Title: The Chocolate War
Author: Robert Cormier
Pages: 1-66
Chapters: 1-9
SUMMARY: The book is narrated in a third person omniscient viewpoint. Jerry Renault is the protagonist in the story. The story starts off in a football field setting where Jerry is crushed by the game. Jerry wants to play football but he is not so good at it so the coach tells him to practice more. The school (Trinity) is literally ran by a group called 'The Vigils.' They are supposed to be unknown/under cover and no one dares to even whisper their name although every one knows about them. The president is Carter who is in the football team but he doesn't control the group. The assigner's name is Archie Costello and he controls the whole group. Everyone is afraid of him and exalt him of his wisdom and quickness. The school has teachers who are also afraid of Archie. Brother Leon is one of the ignorant teachers who always trick his students into a trap. Brother Leon implored Archie
in helping him sell twenty thousand boxes of candies. By Archie's help, he meant 'The Vigils' help but he couldn't say the word. Jerry's mom had passed away and he is alone with his dad who works overnight shifts and doesn't have so much to talk to Jerry. Jerry thinks that his dad's life should be very insipid because there is no excitement. Archie has an assistant whose name is Obie. As Archie picks a boy from the football team, Obie writes down the person's name and his information. Archie then assigns the job. The Vigil's notebook has more information from family history to medical records compared to the school's record book. Archie assigns 'The Goober’ who is a new boy in the football team to loosen all the screws in Brother Leon's room overnight. When Archie assigns an assignment, there is a pin drop silence and the vigils surround the person who takes the assignment. There is a black box which contains six marbles: five of them white and one of them black. If the assigner picks the black marble, he has to carry out the assignment but Archie had always beaten the box for 3 straight years.
QUOTATION: "But everyone knew that the head of The Vigils was The Assigner, Archie Costello, who was always one step ahead of them all" (Cormier 32).
REACTION: My reaction was that Archie is beautiful. His wisdom shakes the knees of the whole Vigils with ease. Wisdom is stronger than strength. The president was Carter, the muscle Archie needed to keep things in order. His errand boy was Obie who followed his instructions although he hated him. The ways Archie responds and assigns things are amazing. This quote alone proves how strong Archie is. He is just a skinny guy but mentally he is the strongest and smartest. You cannot defeat the power of wisdom with physical strength. The book is written in a third narrator omniscient view so it feels like the reader is in the story spying over all the characters. The tense situation brings out the chills. Comparing it to the film To Kill A Mockingbird, it is almost as if the reader is Boo Radley, viewing things in his perspective.
who is the main character, Jerry or Archie?
ReplyDeletedoes the narrator get inside both their minds?
are the Vigils "good," or who are you rooting for in the book?
Jerry is the main character. Although, he is not described so much in these early chapters. The vigils play a main role in this book. It will eventually lead up to a huge conflict.
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