I sometimes read any books, without any purpose, just for killing time. Because this book, “The Chocolate War” (by Robert Cormier), has occupied my small, shabby bookcase for a long time, it was no wonder that I picked up the book one day. Anyway, it was not a thick book at all, and even didn’t look difficult to read. Besides, the word “chocolate” in the title enticed me (becuause I like chocolate), though the following word “war” was somewhat skeptical to me. In the end, it turned out that this “chocolate” was nothing to do with some kind of “sweet” things that I had imagined. :) However, this book seems to be an interesting book in the genre of young adult literature. This book won many awards, such as An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, A New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year. And the movie version was made in the 1980s. Isn’t it enough reason to read?
Here’s the story.
Jerry Renault is a freshman at Trinity High School. In this school, there are the Vigils, a secret school society who keep the other students under control by giving cruel assignments. Brother Leon is an assistant headmaster and he wants the students to sell twice as many boxes of chocolates during their annual chocolate sale. The Vigils give Jerry an assignment to refuse to sell chocolate during the first ten days of the sale. But, after ten days, he still refuses to sell chocolate and this makes Brother Leon and the Vigils and all of the students in the school furious. The Vigils threaten him mentally using phone calls and make him feel fear. Archie, the assigner of the Vigils, manipulates the situation to make Jerry an outcast in the school. He uses Zanza, who is a bully and animal-like boy, to make Jerry a victim of harassment and violence. In the end, the Vigils make Jerry participate in a boxing match. In the boxing match, Jerry is beaten and severely injured. That’s it.
Obviously, this is a book to make me think a lot. As a challenging book, it makes me ask a lot of questions about symbolic meanings that the story contains. For example, Jerry’s poster presents the theme of the book in a simple way. The chocolates become a symbol of defiance and nonconformity, not just for Jerry, but for the entire school. However, the whole story makes me feel uncomfortable in dismay. The realistic description about the truth of the universe where we live makes me disgusted in some way. The result of the confrontation between Jerry and the Vigils that symbolize the order/rule of the society is so miserable and makes me frustrated. It is true that this is a good book in that there are many controversial ideas in it. However, it depicts psychological and physical violence too directly and vividly, and I felt nausea in the cruel ending.
Personally, I don’t like this kind of story, because I don’t have guts to endure the misery of innocent people. Consequently, this book made me depressed and gloomy.
Here’s the story.
Jerry Renault is a freshman at Trinity High School. In this school, there are the Vigils, a secret school society who keep the other students under control by giving cruel assignments. Brother Leon is an assistant headmaster and he wants the students to sell twice as many boxes of chocolates during their annual chocolate sale. The Vigils give Jerry an assignment to refuse to sell chocolate during the first ten days of the sale. But, after ten days, he still refuses to sell chocolate and this makes Brother Leon and the Vigils and all of the students in the school furious. The Vigils threaten him mentally using phone calls and make him feel fear. Archie, the assigner of the Vigils, manipulates the situation to make Jerry an outcast in the school. He uses Zanza, who is a bully and animal-like boy, to make Jerry a victim of harassment and violence. In the end, the Vigils make Jerry participate in a boxing match. In the boxing match, Jerry is beaten and severely injured. That’s it.
Obviously, this is a book to make me think a lot. As a challenging book, it makes me ask a lot of questions about symbolic meanings that the story contains. For example, Jerry’s poster presents the theme of the book in a simple way. The chocolates become a symbol of defiance and nonconformity, not just for Jerry, but for the entire school. However, the whole story makes me feel uncomfortable in dismay. The realistic description about the truth of the universe where we live makes me disgusted in some way. The result of the confrontation between Jerry and the Vigils that symbolize the order/rule of the society is so miserable and makes me frustrated. It is true that this is a good book in that there are many controversial ideas in it. However, it depicts psychological and physical violence too directly and vividly, and I felt nausea in the cruel ending.
Personally, I don’t like this kind of story, because I don’t have guts to endure the misery of innocent people. Consequently, this book made me depressed and gloomy.
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