The Chocolate War, embracing its dark tone sends an equally dark theme of the unbelievable cruelty of the human race. This novel is not the first nor will it be the last to attempt to portray the evil to be found within all of us and the situations, such as power and reputation that bring that evil out. I personally could not avoid comparing this novel, the ending in particular, to The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Both express the ways that youth can get carried away in a power struggle, always trying to “save face”, and the consequences that follow. The horrible cruelties shown in both novels are hard to accept, and though many would say that the murders in The Lord of the Flies makes it an ultimately more disturbing novel I have to disagree. I personally found The Chocolate War harder to digest specifically due to the character of Brother Leon. To me all the horrible happenings seemed (and I know it sounds cruel but….) like normal happenings in a high school; there will always be a hierarchy, there will always be those kids getting bullied and beaten up. What made it all so horrible was the way that Brother Leon let it all happened, encouraged it even. To me that is what ultimately made this novel so dark and evil, the way this teacher, a priest even, allowed all of this to happen in order to save his own reputation. This is an ultimate form of cruelty; letting those you are suppose to protect get attacked in order to conserve your own reputation. It is this interference, or more aptly lack of interference, from adults that makes this novel seem so much darker then The Lord of the Flies to me, sure in that novel the deeds are worse, but there was no one to interfere while in The Chocolate War there was and they didn’t.
-Chloe Janvrin
I definitely agree that The Chocolate War and The Lord of the Flies share a similar theme: the natural human tendency to create a hierarchy. I do not feel that it was all that despicable of the staff at the school to ignore the goings on, simply because it cannot be prevented. Humans naturally take on the roles of leaders, followers, and scapegoats and those in charge should consider that. As a future teacher, I plan on watching out for extreme bullying, but I understand that I will not be able to prevent the inevitable hierarchy that is ever-present in high schools worldwide.
ReplyDeleteChloe, I too was thinking hard about Lord of the Flies at the end of this reading of The Chocolate War. The sheer brutality in both stories leaves me with a pit in my stomach. Now, though, I'm really thinking about Nikki's comment that you can't find the staff's complacency (or complicity) "all that despicable." I agree that humans naturally take on the roles of leader and follower, but does that mean we have to resign ourselves that the strong will abuse their power and the weak will be victimized? I'd like to debate this, and I'd like to believe that we can expect more of both our adults and our kids. Or am I being too optimistic?
ReplyDeleteChloe, I have not read Lord of the Flies, but I agree with you that it was a difficult novel to "digest" as I was also botherd by Brother Leon. I was so upset with him as he kept bothering Bailey about him cheating. I was really angry at the end of the novel when he does nothing about the state that Jerry's in; I was left speechless, especially as I read he had seen the fight and did nothing to stop it.
ReplyDelete-Abby Kilian