Cormier, Robert. The
Chocolate War. Knopf Books for Young Readers (1974). ISBN 978-0-3948-2805-3
Plot Summary
Jerry is
a student at a private Catholic school, called Trinity. A group of students called The Vigils,
secretly runs the school and makes students do initiation type things. When the annual school chocolate sale begins,
in which everyone is supposed to participate even if it’s not mandatory, the
quasi leader of the Vigils, Archie, tells Jerry to say he won’t sell the
chocolate for the first 10 days of the drive.
When the 11th day arrives, Jerry decides he still doesn’t
want to sell the chocolate so he says no again.
This insights the fury of not only The Vigils but the acting headmaster,
Brother Leon. Jerry becomes the target
of harsh bullying including prank phone calls and being beaten up by the school
bully, Emile. The Vigils, and Brother
Leon, decide to really end the chocolate sale with a bang when they organize a
boxing match between Jerry and Emile in which the students get to decide who
hits who and how. The fight is
eventually broken up but Jerry is almost beaten to death. Jerry ends the book by thinking he should
have just done what they wanted him to.
Critical Evaluation
I did
not like this book. Do I appreciate what
Cormier is trying to comment on? Definitely. But it seemed as if this bullying went too
far than it would have done in reality.
I would like to think that someone like Brother Leon doesn’t exist but I’m
sure he does. As has been seen in recent
years, it is obvious that teenagers can be terrible to other teenagers, maybe
as terrible as they are to Jerry. But
the fact that an adult would let this behavior continue, and even encourage it,
is hard to swallow.
Jerry
is a very likeable character, but at times I was just wishing he would sell the
chocolate. He was trying to make a point
of not wanting to do whatever everyone wanted him to, but I’m not sure it was
worth the bullying. Perhaps it was. If no one ever stood up for anything, we’d
all be living in ways we don’t want to. Jerry
is heroic. He sticks to his decision
even when he ends up thinking it was a bad idea. Love it or hate it, Cormier tells a story
that will remain with the reader for a very long time. Not just the story, but the meaning behind
it.
Reader’s Annotation
Can Jerry survive his decision to not participate in the
chocolate sale or will his individuality be the death of him?
Author’s Information
Cormier was a newspaper reporter who was able to capture
what motivates human behavior better than anyone. He has written many books featuring different
aspects of the human condition. An
interview and biography of Cormier can be found here: http://www.ipl.org/div/askauthor/Cormier.html.
Genre
Classics
Book Talking Ideas
Mentioning that this book made the ALA list of most banned
books of all time might peak some students’ interest. I’d ask them to think about what would happen
if they decided they didn’t want to sell chocolate for a school
fundraiser. Then I would tell them that
this book tells the story of the absolute worst consequences of not
participating in something everyone else is doing.
Reading
Level/Interest
12/15
Challenge Issues
There are so many things to challenge in this book that it
would be hard to combat them all. Realistically,
because this book is so old, there may not be too many new challenges in a
library setting. In a classroom setting,
all teachers can do is allow the option not to have a student read it. The bullying aspect is amazingly horrific but
not something that will turn children against one another. This book helps really drive the point home
about how much bullying can get out of control.
It can help parents and teachers be able to talk about how wrong
bullying is so, for that reason alone, it should be available to teens.
Why Include This
Title?
Robert Cormier is such an important YA author, and The Chocolate War such a controversial
book, that I felt it necessary to include this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment