The Chocolate War

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1974

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-23

Chapters 24-33

Chapters 34-39

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary

Brother Leon cheerfully calls roll, and each student accepts their allotted 50 boxes of chocolate to sell. The Goober, meanwhile, feels depressed over his role in the destruction of Brother Eugene’s room. Rumors have made him an underground hero, but Brother Eugene has not returned to school and The Goober feels like the other boys are keeping their distance. Archie has warned him not to say a word if he gets interrogated by Brother Leon, intensifying his general feeling of unease.

Leon calls The Goober’s name and interrupts his reflections. He impresses the significance of the chocolate sale upon Goober. He emphasizes that each student has the right to turn down his quota and that the school “merely administers the project. It’s your sale, your project” (80). Goober accepts his boxes and roll call continues as he lapses back into morose reflection on the impacts of his assignment.

When Jerry’s name is called, he says “no” to taking the chocolates, and silence falls over the classroom. Students laugh awkwardly, and Leon repeats that the sale is voluntary, but points out every other student has accepted his responsibility. Jerry repeats his “no.” Leon moves on to other students and dismisses the class.

Chapter 14 Summary

Brother Leon calls out each student’s name every day in class, and they respond with the total number of boxes they have sold so far. Leon calls Jerry’s name each day, even though everyone knows Jerry will continue to refuse to sell the chocolates.

The narrative follows several other students as they attempt to sell chocolates for varied reasons, none of which are school spirit or a particular love for Trinity. John Sulkey is known for his ability to sell anything Trinity asks of the students, winning prizes and praise that compensate for his poor grades. Tubs Casper needs money to buy a bracelet for the girl he loves, believing that if he can buy her the bracelet he will be rewarded with physical affection. The only thing Paul Costello likes about selling them is that it gets him out of the house, so he doesn’t have to think about his parents’ repetitive and meaningless lives.

Brother Leon makes Brian Cochran Treasurer of the Chocolate Sale. Brian tallies sales totals and compares the number of boxes sold with the amount of money turned in. He recalls that every year the money comes in late, but this year Brother Leon is frantic about having all of it right away. As he runs the totals, he notes they are worse than last year, and he realizes Leon falsely reported the number of boxes sold. He wonders if it is an attempt to get the students more excited about the sale. Jerry continues his refusal to sell chocolates.

Chapter 15 Summary

Emile asks Archie if he still has “the picture” and if he’d be willing to sell it to him. Archie says it is the best picture he’s ever taken, and it is not for sale, but hints that Emile might be able to get it by doing Archie a favor when he asks for one. The narrative reveals that there is no picture at all. Archie had grabbed a camera from someone’s open locker, then gone into the bathroom to smoke a cigarette. He found Emile masturbating in one of the stalls and pretended to take a picture, but the camera had no film in it. However, Archie knows he has valuable leverage over Emile.

Archie watches Emile bully a freshman into going out to buy him cigarettes even though it will make him late for school and reflects on his fascination with him even though he finds him “crude and gross” (100).

Chapter 16 Summary

Brother Leon is discussing grades with a student named David Caroni. Caroni is a scholar with exceptional marks but has recently received an “F” on a test. Leon says it will turn out he made a mistake in grading the test, since teachers are human, too. Caroni wonders whether or not Leon will change his grade. Leon is so tense he splits the piece of chalk he holds in his hand. Brother Leon mentions the chocolate sale and Jerry Renault, and Caroni realizes the reason behind his grade is that Leon wants something from him. He wonders whether all adults are as corrupt as TV villains.

Caroni reveals that Jerry’s refusal to sell the chocolates is his assignment from The Vigils: He will refuse the chocolates for 10 school days and then accept them. Pleased, Leon dismisses Caroni, who then asks whether he will revisit his test grade, to which Leon responds, “perhaps.” Caroni thinks about how there are no heroes, life is rotten, and he can’t trust anyone.

Chapters 13-16 Analysis

As a key symbol of tradition, the Chocolate Sale and Jerry’s refusal to participate become the central motif of these chapters. The responses of Brother Leon and the other students develop the hollowness of this tradition and The Moral Complexities of Resistance and Conformity. By emphasizing that the sale is “voluntary,” Brother Leon relies on the power of tradition, conformity—and even a little apathy—to make it mandatory. This is echoed in the characterization of him “volunteering” Brian Cochran to be Treasurer of the Chocolate Sale, which “meant that he’d [...] pinned those watery eyes on Brian, pointed his finger and, voila, as Brother Aimé said in French class, Brian was treasurer” (93), signaling that nothing about Trinity or participation in its traditions is “voluntary.” This contrast between outward conformity and inward resistance is echoed in other contrasts throughout these chapters.

The chapters grow longer and the narrative more fluid, as the chocolate sale progresses and the narrative presents a variety of new perspectives. These perspectives heighten the differences between the students’ outward conformity and their inward resistance to the norms and traditions around them. They highlight the gap between what the boys want from their lives and what they see in the lives of adults. The motivations behind each student’s sale emphasize this disconnect: for Casper, it is Rita, who is “not beautiful the way his mother thought a girl was beautiful but beautiful in a ripe wild way” (90); for Consalvo, it’s escaping his parents’ house, which is “like a tomb” (92). For them, The Turmoil of Adolescence is the fight between the wild adventure and the mundane routine, the struggle between life and looming mortality.

Dissonance surfaces in both Leon and Archie’s use of blackmail, which aligns these characters and deepens the contrast between them and those over whom they exert control. This is evident when Leon assures Caroni that teachers “are all too human” (104) while he uses authority as a teacher to blackmail Caroni. Caroni’s uneasy questions in this chapter signal his realization that if teachers are like everyone else, they are capable of the same cruelties and corruption as their students. Archie’s interactions with Emile further establish them as foils; though both are “victimizers” (100), Archie’s power over Emile through “the picture” highlights his upper hand in The Dynamics of Power and Control and implies Emile’s position as the blunt physical tool used to back up Archie’s psychological threats.