Jerry Renault isn’t quite sure what it means and by the time he figures it out, he comes to the realization that the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Jerry is a freshman at TrinityHigh School, an all boys Catholic high school. The school is run by two corrupt and manipulative forces: a secret society known as the Vigils, run by Archie Costello known as “The Assigner”, the other an underhanded Assistant Headmaster and teacher named Brother Leon.
Like many private schools, Trinity depends on fundraisers to keep afloat. "We have to tap every source of income…” Brother Leon explains to Archie as he asks for the Vigils assistance in selling twice as many chocolates this year at double the price. Brother Leon knows that through fear, intimidation, and ruthlessness Archie can “assign” his crew of underlings to do just about anything. And Brother Leon is counting on it as he has secretly overextended the school budget to purchase the chocolates. Archie agrees to fulfill his request, not out of any loyalty to the school, but realizing that he has Brother Leon right where he wants him, in a position of vulnerability and dependency, and Archie loves it. He is the master manipulator. He relishes the thought of having control over others. Brother Leon has played right into his hand.
After a confrontation with Brother Leon over one of his “assignments” and contrary to his promise, Archie assigns Jerry to refuse to sell the chocolates for the first ten days. Jerry complies with the “assignment” but at the end of the ten days when he is supposed to start selling the chocolates he refuses of his own volition. Jerry is seen as a hero for his continued refusal to sell the chocolates as many students are “so sick of selling the frigging chocolates.” This defiant act and admiration by the other students puts him in direct conflict with Archie who sees it as an attempt to usurp his authority and thereby the order of the universe that exists on campus. Archie sets his sights on teaching Jerry a lesson and he does so through relentless phone calls in the middle of the night, breaking into and destroying his locker, shunning by his classmates, attacking his sexuality, and ultimately hosting a physical pummeling of Jerry. In the end Jerry wants to tell his friend Goober that the rhetoric of “do your own thing” only works if “your own thing” happens to fall within the guidelines “of their own thing” and that it’s best to not “disturb the universe.”
This coming of age story although controversial at the time seems tame by today’s standards. But the universal truths implied by the book still hold true today. We do encourage independent thought in our youths. Teenage angst is seen as a normal course of events. But then we complain about it when it touches the fringes of what we have come to expect as “normal” or “moral” behavior. And all of this occurs when teenagers, with their unsophisticated minds, are least equipped to deal with it. Jerry was certainly unprepared to deal with “disturbing the universe” as he was coming to terms with the death of his mother and the realization that his father’s life was “dull…boring…humdrum.” He “wanted to do something, be somebody.” The thought of ending up like his father was quite frightening to him. This stage of life is a pivotal time as teenagers begin to contemplate a way to break free but still be a part of the collective whole.
Go to theboredofeducationbook.com for a realistic YA novel students love to read and teachers enjoy teaching. (Free teaching materials with class sets.)
The Chocolate War
Go to theboredofeducationbook.com for a realistic YA novel students love to read and teachers enjoy teaching. (Free teaching materials with class sets.)
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