Chocolate War Study Guide Answer Sheets
This chapter begins by introducing Obie, who Cormier describes as bored, disgusted, and tired. Obie mentions that most of all, he is sick and tired of Archie Costello. Obie and Archie sit in the bleachers having a fairly hostile conversation in which Obie tells Archie that he should not be receiving communion in church. Obie hates arguing with Archie, primarily due to Archie's inability to be defeated and his brilliance. Archie is the leader of a gang called The Vigils, and is known for ordering classmates to carry out cruel assignments. In this scene, Archie is attempting to think of the next ten kids he wants to use for assignments, and Obie is taking notes.
Archie has to think of two more people. He chooses a classmate known as 'The Goober,' who is also trying out for the football team. Lastly, he chooses Jerry. Obie protests—Jerry's mom recently died, and he does not think it appropriate to give Jerry an assignment now.
Archie thinks of the perfect assignment for Jerry, and tells Obie to assign Jerry to the chocolates. Chapter 3 Jerry thumbs through a pornographic magazine at a store, wondering why he feels so guilty doing it when most of the boys he knows buy and stash the same kinds of magazines. Once Jerry bought one, spending all of his allowance, but when he got home, he was not sure what to do with the magazine.
He finally grew tired of worrying that his mother would find it, and threw it away. The magazine had made Jerry wonder if a girl would ever love him. Jerry makes his way to the bus stop, and from across the street a man calls out to him, accusing him of staring. Jerry and the anonymous man have a brief back and forth, ending with the man calling Jerry a 'square boy.' This resonates with Jerry, as he thinks of the people who do not do much with their lives. He looks out the bus window and sees an empty advertising board on which someone has written: 'Why?' And someone else has responded: 'Why not?'
Chapter 4 Archie and Brother Leon have a conversation about the upcoming chocolate sale. Brother Leon tells Archie that the school must sell 20,000 boxes.
Leon calls the sale 'special,' and refers to the massive profit the school could make if each boy sold fifty boxes. Archie is not sure why Brother Leon has called him to talk about the chocolates. Brother Leon is an anomaly at the school—a riveting teacher with a cruel twist. He is sarcastic and power-hungry, often making fun of students in class for no particular reason other than that he can.
Study Guide A Answer Key
The most popular of Cormier's novels for young adults, and the one with which he is most identified, is a book that incites extreme opinions in most of its readers. The majority of critics either find the book offensive or excellent - very few are lukewarm about its value. It is a book of beguiling simplicity that nevertheless explores universal human themes about the struggle against oppression and a pack mentality, and the assertion of character during the formative years of young adulthood. The book has been banned more often than any of Cormier's other novels, and is considered by many to be an offensive work that presents a skewed version of reality.
Chapter 8 Study Guide Answers
It has also been lauded as a strikingly realistic story of the struggles of young people, both against authority and within themselves. The Chocolate War is set in a middle-class private high school run by Catholic brothers, in the fictional town of Monument, Massachusetts (a town much like 's hometown of Leominster). There is a conflict between the student body and the temporary headmaster over the annual sale of chocolates for the benefit of the school. A secret group of boys called 'The Vigils', which effectively controls the school, becomes involved with the battle over whether or not to sell chocolate, and encourages certain boys to take sides. One boy, finds that he cannot abide the hypocrisy of either the school or The Vigils, and strikes out on his own road. When the conflict comes to a head the boys are left to fend for themselves, bereft of parents or other caring adults to show them what to do. The novel was made into a film in 1988, and Cormier later wrote a sequel involving the same characters, Beyond The Chocolate War.
The book has consistently been popular with young readers, and has been assigned in many high school classrooms since its publication in 1974. During his lifetime, Cormier received many calls and letters from young readers with questions about the book and the characters, which he always personally answered.
The book has never been out of print, and has been converted into a two-act play sometimes produced in high schools and theatre clubs. It won the New York Times' Outstanding Book of the Year, the ALA Best Book for Young Adults, the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and the Lewis Carroll Shelf awards, among other awards. How To Cite in MLA Format Elizabeth Hayes Smith. Jordan Reid Berkow ed. 'The Chocolate War Study Guide'. GradeSaver, 11 June 2008 Web.