Rebellion. Union. Independence. Thesse are omly some of the themes that are in the book I just finished reading "The Chocolate War" by Robert Comier. This book really taught me the true meaning of what it means to grow up and Coming of Age by creating characters who all had something to say different things about sections of growing up. This book is about a young teenager named Jerry Renault who has decided to fight against a secret society in Trinity high school called the Vigils because of his refusal to sell chocolates. This small refusal causes a whole out war and causes the Vigils to question their authoriety. This book holds a great significance to young readers and teaches many that Rebellion is necessary to growing up, Unison can help anyone get through life, and Independence is always going to be a main part in life.
Throughout this book, Jerry Renault has had complex emotions. In the beginning of this book, he wqas very quiet and let the universe interfere with his life. In the middle of the book, Jerry had finally began to rebel by not selling the chocolates, but wasn't taking action like how the Vigils were taking action on him. In the end of the book, Jerry had finally found the power and courage to fight back, and ended up being the bigger man.
Rebellion was one of Jerry's and the Vigil's stronrholds. Jerry, although he was practically a no body in Trinity high school, he bacme most wanted in the Vigil's eyes. When he rebeled, he was finally able to show the universe that he was maturing and growing up. Even some members of the Vigils rebeled against Archie, a leader of the Vigils, because they had thought that some of his methods of growing powerful and taking over the school were wrong.
Uniso keeps everyone together. This kept the members of the Vigils united. Even though the Vigils could be seen as the villains of this book, they too needed to stay united showing that even the evils of life needs to stay together. Throughout the book, the Vigils stayed united even though many of them didn't agree with the leaders of the Vigils at times in the book. They knew that if they didn't stay together, they couldn't be able to go against the universe themselves. Though there are some consequences of being dependent on others instead of your own self. It could cause you to have to follow the actions of others which will slowly lead to peer preasure.
Independence is important to practice beacuse it is necessary to go through the growing up stage and cross the bridge to adulthood. Jerry had to be independent throughout the book because no one really supported him and his rebellion. His mom had died a while ago and since that, him and his father seemed to have the most boring of life, or at least thats what they made it sound like when they were talking about their day. It was like he was against the universe.He had to become independent and believe in only himself that he could overcome this situation, wehich amazes me because he was practically against his entire school due to his rebellion and to some how find a way to still get through school and fight the Vigils was unbelievable. What was weird was how Jerry Renault was just one small kid who didn't even mean to start a war and yet there are hundreds of Vigil members and they couldn't stop him from keeping on his rebellion. He didn't even see his refusal to sell chocolates as a big thing and when the Vigils were talking about it, it sounded like they were a government that was debating what next to do to stop terrorist attacks.
In the end, Jerry Renault had started off with a low profile and a possible Vigil member and ended up being a main reason of why the Vigils almost lost all their power. I saw Jerry Renault as a quiet weapon with heavy artillary. He was at first just a minor student and seen like everyone else, then he refuses to sell chocolates and that changes everything. He was a very complex character. He saw his refusal as nothing, while the Vigils saw it as a crisis. He was very independent throughout the war, while Archie had the power, but seemed to not have the courage to do some things that he was sending the Vigil members to do. When Jerry refused to sell the chocolates, I felt like he was laughing inside and knew he had so much power and control of the Vigils because he didn't mean to start this war, but when he saw the effort the Vigils were putting in just to get him down, he saw himself as a major target. This book doesn't only teach what it means to grow up, it has other life lessons. One lesson is that even a small miracle can save the day because Jerry was that small miracle he taught the Vigils a powerful lesson. Life is a box of chocolates.
