One Theme of the novel “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier is to always stand up for yourself. In the passage, Jerry Renault refuses to sell the chocolates and his freedom even though the entire school is. When the Vigils hear that he has not followed his assignment, they plan revenge. They tell Jerry that he must take the chocolates, and that they are letting him off easy. The next day, Jerry again refuses to sell the chocolates even though the Vigils told him to take them. He knows what this will entail, but he sticks up for himself when Emile Janza is blackmailed by Archie Costello, the stolid Assigner of the Vigils, into beating up Jerry. Later, when Archie plans the boxing match, Jerry agrees to fight Emile because he is sticking …show more content…
He feels very guilty about what he did. This is his first change. He feels very sorry about what he did to Brother Eugene and is confronted by Archie not to say anything. Later, he decides to not sell chocolate to show support for Jerry, but the Vigils sales team sells his boxes for him and he returns to his locker crying. He stays home for a few days and then returns the day of the fight. At the fight Goubert tries to stop the fight, but he is not heard. After Jerry is defeated, Goubert holds him in his arms while the ambulance arrives. Overall, he changed in the following ways: He was an average student, Then he felt guilty, He wanted to stick up for his friend, He felt like he betrayed Jerry, He held Jerry in his arms as the ambulance came. I believe that this novel should be removed from the summer reading list due to the outcome and certain parts of the novel. In most stories, the protagonist wins, but in “The Chocolate War”, the antagonist wins despite our hopes. This creates an anti-climatic ending and caused me to dislike the entire novel. At the end, Jerry gives in to the Vigils and tells Goubert that it is not worth it to defy the Vigils. I was hoping that Jerry and Goubert would start a revolt against Brother Leon and the Vigils, but instead the students at Trinity acted like they didn’t care about the Vigils harassing