Chap­ter 21 of The Choco­late War delves into Kevin Chartier’s strug­gles as he faces the dis­ap­point­ing real­i­ty of the choco­late sale fundrais­er. After vis­it­ing sev­en hous­es with no suc­cess, Kevin becomes dis­heart­ened and frus­trat­ed, real­iz­ing the chal­lenge ahead of him. In an attempt to alle­vi­ate his feel­ings of fail­ure, he calls his friend Dan­ny Arcan­ge­lo, but Dan­ny has lit­tle bet­ter luck, man­ag­ing to sell only one box to his dia­bet­ic aunt. The two friends laugh about their shared dif­fi­cul­ties but also turn their atten­tion to Renault, a fresh­man who has refused to par­tic­i­pate in the sale alto­geth­er. Kevin begins to admire Renault’s courage, feel­ing con­flict­ed and won­der­ing if the freshman’s rejec­tion of the choco­late sale is the right course of action after all.

As their con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues, Kevin and Dan­ny begin to explore the deep­er issue at hand: the pres­sure placed on them by both the school and the Vig­ils, a pow­er­ful group with­in their stu­dent body. Kevin, par­tic­u­lar­ly wor­ried about the Vig­ils’ poten­tial con­se­quences, won­ders how they will deal with Renault’s defi­ance. The Vig­ils’ influ­ence makes it clear that those who rebel against the school’s expec­ta­tions, such as Renault, will like­ly face severe back­lash. This idea becomes even more appar­ent when Howie Ander­son, a well-regard­ed stu­dent, announces his refusal to sell choco­lates as well. Howie’s deci­sion is made on prin­ci­ple, not per­son­al rea­sons, and his bold move encour­ages Kevin to recon­sid­er his own posi­tion. Richy Ron­dell, anoth­er stu­dent, sup­ports Howie’s deci­sion and sug­gests they meet to declare their col­lec­tive refusal of the choco­late sale, sig­nal­ing the start of a wider stu­dent resis­tance.

This shift toward col­lec­tive action reflects a grow­ing aware­ness among the stu­dents of the sys­temic con­trol they are under. Kevin begins to see the choco­late sale not as a sim­ple fundrais­er but as a tool of the Vig­ils and the school admin­is­tra­tion to impose con­trol on the stu­dent body. As stu­dents like Howie, Richy, and Renault take a stand, they begin to ques­tion the author­i­ty of the Vig­ils, a group that has manip­u­lat­ed stu­dents for far too long. This new aware­ness starts to spread, and Kevin starts to under­stand that their resis­tance is not just about refus­ing to sell choco­lates but about reclaim­ing their auton­o­my and resist­ing the broad­er cul­ture of con­trol with­in the school.

The nar­ra­tive then shifts to Archie Costel­lo, a mem­ber of the Vig­ils, as he waits for Obie in the gym. Archie is keen­ly aware of the grow­ing resis­tance and the impli­ca­tions of Renault’s refusal to com­ply with the choco­late sale. Obie shares the news that Renault’s defi­ance is becom­ing a seri­ous issue, with some stu­dents believ­ing it is a direct chal­lenge to the Vig­ils’ author­i­ty. Archie real­izes the poten­tial threat Renault pos­es to the Vig­ils, and the grow­ing resis­tance among the stu­dents becomes even more evi­dent. Despite some stu­dents still fol­low­ing the man­date to sell choco­lates, the num­ber of those ques­tion­ing the task is steadi­ly increas­ing. This divi­sion among the stu­dent body cre­ates an atmos­phere of uncer­tain­ty, and Archie’s response to the sit­u­a­tion will deter­mine how the Vig­ils main­tain con­trol over the school.

Archie, always cal­cu­lat­ing, takes the time to think about the best course of action. Renault’s refusal is a direct chal­lenge to the Vig­ils’ pow­er, and Archie under­stands that this must be dealt with care­ful­ly. He begins to con­sid­er how best to con­front Renault, know­ing that his rebel­lion could influ­ence oth­er stu­dents to fol­low suit. Archie also real­izes that the Vig­ils are already con­nect­ed to Renault’s resis­tance, as it was the Vig­ils who ini­tial­ly assigned him the task of sell­ing choco­lates. This com­pli­cates the sit­u­a­tion, and Archie begins to form a plan to address Renault’s actions while main­tain­ing con­trol. As the chap­ter con­cludes, the atmos­phere is filled with ten­sion as Archie pre­pares to take deci­sive action against Renault, ful­ly aware of the con­se­quences that could fol­low.

In this chap­ter, the cen­tral theme of pow­er and resis­tance comes to the fore­front. Renault’s defi­ance, along with the grow­ing sup­port from oth­er stu­dents, sig­nals a turn­ing point in the nar­ra­tive. The Vig­ils’ pow­er is being ques­tioned, and the stu­dents’ col­lec­tive resis­tance begins to shape the course of events. This chap­ter sets the stage for a larg­er con­fronta­tion, where the stakes are high­er, and the stu­dents’ defi­ance could have last­ing con­se­quences for the school’s pow­er struc­ture.