Line #28 Literature/IAmTheCheese


1	[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e482b0945965ef753d6785a13945ded0.jpg]]
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3	A 14-year-old boy is riding around on his bike, trying to get to his dad, who is in the hospital in a faraway city. Meanwhile, the same boy is sitting in some kind of interrogation room in a mental hospital, trying to remember his life before the hospital.
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5	A 1977 young adult novel by Creator/RobertCormier, ''I Am the Cheese'' is the emotional MindScrew story of one Adam Farmer, who's afraid of everything, has to take medication, and is in love with a girl named Amy.
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7	Adapted into a [[TheFilmOfTheBook 1983 film]] directed by Robert Jiras and starring Robert [=MacNaughton=], Creator/CynthiaNixon, Creator/RobertWagner, Creator/HopeLange, and Creator/DonMurray.
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9	----
10	!!I Am the Tropes:
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12	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: Unlike the novel, the film ends with [[spoiler:Adam escaping from the mental hospital]].
13	* AndYouWereThere: [[spoiler: Everyone Adam talks about meeting in his bike ride to Rutterburg is at the hospital, including Mr. Harvester, Whipper and the "bullies", Luke, Arthur Hayes, and so on.]]
14	* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler: The entire book is about the GovernmentConspiracy trying to disgorge some vital data that Adam is seriously repressing. In other words, the AwfulTruth is the MacGuffin.]]
15	* BookEnds: The book begins and ends with Adam riding his bike to Rutterburg.
16	* CreatorCameo: The film of the book has Robert Cormier as Amy Hertz's father.
17	%%* CuckooNest
18	%%* DeceptivelySillyTitle
19	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: It's strongly implied that the GovernmentConspiracy feels Adam has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlasted his usefulness]]. Brint recommends that Adam be confined until termination is approved, or until he "[[HeroicBSOD obliterates]]."]]
20	* TheFilmOfTheBook: One was made in [[TheEighties 1983]].
21	* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Implied that Adam is going to be offed not long after the ending.]]
22	* IAmTheNoun: I Am the Cheese (from the song, ''The Farmer in the Dell'').
23	* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: "I am the cheese. Because the cheese stands alone."
24	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: In ''The Farmer in the Dell'', "the cheese stands alone".
25	* MacGuffin: [[spoiler: Adam is looking for his dad (who is dead.) The government is looking for "the package" and whatever info Adam is hiding.]]
26	* TheMenInBlack: Adam describes someone as "the grey man", a government spook dressed all in grey.
27	* MindScrew: [[spoiler: Adam never left the mental hospital. Instead, he is riding his bike around the grounds, and seeing the same people each time (see And You Were There above) and stuck in a mental time loop.]]
28	* MyParentsAreDead: [[spoiler: Adam watched his mother die. His father escaped, but the goons mocked Adam that they "never miss" and they'll get his dad too. He learns from Dr. Dupont's expression that his father was killed too.]]
29	* NoMedicationForMe: At the beginning of the book, Adam dumps all his pills down his sink. He tries to avoid medication from Brint as well, but Adam resists less as the book progresses.
30	* OrphansOrdeal: [[spoiler: Adam, which is why he insists "I am the cheese." (The cheese stands alone.)]]
31	%%* SilentCredits: The movie ''would'' have had this if not for the JustForFun/{{rickroll}} in the reissue, described below. The song is appropriate, however, in that [[spoiler: Adam won't give up any information about his father, who is being pursued by "Department 1-R". Listen to the lyrics with that in mind, and it becomes tragically sad.]]
32	* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: ''The Farmer In the Dell'' is the [[spoiler: Delmonte]] family's theme song. When singing it in the car, the lyrics they sing are "The farmer takes a wife", "The wife takes the child", and "The cheese stands alone".
33	* TitleDrop: When Brint calls Adam by his real name (Paul), Adam says he has no idea who that is, and states, "I am the cheese."
34	* TruthSerum: When Adam thinks about whether to tell Brint about "the clues", Brint asks "What clues?" Adam wonders if the doctor read his mind or if the "medicine" is making him believe he is thinking when he is actually talking out loud.
35	* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler: Adam never left the mental hospital. Everything is ThroughTheEyesOfMadness.]]
36	* WitnessProtection: [[spoiler: The Farmer family is a part of this. It's later revealed that their real last name is Delmonte.]]

Context Literature / IAmTheCheese