The Chocolate War

“Archie became absolutely still, afraid that the rapid beating of his heart might betray his sudden knowledge, the proof of what he’d always suspected, not only of Brother Leon but most grownups, most adults: they were vulnerable, running scared, open to invasion.”

The quotation characterizes Archie as an astute observer of human nature and as a manipulator who uses every opportunity to identify weaknesses in others that he can then use to plot his invasions. It also stands in contrast to the thoughts and feelings of many other Trinity students in the novel, who view adults as somehow different from them and immune to or unaware of the strong emotions of life.

“They say the hydrogen bomb makes no noise: there’s only a blinding white flash that strikes cities dead. The noise comes after a flash, after the silence. That’s the kind of silence that blazed in the classroom now.”

The allusion to the hydrogen bomb, or “The Bomb” as it appears at other moments of chaos in the novel, suggests absolute destruction or terror. Its hyperbolic use to describe the impact of Brother Leon’s interrogation of Gregory Bailey emphasizes the ease with which the teacher inflicts terror on his students. It connects strongly with the novel’s setting in time, as the Cold War and the arms race reached their height during the 1970s.

“Actually, Archie hated people like Emile Janza even though he could admire their handiwork. People like Janza were animals. But they came in handy. Janza and the picture–like money in the bank.”

Here Cormier accomplishes both direct characterization of Emile as a brutish bully and indirect characterization of Archie as a manipulative blackmailer. The simile “like money in the bank” conveys the understanding that Archie is saving Emile for a special purpose, foreshadowing the novel’s climax.

“Just as he had superimposed his mother’s image on his father’s face, now he could see his father’s face reflected in his own features. He turned away. He didn’t want to be a mirror of his father.”

This quotation explores the beginnings of Jerry’s existential crisis, in which his mother’s mortality and his father’s mundane existence coalesce. His literal turning away from the mirror represents his figurative rejection of the adult life he sees looming before him and his desire to move in a different direction before life is over.

“No—and let me point out that the sale is strictly voluntary, Trinity forces no one to participate against his wishes, this is the great glory of Trinity—no means you don’t wish to sell the chocolates, that you refuse to participate.”

Brother Leon’s ironic attempt at manipulation as he tries to get every student involved explicitly connects the motif of the chocolate sale with tradition and obligation; it also emphasizes the difference between what people say and what they mean. Spoken in the first moments after Jerry risks The Consequences of Challenging Institutional Authority, Brother Leon’s implication that refusing to participate denies “the great glory of Trinity” serves as a subtle threat.

“Pause. You’d think Brother Leon would have gotten used to the situation by now, that he’d skip quickly over Renault’s name. But each day, the teacher’s voice sang out with hope and each day the negative response was given.”

The narrative builds tension by having Brother Leon call roll each day, forcing Jerry to repeat his refusal to sell chocolates. It highlights his disbelief that a student would defy his authority and his “hope” that through continued badgering he will shame Jerry into conformity.

“As usual, there was a discrepancy between the amount of chocolates reported as sold and the actual money received. […] Ordinarily, nobody got excited about it—it was human nature. A lot of guys sold the chocolates, spent the money on a big date or a big night, and then put in the money when they got their allowance of their pay at their part-time jobs. But this year, Brother Leon acted as if every dollar was a matter of life and death.”

This detail reiterates the difference between what the boys say and what they do,viewing the chocolate sale as something they can use to their advantage rather than something they do for the love of their school. It also creates a sense of tension by emphasizing Brother Leon’s desire to have all the cash up front because he misused school funds and foreshadows that the chocolate sale will become a matter of life and death in the novel’s climax.

“Worse than that, however, he had allowed Brother Leon to blackmail him. If teachers did this kind of thing, what kind of world could it be? […] And he did see—that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn’t trust anybody, not even yourself.”

This question is one of many David Caroni poses to himself while Brother Leon extorts him into explaining the reason behind Jerry Renault’s refusal to participate in the chocolate sale. It represents most of the novel’s themes, as Cochran’s disappointment in himself conveys The Turmoil of Adolescence and The Moral Complexities of Resistance and Conformity. When even teachers are capable of such actions, conforming to their expectations becomes the only way to avoid The Consequences of Challenging Institutional Authority.

“His eyes gave him away. His face was always under control but his eyes showed his vulnerability, gave Jerry a glimpse into the hell that was burning inside the teacher. […] After Jerry had learned that the secret of Brother Leon lurked in his eyes, he became watchful, seeing the way the eyes betrayed the teacher at every turn.”

Jerry’s observations of Brother Leon again harken back to the allusion to Peter, to the difference between what people say and what they think, and the contrast between chaos and control. The metaphor of a “hell burning inside the teacher” also conveys religious overtones and suggests Leon is deeply evil.

“His head throbbed with shooting pains. His stomach was sensitive to the slightest movement and the lurching of the bus caused strange reactions in his body. It reminded him of when he was a kid and got carsick sometimes on trips to the beach with his parents so that they’d have to stop the car by the side of the road while Jerry either vomited or waited for the storm inside his stomach to subside.”

Jerry’s feelings demonstrate The Consequences of Challenging Institutional Authority. Like The Goober later in the novel, Jerry’s inner turmoil over The Moral Complexities of Resistance and Conformity has made him feel physically ill. The metaphor of the “storm inside his stomach” represents the chaos he has unleashed by continuing to defy authority.

“He was swept with sadness, a sadness deep and penetrating, leaving him desolate like someone washed up on a beach, a lone survivor in a world full of strangers.”

The vivid visual presented by this simile emphasizes Jerry’s status as an outsider and connects him with the image of the man on his poster. He has become reconciled to his role as the person willing to “disturb the universe” but already recognizes the cost of his actions.

“Funny, Obie thought, how everybody—the kids as well as the teachers—knew these stunts were planned or carried out by The Vigils and yet they still maintained that air of mystery, refusing to acknowledge it all. He wondered why.”

As with other moments when the characters wonder about something that goes unquestioned, this quotation demonstrates the ways The Dynamics of Power and Control and The Consequences of Challenging Institutional Authority keep everyone locked into their place in the social hierarchy. The power of The Vigils as an institution is that they are unquestionable, and here Cormier highlights the unwillingness of everyone in the novel except Jerry to question these traditions or disturb the universe.

“‘It’s what they do to us, Jerry.’ It was easier saying the words because they weren’t looking at each other, both staring ahead. ‘What they did to me that night in the classroom—I was crying like a baby, something I never thought I’d do again in my life. And what they did to Brother Eugene, wrecking his room, wrecking him…’”

The Goober’s brief monologue expresses The Turmoil of Adolescence and characterizes him as an empathetic person trying to reckon with the violence wreaked by The Vigils. This speech, delivered without looking at Jerry like a supplicant in confessional, is a turning point for him, as he explains the reasons why he will not give any more of himself to Trinity.

“Jerry had expected the school building to fall or something dramatic to happen. Nothing. He had seen Goober shake his head in dismay. But Goober didn’t know about this new feeling, the sense that his bridges were burning behind him and for once in his life he didn’t care. He was still buoyant when he arrived home, otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the courage to call all those Barretts and talk to the girl. It had been a miserable failure, of course. But he had made the call, taken a step, broken the routine of his days and nights.”

Cormier uses meiosis, or deliberate understatement for effect, in this passage to emphasize that something dramatic has happened–but the drama is internal, rather than external. Jerry’s outlook on life has changed, and the reference to the idiom “burned his bridges” suggests a deliberate disconnect between his past and his future. By breaking his routine, he dared to disturb the universe in other ways as well, such as calling a girl.

“The watercolor which was a major project has taken a week of painstaking work, simply because Jerry was not at his best in free art. He was more at ease with formal or geometric designs where the composition was well-defined.”

This quotation is a bit of subtle indirect characterization. Jerry’s talent for formal or geometric designs suggests he is most at home when following set rules. Thus, by setting off on an undefined course in his refusal to sell chocolates, he has entered a world he will need to navigate with “painstaking care.”

“I’m Jerry Renault and I’m not going to sell the chocolates.”

This is Jerry’s figurative shout into the void, his willingness to answer the question “Who do you think you are?” It demonstrates his determination to face his mortality, and his willingness to disrupt The Dynamics of Power and Control by taking The Consequences of Challenging Institutional Authority.

“That’s why he blew up. If you want to get under a guy’s skin, accuse him of being something he isn’t. Otherwise, you’re only telling him something he knows.”

Archie’s explanation to Emile continues his characterization as a close observer of human nature and someone more comfortable with the inner workings of psychological violence. Everything Archie does is “under the skin”—an idea he emphasizes on several other occasions by referring to his psychological tactics as “putting the needle in”—while Emile’s physical violence is external. It also suggests ironically that a lie is a more effective motivator than the truth.

“Staring at the inside of the locker, like looking into an upright coffin, he felt as though someone was trying to obliterate him, remove all traces of his existence, his presence in the school.”

The metaphor of the locker as “an upright coffin” connects with the motif of darkness and Jerry’s continuing exploration of his mortality; it tracks closely with his earlier thoughts about being buried alive and his mother at her funeral. By suggesting someone has prepared him a coffin, it is a reminder of the hyperbole from the novel’s opening that by its conclusion looks like a dire prediction: “They murdered him.”

“I can con anybody. I am Archie.”

Mirroring Jerry’s statement of his identity and refusal to sell the chocolates, Archie’s repeated assertions of his name and abilities in the final chapters of the novel emphasize the two characters’ roles as protagonist and antagonist. They also present a stark contrast between truth and lies, as Jerry plainly states his intentions while Archie manipulatively conceals his.

“‘You see, Carter, people are two things: greedy and cruel. So we have a perfect set-up here. […] That’s why it works, Carter, because we’re all bastards.’

Carter disguised his disgust. Archie repelled him in many ways but most of all by the way he made everybody feel dirty, contaminated, polluted. As if there was no goodness at all in the world.”

Archie makes a habit in the novel of pointing out painful and ugly truths. By pointing out this particular truth and characterizing “all” the students as “bastards”—a word often used by other characters to describe Archie himself, Archie suggests that everyone who has participated in his raffle is just as culpable for its results as he is. Carter’s response suggests that Archie’s willingness to confront such ugly truths is part of what gives him his power.

“He wasn’t at all sure whether he’d really been sick or whether his conscience had revolted, infecting his body, leaving him weak and nauseous.”

Goober’s physical illness emphasizes the physical consequences of moral rot at the heart of Trinity’s institutions and power dynamics. It also harkens back to Jerry’s feelings of nausea on the day after he refused the chocolates, suggesting the emotional Turmoil of Adolescence often manifests itself in physical conditions.

“Leon stood at the top of the hill, a black coat draped around his shoulders. In the reflection of the stadium lights, his face was like a gleaming coin.”

The imagery of light versus dark in this passage conveys Leon’s characterization as an evil force motivated by money and greed. He is the one who overextended the school’s finances and closely tracks the money received from the chocolate sale. The imagery of his face as a coin further highlights this connection, and his inaction during and after the boxing match demonstrates that he will excuse any sin for the glow of profit and power.

“He had to tell Goober to play ball, to play football, to run, to make the team, to sell the chocolates, to sell whatever they wanted you to sell, to do whatever they wanted you to do.”

Jerry’s unvoiced advice to Goober at the end of the novel demonstrates that he has learned the cynical lesson Archie intended—that resistance is not worth The Consequences of Challenging Institutional Authority. He now believes that conformity is the only way to survive.