Francis Cassavant * Francis is the first person narrator of the novel. It is told through his eyes, directly to the reader. At the end of the book it is implied he will become a writer, and that Heroes is his book, adding realism to the text. * Throughout the novel Francis reiterates his love for Nicole. Right from the outset we know that it will ‘always be Nicole.’ His love appears hopeless, and at first we think it is because he can never get up the courage to speak to her. * He describes his physical injuries from the war in grotesque, horrifying detail, emphasising his monstrous appearance. He tries to present his inner character as being similarly monstrous, by telling us very early on that he intends to kill Larry LaSalle. Despite this there are hints that he is not that monstrous – he describes the gun as being ‘like a tumour on my thigh’, which suggests he is not comfortable with it. * He is driven by the guilt of having left Nicole to be raped by LaSalle, an event for which he blames himself, because he broke his promise not to leave her alone that night. * Francis has a strong sense of guilt. He has had a Catholic education and in chapter one he prays in church. He says he is filled with a sense of shame and guilt because he is praying for the man he wants to kill (LaSalle). Similarly he decides to join the army because suicide would not only be a sin, but shameful when there were soldiers sacrificing their lives for others in the war. * Although he was awarded a Silver Star in the war, for falling on a grenade and saving his platoon’s lives, Francis feels that he is not a hero, and as if he is a fraud. He joined the army because he wanted to die, and believes he fell on the grenade in order to do so. He does not believe he is a hero because his motives were not heroic. Again we see he has a sense of shame and guilt. * When he returns to Frenchtown he remains anonymous, even asking Arthur to conceal his identity when he realises it. He lies to Mrs Belander and to others about who he is. This is not only to make it easier to kill LaSalle, but also to avoid the recognition and respect he feels he does not deserve – he is not a hero. * Francis is no fool: he knows that LaSalle lets him win the table tennis match. However, he accepts LaSalle’s assessment that the others need for Francis to win, and to believe in the possibility of David beating Goliath. * He spends the whole book waiting for LaSalle’s return to Frenchtown so that he can seek revenge. Yet when the moment comes his hand is shaking and he is overwhelmed. In the end LaSalle takes his own life – but it seems unlikely that Francis could actually have gone through with it, despite his plans and protestations. * He does do his best to ensure that he has no future, by burning the contact details of his friend from the hospital in England, and of the doctor who says he will repair his face. He calls this ‘closing doors to the future’. He seems to be doing this to leave himself no option but to go through with this plan. Hope returns to the novel in the final chapter when he thinks about tracking them down again.

Larry LaSalle * LaSalle is the glamorous and charismatic man who runs the youth club in Frenchtown. He has a talent for bringing out the best in people, and he makes special favourites of Nicole and Francis. * There is a mystery surrounding his departure from New York and his relocation to Frenchtown. Initially that only seems to add to his glamour, but in the end it becomes sinister with his reference to other ‘sweet young things’ which suggests that Nicole was not his first victim. * LaSalle joins up the very first morning after war is declared; his actions in the war lead to him being awarded a Silver Star medal, and when he returns home on leave he is given a hero’s welcome by the townspeople and the members of the Wreck Centre. On that leave he manipulates Francis into leaving him alone with Nicole, and he then rapes her. * He reappears in Frenchtown at the end of the novel. He has been crippled by the war, so that he can no longer stand. He shows no repentance for raping Nicole, instead asking whether his one sin wipes out all the goodness he has done. * In that final conversation, LaSalle does what he has always done in making Francis feel better about himself – he tells him that he fell on the grenade out of instinct to save his fellow soldiers, and that he really is a hero. * LaSalle stops Francis from shooting him, but instead shoots himself. Is he trying to redeem himself, or can he simply not face life in his state of health, the fact that there will be ‘no more dancing’ and ‘no more sweet young things’? LaSalle never expresses a sense of guilt over the crimes he committed, so we are left in doubt.

Nicole Renard * Nicole is a bit of a mystery through the book, more conspicuous through her absence than her presence. This is appropriate because she is more important in what she symbolises to Francis – happiness and innocence – than in their actual relationship. * Francis creates an impossibly romantic image of Nicole and of their relationship. When she is first introduced, she appears to him like a saint, while he is ‘like a knight at her feet’. The simile emphasises his chaste worship of her. * Nicole is beautiful, and becomes a superb dancer through LaSalle’s classes at the Wreck Centre. Her grace and beauty are destroyed by the rape – like the peace and innocence of the world is shattered by the war. * When Francis sees her at the end of the book she has become ‘brittle’. She is, however, recovering, and it is clear that she will survive, although it is taking a great deal of strength to do so. She has grown up – and is just ‘finding out’ who she really is. * Nicole is much more mature than Francis – although she initially blames him for standing by and not stopping LaSalle, she realises very quickly her error and tries to find him to tell him so. Unfortunately he has already left for the army. She does not blame Francis, but this means that their final meeting is not quite the climactic event he imagined. She does not want to see him again, because it is necessary for her to put both him and LaSalle behind her. She has not romanticised Francis in the way he has done her. * She is the one who tells Francis that he should try to write through what he has experienced: it is her wisdom that enables him to find a way to survive the experiences he has been through.

Arthur Rivier
Although he is not one of the main characters Arthur Rivier is significant as he shares Francis's feelings about the horrors of the war. * Arthur takes Francis under his wing when he returns to Frenchtown, introducing him to the St Jude Club veterans, and making him one of the ‘men’ rather than the boys. * He is the only one to recognise Francis, although it takes him a while. He calls him a hero, and recalls that Francis has his own page in the scrapbook of town heroes. However, when Francis asks him to keep his identity secret, he agrees. * Arthur appears to be functioning normally. However, one evening Francis finds him collapsed, drunk and crying in the alley. Arthur is finding it difficult because nobody will talk about the war. He says that all the soldiers were the same: scared. He says none of them were heroes, they were 'just there'. It is important enough for Francis to repeat it in the very last