Chocolate War Written by Robert Cormier

Book Review for Chocolate War

Chocolate War written by Robert Cormier is a great book with a thrilling plot that will keep you on your toes as you read it. From fights to romance, to a bunch of guys called the Vigils and their brotherhood bromance this book is action packed with every turn of the page.

We first encounter the main character, Jerry, in the middle of football practice at the all-boys Catholic Trinity High School. Jerry wants to make the team partially because he has recently lost his mother to cancer. Then we meet Archie head of the secret organization called The Vigils, as he watches football practice from the stands. Obie, the secretary of The Vigils, waits with him, taking down notes of Archie's plans. The plans are cruel pranks and practical jokes to be performed by selected students, who have no choice, but to obey The Vigils or face the consequences.

Jerry's assignment is to not participate in the chocolate sale for ten days, thereby openly defying Brother Leon. He completes the ten-day run, but, having been affected by cruelty around him, decides to defy both Trinity and The Vigils by continuing to refuse to sell the chocolates. Because of that they vandalize his property, beat him severely, and arrange for him to be beat up in front of the whole school.

Both Archie and Leon are threatened by Jerry's defiance, feeling that they will both be destroyed if the chocolate sale fails. Archie manages to rally The Vigils into making the sale their personal project, organizing teams to sell the chocolates and make it a success. Jerry's final punishment comes when Archie organizes a cruel gladiatorial boxing match in front of the whole school between Jerry and a bully named Emile Janza.

The fight is scripted by the spectators, who purchase tickets on which to write descriptions of the blows they want to see. The blow that wins the fight will be the winning ticket of the raffle. Janza and Jerry fight, and Jerry is outmatched by Emile's size and strength. Even though Jerry gets in some good hits, Janza stops playing by the rules and pummels Jerry miserably. Jerry is beaten so severely that he loses consciousness. His jaw broken, he is taken by ambulance to the hospital. Before he leaves he tells his best friend to go along with whatever Trinity and The Vigils want him to do in the future, or he may end up like him.

This novel is written in third person omniscient point of view. The narrator is a detached voice that has access to the thoughts of only certain characters. The novel is in the past tense. Because the novel was written in third person the connection between the reader and the characters is non existent. The story I feel would of varied differently depending on who was telling the story. It would have been nice feel how Jerry was feeling after being beaten up or why Archie was doing the things he did. An example of this is "Those of you who are true sons of Trinity, that is. I pity anyone who is not." - Brother Leon, pg. 86. This is when Jerry refuses to sell the chocolates, Leon becomes upset. At the end of the roll call, he says that anyone who does not sell the chocolates is not a true son of Trinity. He is trying to instill a sense of pride in the boys. As the reader it would have been a help to of felt how Jerry was feeling when the acting principal was speaking about him. A quote that represents what I would of like to seen more of is when Jerry takes an important stand when he does not back down in front of his class mates. Although Leon says that it is unoriginal for Jerry to express that he is refraining from the sale because it is a free country when he says "It's a free country."

Speaking of different perspectives and the way the story was told, did this story seem believable? I feel the overall plot was very believable, but some of the events that had taken place seemed unrealistic for an All-Boys Catholic school. When you think of a catholic school the picture painted in you head