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The Theme of Power in the Book "The Chocolate War"

Uploaded by spootyhead on Mar 08, 2007

The Theme of Power in the Book "The Chocolate War"


Power good or bad? The book Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, had many forms of power. The Vigils possessed power over Jerry, Goober, Brother Leon, the chocolate sale, and the school. This power that they possessed was used to manipulate the people and things for the further meant of the Vigils organization.

Is it possible to ruin someone’s freshman year with on small thing, or in Jerry’s case one small assignment? Jerry was told to rebel against the school. He was told to not except the chocolates during the chocolate sale. The chocolate sale is a Trinity tradition that’s been in place for years before. Then later on the Vigils gave Jerry another assignment. His new assignment was to take the chocolates. But Jerry then again rebelled, this time under his own will, against the Vigils. But the Vigils power was so great that they took care of Jerry’s quota. During a conversation between Jerry and Archie, at a Vigil meeting, Archie says, “Tomorrow at role call you will except the chocolates.”(138) This was the assignment Jerry rebelled against. This brought jerry lots of unwanted enemies. These enemies hurt Jerry physically and mentally.

Your conscience can determine how you live and feel. This is what happened to Goober. Goober was given an assignment by the Vigils. Goober’s assignment was to destroy room 19. He was to loosen all of the screws in the room. During a Vigil meeting, when Goober got his assignment, the narrator states, “ Goober nodded his head excepting the Vigil assignment like a sentence of doom.”(33) When Goober saw the look on Brother Leon’s face and the destruction that he caused he felt terrible about what he had done. What the Vigils made him do.

Can young make old feel powerless? That’s what the Vigils did to Brother Leon. Brother Leon knew that he couldn’t sell the chocolates without the backing of the Vigils. The chocolate sale was very important to Brother Leon because if he didn’t make the quota it would most definitely lead to his termination from Trinity High School. The reason being that he borrowed the money from a saving s that the school needed. During a meeting between Brother Leon and Archie, Archie being a major Vigil member, Archie...

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Uploaded by:   spootyhead

Date:   03/08/2007

Category:   Literature

Length:   4 pages (834 words)

Views:   3544

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