Critical Review of The Chocolate War

            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.

Literacy History

            My literary history is sadly rather unspectacular.  A large majority of things I’ve read were assigned by various teachers throughout my student life, leaving me little time for reading of my own.  On the upside, my teachers did a good job of exposing me to a wide variety of genres along the way.  As a child, I highly enjoyed reading and did lots of it.  When I started reading as a student, things began to change.  Being forced to read made it difficult for me to be motivated, but I typically still enjoyed the stories once I got into them.

            As I got older, my relationship with literature only became more bitter than sweet.  The farther I got in school, the more I would have to read and I would have much less time to do it.  On top of that, most of my teachers were heavily bound by the standards imposed on their lesson plans, and they only had one mode of assessment.  Make me write papers.  This pattern has become extraordinarily tiresome.  To read a novel and then write about it can be a very time consuming and mentally draining process.  This is especially true when the process is repeated constantly, and the writing is expected to be of consistent high quality.  As a result, I have absolutely no desire to read, and this is especially true when it comes to my personal free time.  I will always love a good story but reading and writing just feel like work to me and cause me nothing but stress.  I think it will take a long hiatus from life as a student to bring me away from the dark side again.  At least I hope I can be redeemed. 

            As an aspiring future teacher, I will always be looking for new ways to effectively teach students about literature and understanding it effectively.  I am happy to report that our reading and discussion of The Outsiders has already helped me to look at instruction of literature in a new way.  I read The Outsiders as a seventh grade student and I didn’t really remember anything about it.  I now realize that I retained so little of the information because it was taught to me in a way that didn’t utilize the strong the story’s strong ability to relate to young students.  My disinterest as an unmotivated student kept me from taking the most important elements of the story seriously and my teachers did nothing to convey those aspects of the book.  I see now how great adolescent literature can be when it comes to motivating students to get into literature if it can be taught effectively, and the right issues are raised.

            If I ever do finally become a teacher, I will inevitably have to distinguish between good and bad practices in terms of instruction.  Experience has taught me that I should avoid unguided and unenthusiastic instruction at all costs.  These things along with negligence of the key points in stories like The Outsiders are part of what led to my burnout.  One thing my teachers did a good job of was making sure that students got a good variety of newer literature and the classics.  I think it is important to give kids that range so they can gain a greater overall appreciation of literature, and give them a chance to benefit from the qualities of many works.