The Chocolate War

The third-person narrative shifts to the perspective of a student named Obie, who is watching the football tryouts from the bleachers with another student named Archie. Obie thinks about how bored and tired he is, and about how much he hates Archie, whom he calls a “real bastard” for making him late for work. Archie tells him not to swear or he’ll have to go to confession, and Obie suggests Archie has more sins to atone for than he does.

Archie tells Obie he would be happy to be fired since he hates his job, and Obie reveals that he couldn’t lose the job anyway, because his boss is a friend of the family. The boys continue their true reason for watching the tryouts: to select 10 boys who will receive an “assignment” from the secret student-led society known as The Vigils, to be given by Archie, who is The Assigner of the group. The administration of Trinity ignores their existence because The Vigils use psychology, rather than violence, to keep the students scared. Archie and Obie select two more students for their list, Roland Goubert and Jerry Renault. As they choose, they consult a notebook full of details about each student, noting that Jerry’s mother recently died of cancer. Obie pleads mercy for Jerry and suggests Archie choose someone else, but Archie suggests some “therapy” will do him good and says they will assign Jerry to chocolates without further explanation.

Jerry is in a store sneaking a look at a copy of Playboy magazine. He returns the magazine but recalls the time he brought one of the magazines home. He didn’t know where to hide it. Terrified that someone would find it, he threw it away. Jerry wonders whether a girl will ever love him.

At the bus stop, Jerry watches the people on the Common across the street: “Hippies. Flower Children. Street People. Drifters. Drop-Outs” (18). He feels fascinated and envious of their carefree lives and is startled when one of them confronts him for staring. He tells Jerry that they’re people too and that Jerry is already middle-aged and stuck in a routine, that he’s missing out on life. These insults unsettle Jerry, who boards the bus and yanks off his tie.

Brother Leon calls Archie to his office and outlines the goals of the annual Trinity chocolate sale. He explains that he got a special deal on chocolates in Mother’s Day packaging. Archie listens to Brother Leon and admires his pretended calm despite the man’s nervousness, which Archie senses. Archie points out that each student will have to sell 50 boxes for two dollars each when usually they only have to sell 25 boxes for a dollar each, so “everything is doubled” (24).

Brother Leon suggests Trinity students care more than other students, but Archie knows Leon is manipulative and must have another motive. Leon explains that many private schools are closing as costs increase and income drops, and since most of Trinity’s students are from middle-class families rather than generationally wealthy ones, they need to find creative sources of revenue. He tells Archie the Headmaster is ill, which means Leon is in charge in the interim. Without saying the name of the group—because officially The Vigils do not exist—Brother Leon tells Archie he will need their help to make sure all the boys sell their 50-box allotment of chocolates. Archie plays it cool for several minutes, then promises. He says “Vigils” aloud to a teacher for the first time then leaves the room.

Roland Goubert—The Goober—stands before Archie, who drills him with questions and insists The Goober address him as “sir.” Archie wonders to himself why he enjoys playing manipulative mind games with students before he gives them assignments. He admits to himself that he likes thinking several steps ahead of everyone else and likes building “the house nobody could anticipate a need for” (31).

They are at a meeting of The Vigils, held in a small windowless room behind the gym. Carter, the president of The Vigils, urges Archie to stop playing games with The Goober and give him his assignment. Archie tells The Goober he must go into Brother Eugene’s classroom and loosen every screw, just to the point where they are about to fall out. The Goober protests the time commitment but accepts his assignment.

Carter removes the Black Box, which contains five white marbles and one black marble. The box is a Vigils tradition. It keeps The Assigner from creating overly outrageous tasks. If Archie draws the sole black marble, he will have to conduct the assignment in The Goober’s place. Archie has never drawn the black marble. He draws a white marble.

In Brother Leon’s classroom, Jerry watches him wave “the pointer he used either like a conductor’s baton or a musketeer’s sword” (38). Leon calls Bailey to the front. He explains that discipline must be maintained and then strikes Bailey across the cheek. Jerry wonders whether this was accidental or deliberate. He believes the teacher is capable of anything. Leon’s cruelty is emphasized when he demands that Bailey publicly explain why he cheats. Bailey denies cheating, so Leon uses circular logic to confuse him. He argues that because Bailey gets A’s he is either a cheat or a genius. Since Bailey does not claim he’s a genius, Leon concludes he cheats. “Only God is perfect, Bailey. [...] Do you compare yourself with God, Bailey?” (43). Bailey holds up through the questioning. Someone from the back finally urges Leon to leave him alone.

The bell rings, but Leon holds the class back. He tells them Bailey is brave but they are cowards: they either enjoyed Bailey’s torment or simply allowed it to happen, that the protest was insufficient and untimely. He compares the students to citizens in Nazi Germany and tells Bailey his peers cheated him. After this, he dismisses the class.

Archie approaches Emile Janza, who is siphoning gas from another student’s car, and asks him what he is doing. Emile is described as a brute, one who likes to torment students and teachers alike. Since fourth grade, Emile has been choosing “victims” who will do anything to avoid trouble, even if that means allowing him to steal their lunch money or embarrass them. He delights in petty torments like announcing that someone has bad breath or leaving unflushed toilets in the bathroom.

Archie calls Emile “a beautiful person” (49) for having the guts to siphon another student’s gas in the middle of the day, but Emile insists Carlson would never press charges anyway. He asks Archie about “the picture,” but Archie walks away because he wants to keep Emile nervous, suggesting Archie intends to use the mysterious picture as extortion for some future purpose.