Thoughts On: Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War"

If Adolescent Literature is marked by a shift in focus toward learning how to “navigate” (Trites 3) the various forces and power at work within the world, then Robert Cormier’s "The Chocolate War" is a perfect example. It doesn’t require reading very far into Cormier’s novel to realize some of the key themes of the novel; the most prevalent of these themes being a look at power—who has it, the importance of submitting to it.
In "Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature", Roberta Seelinger Trites explains that there are various definitions of power. Max Weber, describes power as “the ability to impose one’s will upon the behavior of other persons” (Trites 4). Trites also gives Foucault’s definition of power—“that which represses” (4). At the simplest level—without fully researching how these two men explain the development of power to create exerting forces over the world—these two definitions seem to have much in common, and to Robert Cormier’s text which works in accordance to both of these definitions.
Max Weber’s definition deals with power on a personal level. Although he may explain that social forces, and not just people, can control other’s behavior, the definition indicates the human side of power. Take, for instance, Cormier’s characters Archie and Brother Leon. Both characters use the power on a personal level to get what they want out of others. This power is normally based, for both of these characters, on the ideas of manipulation and instilling fear in others with the threat of violence. Archie is able to assume an incredible amount of clout and power with not only the kids at his school, but the faculty as well. No one, except the hero of the story, can say no to Archie’s assignments. Each person “accept[s] the assignment like a sentence of doom, the way all the others did, knowing there was no way out, no reprieve, no appeal…” (Cormier 36). The manipulation that Archie is known for may seem superficial—convincing kids to do menial tasks such as unscrewing everything in a classroom to upset the teacher and disturb the class—however, the fact that he can still force other students to do them shows the extent of his power.
Brother Leon also has power over students and teachers alike. Although he requests Archie and the Vigil’s help in ensuring that the chocolate sale will go through, his request is somewhat of a farce. While Brother Leon seems to be giving power to Archie, he is really manipulating the boy and making sure that if he needs it, he will have plenty of say over the Vigils. When the chocolate sale continues to go poorly, Leon tells Archie “I don’t care about fun and game. I don’t care whether its Renault or your precious organization or the state of the economy…” (Cormier 156). Leon has played to Archie’s ego, and once the boy accepts the challenge given at the beginning of the novel, he becomes the scapegoat for the failure of the chocolate sale. Archie has very little choice except to give in to this man that he is actually afraid of.
Cormier’s novel is also a very good example of Foucault’s definition of power—“that which represses” (Trites 4). Trites spends time explaining how power does not have to come from a single person, but also from social forces at play within our world—Foucault’s ambiguous “that”(4). If we further question how Archie and Brother Leon came by and maintained their power, we would find that both rely on the same social forces that directed the world long before their time. For Archie, this power is found within the Vigils. Alone, he could probably do very little, and although Archie reinforces his own fearsome state using the power of the Vigils, he cannot remove himself from its influence over him. Archie’s own statement that Jerry will fight simply because of the peer pressure he will experience once he is on the stage, is the same knowledge that Carter and Obie use against him. When Carter asks why Obie is convinced that Archie will reach in the black box for the marbles, Obie replies “[b]ecause there are four hundred kids out there yelling for blood. And they don’t care whose blood it is anymore. Everybody in the school knows about the black box—how can Archie back down” (233). Obie is correct, the social pressure in standing before the entire student body is enough to “repress”(Trites 4) Archie’s own will.
Similarly, Brother Leon relies on social forces, and not just fear, in his control over the student body. He is their teacher and eventually their headmaster. Although he has a talent for making the students fear his violent temper, he also wields the power of the grades! It doesn’t take much to convince David Caroni to reveal Jerry Renault’s original reason for refusing to sell chocolates. When Brother Leon brings Caroni in for a discussion about an “F” that he has received, Caroni quickly realizes that it is a ploy to get him to talk about Renault. Caroni wonders, “[w]ere teachers like everyone else, then? Were teachers as corrupt as the villains you read about in books or saw in movies or television?” (Cormier 107) There is no repercussion, however. As a teacher, Brother Leon has full say over the grades that his students received. This power is given to him by the same social forces and expectations that require all students to submit to authority.
Cormier’s novel is no doubt a study of power, but the question that remains is: what is the purpose? As Trites mentions, there are quite a few similarities between Cormier’s novel and William Golding’s "The Lord of the Flies" (24). Still, Cormier must have had an express intent in writing "The Chocolate War" beyond creating a similar story to Golding. Although Foucault would interpret the story to be a warning of what happens when someone does not submit to the ever-present dominating forces, even Trites cannot fully agree with this explanation (4-5). Perhaps Cormier’s intent was to show the affects of power in a real world setting—it would be easy enough to brush off the horrible actions of the boys in "The Lord of the Flies" as something that would only happen under extreme circumstances. There is something about Cormier’s novel that most of us can relate to. Although the repression that most of us have experienced at both the personal and social levels are not nearly as extreme as in "The Chocolate War", there is little doubt that it does exists.



Work Cited

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004.

Trites, Roberta Seelinger. Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature. New York: U of Iowa P, 2004.