| Tuesday, December 15, 2009 |
| The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier pg 202-263 |
Summary
Harold Dacey calls out Jerry on why de dosn't sell his chocolates during the roll call. Jerry reminds him that the sale is voulentary and that he does not need to sell the chocolates. Mean while Goober has reached is 50th sold box when he knows that he has only sold 27. After being harrased by Emile and being called gay, Jerry gets jumped by a group of boys after football practice. Jerry is starting to feel that everone is ignoring him, even the teachers. Before a lot of students supported Jerry and his actions. The punishments fromt the Vigils have scared a lot of the students, and that is why they are ignoring Jerry. The school is now only 50 boxes short of their goal and the 50 boxes is from Jerry. Archie wants Jerry to raffle off his boxes of chocolates.
Archie has convinced Jerry and Emile to have a boxing match in a special assembly in order to raffle of Jerr'ys boxes of candy. At the end of the match, Jerry has a broken jaw, but Archie feels an accomplishment because all of the boxes were sold. Also Brother Leon seems to watch Archie's back to most likely not get him in trouble.
Quote
"All right, so he liked to screw around a little, get under people's skin. That was human nature, wasn't it ?"(Cormier 237)
Reaction
A lot of the members of the Vigils got under people's skin all the time. Maybe this is what they thought was human nature because they were so used to this type of behavior. Attending Trinity High School is similar to survival of the fittest. This is the reason why an individual had to protect himself. The Vigils were always preying on the weeker students to do their diry work that it became there human nature. |
posted by mikey sb @ 7:57 PM  |
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| Thursday, December 10, 2009 |
| The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier pg 150-201 |
Summary
Brian Cocharn is the treasurer for the school, and he has noticed that for a week now, sales were dropping at a fast rate. When Brian tells Brother Leon, he becomes very angry. Leon blames Jerry for "infecting" the other students, causeing them to not want to sell chocolates. Goober is upset that Brother Eugene is not coming to teach because of what happened on room 19. Goober quites the football tema because feels that the school and the vigils are just bad, and wants nothing to do with them. Brother Leon becomes angry with Archie and yells at him because the sales are doing very poorly.Archie had recived information from Brian Cochran that Brother Leon had brought the chocolates in advance with money he was not suppose to, and now Leon is cought in the middle of the debt. In order to try and make Jerry sell the chocolates, the Vigils give him a new assignment that is to take the chocolates during the next roll call. Because of Jerry's rebellion, the Vigils have been harrasing gim, distroying much of his person all things. These can be seen as messages that something bad is going to happen. Due to the harrasment of the Vigils to the other students in the school, the chocolate slaes has begun rising.
Quote
"Everybody has to do things in this world they don't want to."(Cormier 172)
Reaction
Archie is trying to make a point to Jerry that even though you dont want to do certain things, you still have to. I feel that Cormier ment for this quote to go outside the reading as well. He allows the reader to pause and think about situations where they were forced to go things they did not want to do, therefore putting therself inside Jerry's shoes. This allows the reader to have a better understanding of what is going on in the book, and maybe the emotions of Jerry. |
| posted by mikey sb @ 2:55 PM |
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| Monday, November 30, 2009 |
| The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier pg 102-149 |
Summary
After a discution between Caroni and Brother Leon about an "F" he recives, Caroni tells Leon that the reason Jerry refused the chocolate is beacue his assignment is to refuse the chocolate boxes for ten days. The Goober feels less tension after he found out that Jerry refused the chocolates because of his assignments. He is excited about todays roll call so everything can get back to normal when Jerry agrees to sell the chocolates. When Brother Leon reached Jerry he said no once again even though the ten days where up from his assignment.
Jerry spends a lot of time talking to himself trying to figure out why he said no to the chocolate sale. Not even he knows why he had done it. At school most of the students are congradulating Jerry on his refusal almost as if he is there hero. He has does something few students have dared to do, refuse the chocolate sale. Jerry tries explaining to Goober why he refused the chocolates, saying that it is about him now and how he is commited as Goober sugest to take the chocolates. Jerry refers to the poster in his locker by Eliot which shows a man walking on a beach and the words" Do I dare disturb the universe" written at the bottom which moves Jerry mysteriously. Jerry still refuses to take the chocolates.
Quote
"Cities fell. Earth opened. Planets tilted. Stars plummeted. And the awful silence" (Cormier 118)
Reaction
This quote is a perfect example of how Trinity School feels about the chocolate sale, or even an allusion to the reaction of the student of Jerry's refusal of the chocolate sale. Most of the students are not mad at Jerry's decison, infact most cogradulate him. The tension caused is because the students know that Brother Leon is very uppset because he places the chocolate sale at the top of his priority. I think that Brother Leon is fearful that more students will follow Jerry and refuse to sell the chocolate boxes. |
| posted by mikey sb @ 4:17 PM |
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| The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier pg 53- 101 |
Summary
In this section, the Goober was doing his assignment in Brother Eugene's homeroom, but it was taking him a very long time. In the prosses two masked Vigil members come to help the Goober finish the job. They claim their reason for helping them is because " the assignment is more important than anything else..." (Cormier 57) even more importnat than the school and themselves.
Jerry is having flashbacks to when his mother died. The death of his mother brought him and his father farther apart. Jerry describes some of their conversation, and they are always short. Jerry even questions his father and asking him if there are days where it is not always "fine". Jerry decides that he does not want to be a mirror of his father, he wants to be more.
The chocolate sale has strated at school. Archie has decided that he will spread out his boxes ans make five other students sell them for him. Archie hasn't sold a box sice his freshman year. After discovering what happened in Brother Eugene's room, Brother Leaon blaims Archie for unscrewing everything. Archie feels humiliated by Brother Leon for pushing him against the wall.
Durring a football practice, the coach is furious with how his freshman are playing. The coach makes the team try plays over and over again even though Jerry is badley bruised up from Carter's tackles. On one play Jerry thwos the ball to Goober for a touchdown. Jerry recieves approval from the coach and Carter. When Jerry returns to his locker he finds a note from the the Vigils titled assignment.
Brother Leon is asking all of the students if they will take part in the chocolate sale. Goober says yes because he feels bad about what happened in Mr. Eugene's room. When Brother Leon gets to Jeryy, Jerry rufuses to partake in the sale which creates disbelieve in Brother Leon.
Quote
"...was this him actually defying Brother Leon? Not only Brother Leon but a Trinity tradition?" (Cormier 85) Reaction Is Jerry crazy? I'm sure this is what most of the students were thinking after they herd the word "no" repeatedly come out of his mouth. Jerry had went againts one of the most important traditions at the school, and that is something you just do not do. He must know that Brother Leon will not take this lightly and most lickley punish him. So what would cause Jerry to not want to take part in the chocolate sale?
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| posted by mikey sb @ 2:02 PM |
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| Monday, November 16, 2009 |
| The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier pg 1-52 |
Summary
The first chapter starts out durring a football practice where a boy is getting tackeld realy bad. The boy knocks out for a moment and when he wakes up we find out that his name is Jerry. Jerry is trying out for the team, but his abillities are questiones at 5"9, 145 pounds. In disgust, the coach tells him to come back the next day three o'clock sharp. Jerry is determined to make the football team and as he gets back to the school, nausea takes over him as he vomits in the bathroom.
Obie and Archie are introduced in the story, and Obie both hates and admires Archie. Archie is a character who thinks very highly of himself almost like a king. Archie is a member of a group in the shool called the Vigils, and Obie was officially the secretary. In assigning the Vigil assignments, Archie assigns Jerry. Obie goes againsts it saying that he's only trying to make the team and his mother has just dies of Cancer. Archie stays with his decision saying that Jerry is a tough stubborn kid who should of stayed down on the turf. Jerry was assigned to the chocolates.
Brother Leon disscuses with Archie that the school needs to sell 20,000 boxes of chocolate in order to make a big profit. Brother Leon tells Archie that he will be in charge of the school because the headmaster is ill and will be going into the hospital. Brother Leon wants Archie to help him with the chocolate sale, and Archie agrees to it. When Goubert was given his assignment, it is explained to him that he must go to Brother Eugene's room to unscrew everything that could be unsrewed. In the Vigils the black box is the nemesis of the leader. The box provided the control. Six marbels are placed in the box, five white, and one black. If the leader, which is Archie, pulls the black marble he has to do the assignment himself. In three years Archie has never pulled the black marbel. This time, he again pulled a white marbel defeting the black box. "I am Archie. I cannot lose" (Comier 38). Emilie Janza was a tackle on the football team who no one seemed to mess with. Emilie was known for harassing people, even teachers and was always looking for victims who didn't want any trouble. Archie was the only people Emile repected and maybe even feared.
Quote
"Ready," Archie said, keeping his face expressionless, inscrutable as usual, even though he felt a bread of perspiration trace a cold path from his armpit to his rib. The black box was his nemesis" (Comier 37).
Reaction
I like how even though Archie and the Vigils have the power in the story, Comier aslo gives them some sort of weekness. The black box is a good tool used in the story to show that even though the Vigils are legendary, they can still be controled. I noticed that Cormier describes new charachters in the story by interacting with other charachters. He dosen't come right out and give the readers detail by detail descriptions of the people in the story. For example, the part of the story where Archie and Obie are on the bleechers. The reader is able to find out that Obie is loyal to the Vigils, but does not always agree with Archie and consiters him a bastard. Scences like this in the story causes the readers to picture whats going on in the story in their minds in order to get a better understanding of the story. |
| posted by mikey sb @ 2:27 PM |
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