Power, Institution, and Disturbing the Universe in The Chocolate War

Trites argues in the first two chapters and preface of Disturbing the Universe that power and powerlessness are the keys to defining adolescent literature. In The Chocolate War, the many instances of power and powerlessness are certainly driving forces in the novel. Brother Leon exerts his power over all of the students. One example of this power he holds over them is when he is threatening Caroni, a top student, with an F on a paper. He all but comes out and tells him that his grade depends on the information he possesses and shares about Jerry’s reasoning behind the initial refusal to sell the chocolates (which turns out to be the Vigils). Obie is powerless against Archie, and must follow his order despite his own feelings that Archie is a “bastard” (Cormier, 9). Archie and Leon constantly struggle for power, and ultimately are “two sides of the same coin” (Trites, 37) as they join forces by the end. Goober is powerful when he runs, but powerless against the Vigils, the school, and powerless to help his friend Jerry, despite his efforts. Jerry talks about his mother’s death and how he hated how powerless he was to stop her from deteriorating and dying, when he says, “He was angry at his inability to do anything about saving her” (Cormier, 57). He is powerless against the Vigils and accepts their assignment as if there was no other choice. Yet he is empowered when he says No to the chocolate sale, to Leon, and to the Vigils, even after the completion of his assignment. His empowerment is short-lived, however, because it ultimately destroys him. Trites argues in Chapter 2, “if rebellion goes uncontained, it becomes problematic” (Trites, 36). This statement is proven true in both Jerry’s and Archie’s case. Jerry continued to rebel even against his own judgment and that of his best friend, Goober, and in the end he is “murdered” for it. And Archie’s rebellion against the school and against Jerry Renault, ends in chaos and, as Brother Jacques states, Archie “could have had a riot on [his] hands” (Cormier, 249). Trites mentions in several places in her first two chapters the idea of the adolescent maturing at the end and conforming to society or the societal institutions. That maturity often means that the child learns that he or she cannot go on rebelling against authority forever, and must conform to the roles in which society places him or her. Jerry has a poster that says “Do I dare disturb the universe” and early in the novel he says he doesn’t understand its meaning, “But it had moved him mysteriously” (Cormier, 123). Later in the novel he sees that the reason the poster depicts a man alone on the beach is because one is alone when one disturbs the universe. Most will conform, and he has to stand tall and on his own if he wants to be an individual and disturb his universe. By the end of the novel, he realizes that it is futile to protest or to disturb the universe, no matter what anyone says about individuality and standing up for yourself or your beliefs. It is critical to conform to what ‘they’ want you to be. And 'they' would be the institution. In the case of The Chocolate War, they is the school system or the politics within the school system.
Along these lines, I also noticed several times that the students, including Jerry, see adulthood as boring, “square,” and even unbearable. In the beginning, Jerry is confronted by a man near his bus, who came from a group that Jerry always stares at. The man says, “Square boy. Middle aged at fourteen, fifteen. Already caught in a routine. Wow” (Cormier, 20). This profoundly affects Jerry and may be part of what leads him to say no to the chocolate sale after his assignment is over. Several other students, when selling chocolate, also mention how they don't understand how adults can stand their lives. One student says that he "felt sorry for older people, stuck in their homes and tenements with kids to take care of and housework to do. He thought of his own parents and their useless lives" (92). Later, Jerry says regarding his father’s life:
"Was this all there was to life, after all? You finished school, found an occupation, got married, became a father, watched your wife die, and then lived through days and nights that seemed to have no sunrises, no dawns, no dusks, nothing but a gray drabness” (61).
He is, of course, powerless to stop his inevitable fate of being like all the rest, but he tries to at least be somebody with his defiant no. By the end, Jerry has learned the harsh lesson that adults live these meaningless, almost pathetic lives because they were forced, like he and his peers will all be forced, to be what society expects them to be. All of them are being molded into adults, whether they like it or not, and disturbing the univesre can be seen as a wasted effort. But it is not a wasted effort. And they should disturb the universe, if only to be true to themselves.

As Trites puts it, “when adolescents achieve total control, they become totally corrupt” (24). Archie and the Vigils took control of the school. They had a strong hold on it, but there was still some balance of power. But with the chocolate sale and their success in defeating Jerry and selling the chocolates, they became the main source of power, as evident by the end, where Leon steps in and protects Archie from Brother Jacques. It is clear that the few people who are not corrupt (including Goober, who sees the Vigils as “evil” (Cormier, 151)) don’t stand a chance against them, and, as Archie puts it so eloquently, “Leon and The Vigils and Archie. What a great year it was going to be” (250). After seeing Jerry's defeat, it is unlikely that any others in the school will disturb their universe. But they should.