After reading Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War I must admit that I do not see a lot of teachable moments here when it comes to adolescent students. Actually, even the parts that I do feel could be justified as relevant educational contributions require some reaching and they still have their pitfalls.
One of my major issues with The Chocolate War is that I was convinced throughout the majority of the book the story was about some loosely related events and of course, masturbation. To say The Chocolate War exhausts the topic of masturbation is putting it nicely. Do not misunderstand me. I am fully aware that masturbation is a common and normal practice for human beings and especially adolescents, and I am entirely accepting of this concept as truth. My issue with Cormier’s heavy use of masturbatory moments is that their unnecessary overexposure hurts the novel as a whole. My first reason for this belief is that Cormier’s intricate plotline shrouds itself in a bit of mystery and doesn’t really unfold until the reader gets toward the end of the story. In the mean time, the reader is only subjected to some seemingly unrelated and even pointless events, along with a healthy dose of masturbation. When nothing in the story has really come together yet, but the reader is completely surprise attacked by moments of self-pleasure that command more attention than the events surrounding them, young readers will more likely than not place the heavy focus on the masturbation instead of the events that they don’t realize could eventually be important to the story. If masturbation played a more important role in the story I would be more accepting of its frequent invasion, but it actually only has a significant impact on the story in one instance of the entire novel. Of course, I am speaking of the incident in which Archie Costello catches Emile Janza in a school restroom with, “one hand furiously at work between his legs” (Cormier, 99). Because Archie uses this incident to blackmail Emile into doing his dirty work, this particular use of masturbatory behavior is important. The others however, seem to be tossed in needlessly and usually at strange times.
Another aspect of The Chocolate War that causes me some confusion is the power of The Vigils. I think it safe to classify The Chocolate War as a piece of realistic fiction, but the power of The Vigils isn’t very realistic at all. It is clear that the faculty knows of its existence and even who its members are, but Cormier offers no concrete reasons for why The Vigils are allowed to operate or why anyone cares to do what they say (Cormier 26-27).
Aside from my numerous issues with The Chocolate War, I must admit there are a few ideas and principles invoked by Cormier that students should be exposed to. Jerry Renault’s refusal to lay down for anyone is more than admirable. Students should know the importance of standing up for themselves. Along the same lines, students should be aware of the reality that authority figures and the powers that be can sometimes be corrupt. However, I would never use The Chocolate War to teach these lessons because the book does not ultimately support them. In the end, Jerry lies broken for his efforts and the book closes with Brother Leon happy and Archie basking in his latest triumph (Cormier 248-253). I’d rather not convince students to give up before they ever try.
Word Count- 574
Source
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Random House Inc. 1974.
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