Flashback: 'The Chocolate War' by Robert Cormier, 'We Don't Need No Education'
Posted by alli on 08-20-2008
I just finished The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier and I have to say I'm very depressed. I remember loving all of Cormier's books but I didn't recall any of the details of the stories at all. On this read, I could really see the true darkness in Cormier's vision.
All of Cormier's books deal with the alienation of the human experience, but The Chocolate War is one of those books that leaves you feeling just hopeless. Man, it's bleak. The Trinity School, the Catholic school our main characters attend, is a vision of adolescent male Darwinism–Cormier's interpretation of Golding's Lord of the Flies. It's devoid of women but not sexuality or primal competition. Of course I'm referring to the "masturbation" scenes which have made The Chocolate War the 3rd most banned book ever by the ALA. But this is hardly the most interesting, or disturbing aspect of the novel.
"Bullying 101" would be a good alternate title for The Chocolate War. And it has all the trappings: The headmaster is ill, leaving the twisted Brother Leon in charge of the students. The "Vigils" (a gang of students) bully the others; and on and on and on. They are cruel and extreme, but only as much as their leader Brother Leon, who emotionally abuses his students in humiliating and unethical ways. Centered around his evangelical enterprising zeal for a fundraising student chocolate drive, the novel exposes the essence of corruption, manipulation and malfeasance, and how it infects every layer of the socio-political strata. As the lead character, Jerry, defines himself through a kind of pacifist refusal to sell the chocolates, the novel pushes deep into territory that is, in truth, more adult in its sophistication. That the scene could explode into a near riot as Jerry is beaten bloody and unconscious exposes the lengths to which this (male) society will go to suppress reason and stifle individualism.
There is only one boy that verbalizes the evil, soul-sucking energy at Trinity– Jerry's friend Goober, and thank God for him. No one else in the book offers any hope for the human race or the ability to choose a different path. Jerry chooses to rebel against selling chocolates, but is violently attacked by ALL of his classmates for it. Goober simply bows out. He stops playing sports, quits the clubs he belongs to, and even stays home from school after participating in a particularly cruel prank on a teacher. We are made to believe that in Cormier's world those are one's only choices: Follow the pack, leave, or die.
Dismal.
I remembered the visceral impact The Chocolate War had on me as a young adult, but like I said, I didn't really remember the story. In the very last pages though it came back to me. (Oh yeaaaaah.) I very vividly recalled the last scene: As all of the students cheer and rejoice in the public beating of Jerry as he is brutally and violently defeated in a fixed boxing match, Brother Leon appears on a hill in the distance. He has been "tipped-off" by one of the students. He watches with joy as Jerry is finally rendered unconscious. As he turns away, satisfied, his image is the last thing Jerry sees.
So dark.
