I Am the Cheese Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Who am I? I am Adam Farmer. But who am I? I am Adam Farmer. But Adam Farmer was only a name, words, a lesson he had learned here in the cold room and in that other room with the questions and answers. Who is Adam Farmer? He didn't know. His name might as well have been Kitchen Chair. Or Cellar Steps. Adam Farmer was nothing – the void yawned ahead of him and behind him, with no constant to guide himself by. Who Am I? Adam Farmer. Two words, that's all. (15.2)

Plenty of people change their names, for plenty of reasons. Did you know that Tom Cruise's real last name is Mapother? As Juliet would say, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose,/ By any other name would smell as sweet." Do you agree?

Quote #5

[T]hat day in the cellar my father told me who I was, who he was, who we all were. Suddenly I had a history, something I realized I had never had before. Everything changed in one afternoon, in that cellar, in a few hours... (23.1)

Adam says that everything changed after his father revealed the truth to him. But what exactly changed? The fact is, nothing about Adam's day-to-day life really changed, it's just that he was now suddenly aware of the truth. He then became withdrawn, paranoid, and scared. They say that ignorance is bliss, and this seems to have been the case for Adam.

Quote #6

"Actually, the things that really matter were still real to us. I've always been a Catholic and have gone to church and received the sacraments. I wanted you to be brought up Catholic, too. Mr. Grey arranged for papers to be made to show us as converts. So, you see, we kept our religion. And your father and I still had each other. And you. Mr. Grey kept telling us – and we had to agree – that the essential things had been kept, the things that mattered. We were a family together." (26.12)

Religion can be a central part of someone's identity. Think about all the people who have died for their religion as martyrs. The Farmers were given a Protestant name, but they were set on maintaining their Catholicism. This is even mentioned before family on Adam's mom's list of "the things that really matter."