an old-fashioned bike, no speeds, no fenders, only the warped tires and the brakes that don’t always work and the handlebars with cracked rubber grips to steer with” (3).
Like the bike, independence is a challenge. With freedom comes responsibility, and on his journey, Adam experiences the hardship of relying on himself. He must feed himself, find places to sleep, and fend off bullies.
The bike is an archetypal symbol of childhood, and Cormier draws on this to emphasize Adam’s youth and the power imbalance inherent in his circumstances. The bike is a vulnerable method of travel, as the encounters with cars and dogs demonstrate. Adam takes his bike far out of the usual confined of suburban teenage play on his journey, representing the way that his youth has been hijacked by the shadowy agents of the corrupt adult world.
The Numbers
When Adam meets Amy, he discovers that she performs “Numbers,” which is her name for a prank. These pranks juxtapose the life-or-death dissemblance that Adam and his family perform constantly. At first, the novel presents these as real experiences but, as it becomes clear that they exist in Adam’s imagination, their metaphorical and psychological significance increases. The novel presents the “Numbers” as symbolic of Adam’s longing for childhood fun, security, and connection.
The Numbers subvert Adam’s difficult experience: The Farmers must pretend to be other people to survive, but in the Numbers, Amy and Adam can pretend to be other people for fun. The consequences of getting caught aren’t deadly. Adam almost gets caught doing the Number at the wedding, yet he escapes, and he and Amy laugh about the close call over milkshakes. In Adam’s imagination, getting caught is a matter of normal mischief rather than life-and-death. In this way, Cormier juxtaposes the normal childhood experience with Adam’s extreme circumstances. Cormier stresses this juxtaposition with repeated pairs. For instance, for the Number in the church parking lot, Grey sends Adam and his family on the road trip that leads to the death of his parents and his capture. Unlike the playful Number at the wedding, Adam and his parents get caught and face potentially lethal consequences.
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By Robert Cormier
