Character Analysis: The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is a book that provides a sneak peek behind the scenes at the harmony before the havoc. The book provides a look at how one person fights through the battle of finding oneself, trying to fix a mistake they made, and how it affects those around them.The Chocolate War begins with the line “They murdered him.” An opening that, at first lead to confusion, then became an enormous point of foreshadowing in the story.The author begins by creating a sensory image of our characters playing football, getting injured, and leading the reader to believe that this is what the story would be about. The book really is leading the reader into a complex cast of characters ranging from a money hungry headmaster to a student

After Jerry had watched the older boys go through the tunnel and leave the bay, he was left alone again. He then dived back in among the “fanged and angry boulders,” (3). This personification emphasizes a negative connotation that shows how frustrated Jerry is at this point in his adventure. He felt like he boys were “leaving to get away from him,” (3), which only further supports the notion that he feels alone and has no clue what to do. However, after he decides to get goggles, he ran right back and dived into the bay once more.

One minor conflict is between Jerry and his unresolved feelings toward his mother's death. These feelings, I felt, were mainly the reason he did not take the chocolates. Jerry is looking for a change in his life; a change to get him away from thinking of his mother. Another minor conflict is between Obie and Archie. Obie feels that he is always taking blame for Archie's doings. If Archie fails then Obie takes blame. If Archie succeeds then Archie gets the credit. Obie becomes angrier with each assignment Archie gives out.

Initially, our first thoughts of Jerry at the beginning of the story, is that he acts immature and is burdened within a circle of maternal protection. During the opening of the story, the author conveys Jerry’s relative childishness by labeling him as “the boy”. The author also uses the mother to demonstrate his youth and how he is trapped in a circle of maternal protection which leads us to think that he is lonely due to that reason. In this part, “His mother walks in front of him, carrying a bright white strap in one hand” tells us that because the mother was walking in front of him, it gives us the impression that the mother still thinks of him as a boy that needs to be protected from any potential harm. We see more of Jerry’s immaturity and how the burden of protection leads his actions as we go through the story. During the part where Jerry sees the group of boys acting free-spirited, we see that he is overcome with desire to be with them, probably because he feels that because he is always in the circle of protection making him feel lonely and isolated from everyone. At first, he is added into the group and begins to have fun jumping from the cliff into the water with the other boys. Later on however, he starts to act immature when he realizes he could not do the same thing the other boys were doing. That was, underwater for a long time and going through the dark tunnel and he becomes scared. In this passage,“... In a panic of failure, he yelled up, in English, “Look at me! Look!” and he began splashing and kicking the water like a

Jerry is haunted by his unimportance. He is unable to regain his composure after he overplays his rebellious actions. Defying the Vigils and Trinity takes its toll. Although

Perhaps if Jerry had a more forthcoming and open relationship with his father, the ending of the story could have changed.

This is important because Jerry is dejected after losing to Janza in the boxing match. Sometimes, disturbing the universe is not the right idea as you could feel broken and feel a big burden on

In the film, Jerry has no control of himself, his thoughts or anything going around in his life. He harbors negative thoughts. Moreover, when he goes to his friend at the garage who vouched for Grimsrud, he is unable to get access to the duo and thus totally lost control of the situation even though he had changed his mind. Epicureanism is also evident in the scene where Jerry shows frustration when removing ice from the vehicle. He was frustrated because he could not be like his father in law and upon realizing that he has been outwitted by the father in law decide to channel his frustrations on the windscreen.

The Chocolate War is a novel full of corrupt school spirit while they are fundraising to sell chocolates. There is little difference between teachers and students at Trinity High School because both teachers and students use psychological warfare, fear and manipulation. They both give assignments and punishments and they do not want their corrupt system to be disturbed.

In order for Jerry to achieve his goal, he had to prepare, practice, and sacrifice. To practice controlling his breath, Jerry exercised his lungs every day. Jerry exercised so much that his life depended on it. The stress he put in his body made his nose bleed every night after exercising. This event reveals that Jerry is maturing and is working really hard to control his breathing because of the goal he set for himself. As stated in the theme, Jerry is done preparing to control is breathing and is now practicing. Jerry wanted to see what was under the rock, so he decided to learn to control his breathing. After the first day of practicing, the longest he stayed underwater until his chest started hurting was fifty-two seconds. At night he dreamt of the cave in the rock, which motivated him to practice more. He became so concentrated at exercising his lungs every day that, “The day and the next, Jerry exercised his lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he would become, depended upon it. Again his nose bled at night, and his mother insisted on his coming with her the next day” (17). Jerry is determined to control his breath as the quote stated “Jerry exercised his lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he would become, depended on it” (17). He doesn’t care what gets in his way, even if his nose bled every night after exercising. Characterization

But now that Captain Lee Harden is running the camp, Jerry is upset that he is no longer running things. While Bus is gladly running things with Lee, Jerry is refusing to help out in any way, just because he dislikes Lee. Jerry isn’t actually against most of Lee’s ideas, but because he wants to be the leader, he is taking advantage of the situation by saying the exact opposite of what Lee says, therefore forming two clear divisions of Camp Ryder. Jerry doesn’t hardly care about the safety of the group, all he really wants is to have the power, the control of the group. What Jerry doesn’t realize he’s doing though, is that he’s ruining the precious tribal Camp Ryder hub that he loves so much, that he wants control

“You see Carter, people are two things: greedy and cruel.” (Cormier, 241) This quote said by Archie in The Chocolate War shows us the type of person Archie is. This quote not only describes the type of person Archie is it describes Brother Leon as well. Archie and Brother Leon are both very manipulative between abusing their powers and doing wrong things. Archie is the Assigner of the Vigils and is in position of power which causes students the be afraid of him. Archie and Brother Leon are really similar characters in “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier, with examples like both being cruel to students and manipulative.

By doing odd jobs around town for people, he earned a little extra money for his impoverished family. Jerry loved his family and just wanted the best for them even if it did not appear so all the time. For example, he took his son with him when he worked for Mr. Lorry, showing his son what honest work looked like. Jerry was kind to all of the ladies and gentlemen whom he ran into at Tellson's Bank. They might say that he was actually a nice man, who was just a little rough around the edges. A man will do whatever is needed in trying times.

     At first, the students of Trinity admire Jerry for refusing to sell the chocolates. “‘Boy, you really let Leon that bastard have it. Beautiful... I never thought of just saying no. Like you did... Boy, you’re cool you know that?’ the kid said admiringly” (Cormier 119-120). The only boys who are now selling the chocolates are “‘the eager beavers, the brown nosers... Leon’s pets, his special boys. So are the kids who still believe in school spirit’” (Cormier 139). Then, Obie notifies Archie that Renault is not following the assignment and is hurting the

Brother Leon won’t let you get away with it. “ By the end of the book Goober went to the rally when he was sick and tried to see if he could help Jerry possibly before it had begun or after it was over because he knew that he had no control of the unfolding events at the present time. At the very end of the book, after Jerry got beat up by Emile Janza, Goober helped Jerry and told him, “ Everything will be alright…” That was my idea of “good”, hole-hearted, honest, loyal, polite, and most of all a person who helps people when they are in need of help. Goober displayed those traits within the choices and responsibilities that he had throughout the book. Those are the qualities that I found very appealing and admirable. I admire him to the fullest extent and I would probably do the same thing if I were in hiss position.