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The Chocolate WarRobert CormierWhat do we do about banned books? Why, we read them right away, don't we? That is, if we are Good Citizens and Concerned Readers. Well, and also if we're looking for some really good smut. Because of its “language and sexual references”, protectors of the young have been trying to ban Robert Cormier's teen novel since it was published in 1974. It's now considered a taut, brilliantly written classic --- a book that teenagers should read, a book that grownups can read. I expected, therefore, to find a story that has mellowed over time, characters that seem dated, and “hot stuff” that wouldn't shock a Bratz doll. But The Chocolate War is a smoker. The plot is simple: At Trinity High, a Catholic school for boys, there's an annual sale of chocolates. You know the drill: kids “volunteer” to sell, parents are forced to buy. This year Brother Leon decides that the students will sell twice as many boxes --- 50 boxes each. Brother Leon has allies among the students: The Vigils. This secret society is Skull & Bones at the adolescent level --- unseen but powerful, sick to its core, so male-focused you have to wonder if these teenaged boys are covering for some doubts. And then there's Jerry Renault. He's a sad sack. Mother just died. Not handsome or rich or super-smart. Nearly friendless. And a dreamer: In his locker, he's pasted the quote from Eliot's “Prufrock” --- “Do I dare disturb the universe?” Each day, at assembly, the boys are polled as to their sales. Each day, Jerry says --- in the beginning, he doesn't even know why --- that he declines to sell any. A power struggle ensues. Jerry vs. the administration. Jerry vs. the Vigils. You can't miss the issues: the wisdom of authority, the rights of the individual. Of course the defenders of youth want to honor those rights --- they just don't want to see them in action. But the “problem” with this novel is not just that Jerry is a trouble-making do-your-own-thinger. It's the language and the sex. Guys look at breasts, and girls press those breasts against those guys' arms. Guys masturbate --- excuse me: jerk off --- and sometimes they do it in school. Non-conformists are, of course, gay. Amazing stuff for 1974. What jumps out at me now, of course, is the power of Group Think. When two or three are gathered together, it would seem, something like “Lord of the Flies” is the result. Is it just that boys can be unspeakably, horribly cruel? Or is it girls as well? Or is it...us, too? About the ending: It's not what you expect. Not what you want, either. Suggestion: Ask a kid who has read it about the end. And be sure to listen closely to what that kid tells you. I just learned that a government prosecutor has resigned from the War Crimes Tribunal in Guantanamo because he believed our government has suppressed evidence that might help a defendant who faces life in prison. Rather like refusing to sell chocolate, don't you think? I wonder if he read “The Chocolate War” when he was a kid. Has your kid? Have you? --- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com To buy “The Chocolate War” from Amazon.com, click here. To buy the Audio CD of “The Chocolate War” from Amazon.com, click here. Copyright 2008 by Head Butler Inc. |
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