The Chocolate War - Essay Example

?Howard Liu Stephen Miller English 12 Period C 09 November Preserving the Status Quo: A Violent Presentation in The Chocolate War “My is Jerry Renault and I’m not going to sell the chocolates,” he said to the empty apartment. The word and his voice sounded strong and noble. --Robert Cormier 1974, 177 Talks on issues concerning justice are very difficult particularly when the issues relate to the absence of justice; hence The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is a very difficult narrative. The story is about Jerry Renault, a high school pupil in an exclusive boys’ school, who musters the courage to ‘disturb the universe’ or, simply, to defy the prevailing order—status quo—by stubbornly turning down the command to sell boxes of chocolate. And, more importantly, the violence in the football field, where Jerry Renault is attacked by a gang of kids, shows how physical violence, and the consequent psychological and emotional effect of this unpleasant experience on the victim, effectively maintains the status quo which favors the powerful few. Brother Leon, the temporary headmaster, orders the head of The Vigils, an underground faction, to deal with the problem in what becomes an extremely violent task. The brutal violence inflicted on Jerry in the football field presents a case of ‘injustice’. One of the remarkable expressions of physical violence or, bullying, in The Chocolate War is the incident in the football field. The novel is in fact replete with depictions of bullying, both physical and psychological. The football field incident serves a major representation of bullying in the novel because it comprises both physical violence, or the actual beating up of Jerry, and psychological violence, or the psychological or emotional after effects of the incident on Jerry. Bullying in this novel is one of the primary instruments used by the powerful individuals and groups to ensure the continuance of the status quo. This bullying strategy is shown in the following scene (Cormier 1974, 7): Voices: Get him! Get him! Hit him! Hit him! Don’t let him get away! Grab him! Take him down! Kill him! Bury him! (two loud whistle blasts are heard from offstage) 1st voice: They murdered him! The Vigils are a faction that is somewhat perhaps the machinery of the school that sustains its operations; however, the school does not officially recognize the Vigils as such. The group is informally recognized by the school because of its major contribution to the institution’s funding. This faction assigns different ‘tasks’ to various individuals. Jerry receives one of these tasks. When Jerry refuses to sell boxes of chocolate for the school’s fundraising program, the school is suddenly thrown into depraved chaos for the Vigils are not to be defied (Cormier 1974, 10): Goober: Jerry!... Jeez, Jerry. What did you do it for? Jerry: I don’t know, Good. That’s the truth, I don’t know. Goober: You’re asking for trouble, Jerry. Jerry: Goob, it’s not the end of the world. Four hundred kids are selling chocolates. What does it matter if I don’t? Goober: Brother Leon won’t let you get away with it. And what about the Vigils? As a punishment for Jerry’s insubordination the powerful group orders the violent attack on Jerry at the football field. The command is of course fulfilled, and Jerry gets mugged by a gang in the football field. The psychological effects of this incident on Jerry are manifold, yet one worth mentioning is the psychological effect that forces him to abide by the rules and finally succumb to the ‘forces of the universe’. The most significant message the football field violence conveys is the power conflicts and competition between the individuals and the Vigils who struggle to maintain the status quo. Within the classroom the powerful individuals load their minds with academic concepts and ideas, but they find out the things they will need to go through adulthood successfully through relationships with peers and the influential people who tell them that the world, or that life, is unfair; hence, they will either be subjugated or have to compete for power or authority themselves, but they can never ever break the status quo, or the cycle of oppression. The Chocolate War is a vivid tale of a protagonist who tries to overcome the oppressive system but in the end gets beaten up by the agents of this system. According to the internationally renowned novelist, Michael Crichton (2009), ‘state of fear’ represents a setting where in the status quo is maintained by the state through the creation of ideas that incite public ‘fear’, like global warming. This fear, according to Crichton, cripples the ability of the people to question authority and destabilize order. In The Chocolate War, this ‘state of fear’ is created by setting an example, through Jerry. The mugging of Jerry in the football field bears witness to the power of the Vigils and the individuals, like Brother Leon, to effectively subjugate those who try to defy them. The Vigils is a perfect illustration of a repressive institution, which is imposing and has the capacity to force anyone into a specific code of conduct. Other examples of this repressive institution are the military and law enforcers. For instance, law enforcers have the authority to ensure that everyone complies with city ordinances in that they can penalize offenders, or the military has the authority to forcibly subdue public commotions. Hence, the school is another example of a repressive institution for students. Violation of school policies can lead to mild to severe punishments, from warning to kicking out. The Vigils is also a perfect model of an ideological institution in that they ‘convince’ students to carry out tasks through a restrained fear of the group’s authority and influence. This presence of fear is somewhat notable since the attack on Jerry at the football field. The consequent effect of the incident on Jerry and the other students embody a more understated bullying method that operates on the domain of the unconscious. The repressive and ideological powers of the Vigils are vital to the survival of the school. For instance, the words of Brother Leon manifest these ideological and repressive powers: “Those of you who are true sons of Trinity, that is. I pity anyone who is not” (Cormier 1974, 86). Yet, the insubordination of Jerry proves that power is not an element that an individual has and wields against other people. Rather, power is an element awarded by the subordinates who agree to be ruled. This permission can be removed whenever, which may require the execution of more ‘convincing’ techniques that could involve violence. Although the Vigils are not formally recognized by the teachers and administrators of the school, they are still silently ignored because they make up the intricate power structure of the institution exercised to manipulate and persuade the students to abide by certain behavioral standards. As mentioned by Archie in his secret rendezvous with Brother Leon, “The Vigils kept things under control. Without the Vigils, Trinity might have been torn apart like other schools had been by demonstrations, protests, all that crap” (Cormier 1974, 25). Aside from the Vigils, the other powerful elites are Brother Leon and Archie. Both are embodiment of how the power of men works. Both are the same in the way they exercise authority. Archie “disliked violence—most of his assignments were exercises in the psychological rather than the physical” (Cormier 1974, 14), and this intimidation technique resembles that of Brother Leon. Although there is constantly the menace of physical violence for defiance, that physical violence is carried out by people under them, just like the ones who beat up Jerry in the football field. The football activities of Jerry foretell upcoming occurrences in the story. Jerry does not give up his identity in a group much larger than his own world. Rather, the ache of being attacked and mugged makes him sick, and experience the nagging truth that “he had never felt so lonely in his life, abandoned, defenseless” (Cormier 1974, 7). After experiencing all the pains of violence for his defiance, he advises Goober to follow and never defy the status quo because it is useless to challenge the universe. The great forces of the universe are absolutely strong to effectively conquer. Jerry, the epitome of a ‘rebellion’, is finally crushed by the status quo (Cormier 1974, 259): They tell you to do your thing but they don’t mean it. They don’t want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too. It’s a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don’t disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say. Robert Cormier makes use of the appeal of the title as a symbol for all kinds of conflict between institutions and individuals, and the novel’s structure stresses this idea. The events are unjustly balanced, as if the students are being chocked by the prevailing rules and system of the school, and these severe depictions are contrasted with the images that represent the students’ aspiration to escape. There is apparently a bigger societal relevance of Jerry’s struggle against the forces of the universe of the powerful elite, but The Chocolate War is also a remarkable story of a boy’s pursuit of justice, but one of failure. Robert Cormier vividly shows here that we should give up the attempt to challenge the status quo; that it is not worth it to fight for a reasonable cause. Works Cited Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1974. Print. Crichton, Michael. State of Fear. New York: Harper Collins, 2009. Print. Read More