Gordon's Opening Reflection

The adult Gordon Lachance, now a writer, reflects on the difficulty of expressing the most important truths. He recalls that he was twelve going on thirteen when he first saw a dead human being, in 1960, a memory that still haunts him, especially in dreams where hail falls into the dead boy's open eyes. This sets the tone for the entire narrative, framing the coming-of-age story as a meditation on memory, loss, and the power of unspoken things.