How To Write An Essay On The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War is a story which takes place in New England in the 1970's. Most of the events happen in a Catholic school. Since this school was exclusively for boys, they were constantly trying to prove their power over each other. The story is told in third person omniscient. The story's mood is suspenseful. With each page turn one wonders if Jerry will take or refuse his chocolates. The protagonist of this story is Jerry Renault and the antagonist in Archie Costello. Jerry is a very quiet fifteen year old boy. He is also the quarterback for the Trinity High junior varsity football team. He is a very troubled individual due to his mother's

Robert Cormier wanted the characters be different, he did not make them how others wanted, being socially acceptable, he wrote the book how he thought it should have went in his mind, and doing so he gave the readers some new to read not just the everyday novel. Cormier gives the reader many examples of figurative language to express the real meaning of the story for example, “Caroni watched the chalk in Brother Leon’s hands, the way the teacher pressed it, rolled it, his fingers like the legs of spiders with a victim in their clutch.” (90) In this quote Cormier gives a similar to exaggerate about how Brother Leon was holding the chalk in his hands. It sends a powerful message to the reader that Brother Leon is a horrible man, who had no mercy and he is seen by others as a powerful administrator in the school using quid-pro-quo in his own evil type of way. Cormier also uses more figurative language to give a specific emotion that Cormier was trying to express throughout his novel, that not every time someone disturbs the universe something good comes out of it. “What happened with Renault was bad enough, but there was violence in the air.”(209) This quote is the the example that even though Renault did disturb the universe and did try to stop the chocolate sale, he failed and something bad happened to him for trying. In the end Jerry's attempts to stop the chocolate sales failed, and still there was still violence in the air meaning the enemy he tried to defeat was angry, but still undefeated. And many readers dislike Cormiers way to end the book in a way that the hero does not defeat the villain(s). Like Richard Peck said ”The young will understand the outcome. They won’t like it but they’ll understand.” (10) And this is exactly what Cormier had in mind when he was writing the book, that the readers wouldn’t like the ending, but

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 Renault in The Chocolate War appears to be “going with the flow”—trying out for football, checking out girls—but his inner character drives him to differ. He fights to grasp his feelings and lacks self-confidence when he needs it most. As Jerry begins to unearth his inner-self, other obstacles and ideas dealing with certain emotions arise. As he progresses and reaches a level of comprehension, he grows closer to his goal—a sense of self-rule.

The characterization of Jerry illustrates the stages of maturing and becoming independent. In the beginning of the story, Jerry is depicted as young and immature. The immaturity of Jerry is shown when he is trying to capture the older boys’ attention. In order to capture their attention, “he began splashing and kicking in the water like a foolish dog.” This action conveys that Jerry is still immature, and wants to join the older kids. After seeing the boys pass through the tunnel, Jerry also wants to pass through in order to be a part of their group. In order

Jerry demonstrates how powerful the ability to choose your own actions is. Kevin; a future vigils member was talking to Danny about how they wanted the freedom to not sell the chocolates as shown is this quote. “‘I think maybe that Renault kid’s got the right idea...and said he wasn’t going to sell the junk...I'm getting sick of selling stuff...the kids probably got the right idea’”(Cormier,112). They envy jerry, that he doesn’t have to sell the chocolates. They also wish they had the guts to stop selling the chocolates. But not selling the chocolates does come with a price to pay. “‘I won’t sell their chocolates whether they beat me up or not, and I'm not a fairy, not a queer’”(Cormier,173).

Thematic Essay In this book, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, a boy named Jerry Renault, the protagonist, tries to go against the whole school by refusing to sell chocolates that are required to be sold. However, Renault faces consequences as he is confronted with bullying and abuse from Archie and the Vigils. Jerry felt the pain that happens when he tried to “disturb the universe.” Bothering the natural order in a school can hurt you,

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.

“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.

A memorable character in the book, the Chocolate War, would be Jerry. Jerry showed a great deal of self-confidence that grew within himself as the book went on. Jerry's self-esteem gradually increased throughout time and allowed him to stand up for himself. Jerry tried to start out at a new high school and didn't want to stand out as a freshman. Little did he know; he would be the main talk of the school.

Cormier’s The Chocolate War uses the theme of “disturbing the universe” and its consequences as the main conflict between Jerry and the established order of The Vigils and Brother Leon. Before Jerry, The Vigils ruled the school without any opposition to their authority. The group caused trouble and mayhem, like destroying Room Nineteen or causing psychological harm in their victims, without worry of the consequences from those involved or the school. When Jerry defied them, he showed the other students that The Vigils were not the all-powerful group the boys believed them to be. To reestablish their dominance, The Vigils torment Jerry both physically and psychologically for daring to defy them. However the most troubling part is that the adults

Robert Cormier was born on January 17th, 1925. He was born in Leominster, Massachusetts. His parents were Lucien Joseph and Irma M. Cormier. Robert was the second of his eight siblings. When he was a child he enjoyed reading books and staying home. When Robert reached 7th grade he knew he wanted to become a writer. He wrote his first short story “The Little Things Count.” Robert began his career by writing scripts for radio commercials. Robert worked for 31 years as a newspaper reporter. He wrote and published his first novel for teenagers “The Chocolate War” in 1974, Robert quickly developed a reputation of being a brutally plain, uncompromising writer. With The Chocolate War it received mixed reviews at the time because most of its contents were censored and although it was considered one of the best young adult novels of all time, many schools banned it for sexual content, offensive language, and much violence. Robert was married to Constance Sehay, Connie, they had 4 children. Robert Cormier died on November 2nd, 2000 in Boston, Massachusetts from lung cancer.

Many people often meet different characters in literature and in life that they admire or despise. They conclude if those characters are good or evil and at the same time they reflect on the choices and responsibilities that those characters have. From The Chocolate War I admire Roland Goubert or The Goober based on his actions. I despise Archie Costello (The Assigner of The Vigils) because of the choices that he made and also because of his actions.

The Chocolate War is a novel written by Robert Cormier and published in 2014. This book is a young adult novel that tells a story of high school freshman Jerry Renaults. He attends an all boys’ Catholic High School called Trinity and makes the football team after his mom passed away the summer before his freshman year. Jerry throughout the book ponders the question on the poster in his locker: Do I dare disturb the universe? Trinity holds an annual chocolate sale and Jerry refuses to participate in his school's annual candy. When Jerry doesn’t participate in the chocolate sale, he challenges a secret school society called The Vigils. The Vigils is an evil secret society that manipulates people to help protect the universe from harm. His refusal to sell chocolate turns into an all-out war where he has to survive against The Vigils.

In the book Scrawl by Mark Shulman. Tod the main characters in the book. Tod Munn is a bully. He's tough, but times are even tougher. The wimps have stopped coughing up their lunch money for Tod. The administration is cracking down on the problem . Then to make things worse. Tod and his friends get busted for doing something bad. Something very bad. Lucky Tod must spent his daily detention in a hot room.