The Chocolate War #2

            I’ve just finished reading The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier and I have to say it was an interesting book. As I came to the ending I just couldn’t put down the book until I was finished with it. Towards the ending Jerry starts to stand up to the bullies and The Vigils. He doesn’t back down from their beating and continues to do what he thinks is right. Jerry definitely changes in the ending through rebellion.   

            In the beginning of the book Jerry wasn’t really a tough guy. He wouldn’t stand up for himself. But the Vigils helped him with that problem of not standing up for what he thinks is right. Who would have thought that the Vigils, a secret society that basically put fear into everybody’s hearts in Trinity, would help Jerry rebel against them. The Vigils had given Jerry a task of not selling the chocolates for 1 week and then when that time was up he would accept them. But Jerry still refused to sell the chocolates after the 1 week. Later on the Vigils had told him again to sell the chocolates but Jerry still refused. Jerry was standing up for himself at those moments, even after he got beat up.

            I’m pretty sure that if the Vigils hadn’t given Jerry the assignment of not selling the chocolates people wouldn’t start thinking that it’s okay to defy the Vigils and get away with it. After all the Vigils started the spark of rebellion in a way, while Jerry carried it on. What Jerry thought was probably that he’s his own person and no one has control over him. This is where Jerry started to enter adulthood. He started to stand up for himself. But at the end why did Jerry go against his own belief? After he got beaten up so bad by one of the Vigils that he was knocked unconscious and bleeding really badly that he finally came up with his answer of the question “Do I dare disturb the universe?” His answer was no. He thought it wasn’t just worth it.

            There are bullies in this world that are almost like the Vigils. Which means there are also people who get hurt because it’s kind of obvious that there can’t be bullies if there aren’t people who stand up for themselves. The problem of bullies has been a problem for a very long time. People try to stop it but it doesn’t work. The people who get bullied want to stop it too but they don’t because they don’t know how. Well a solution to that might be, why not just stand up for yourself? People don’t have to do it alone. They can do it in a group and stand up against the one person that makes their living hell.