Cover of The Chocolate War
    Novel

    The Chocolate War

    by testsuphomeAdmin
    The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier follows Jerry Renault, a high school student who refuses to participate in his school's annual chocolate sale fundraiser. His act of defiance sparks a cruel campaign of bullying and manipulation, leading him to question authority, conformity, and the power of resistance.

    In Chap­ter Twen­ty-One of “The Choco­late War,” Kevin Charti­er attempts to sell choco­lates after school but faces fail­ure, hav­ing sold noth­ing after vis­it­ing sev­en hous­es. Dis­heart­ened, he calls his friend Dan­ny Arcan­ge­lo, only to learn that Dan­ny only man­aged to sell one box to his aunt, who is dia­bet­ic. They joke about their predica­ment, and Kevin express­es admi­ra­tion for a fresh­man named Renault, who has refused to sell the choco­lates, think­ing maybe Renault is cor­rect in reject­ing the assign­ment.

    As their con­ver­sa­tion unfolds, they reflect on the sell­ing pres­sure placed on stu­dents like them by their school, Trin­i­ty, and the Vigils—an influ­en­tial group. Kevin wor­ries about what the Vig­ils, with whom he might be involved next year, will do con­cern­ing Renault’s rebel­lion. Mean­while, Howie Ander­son, a respect­ed stu­dent, declares his refusal to sell choco­lates too, empha­siz­ing the prin­ci­ple behind the deci­sion. Encour­aged by Howie’s stance, Richy Ron­dell express­es his agree­ment and sug­gests a meet­ing might be called to offi­cial­ly declare their sol­i­dar­i­ty in refus­ing the choco­late sale.

    The chap­ter shifts to focus on Archie Costel­lo, who waits in the gym for Obie, who arrives the­atri­cal­ly. Obie shares alarm­ing news about Renault’s ongo­ing refusal to sell choco­lates, which some stu­dents attribute to the Vig­ils. This defi­ance pos­es a chal­lenge, as it is an affront to their author­i­ty. Obie notes the mixed reac­tions among stu­dents, with some still con­form­ing to the choco­late-sell­ing assign­ment.

    Archie con­tem­plates the sit­u­a­tion, weigh­ing his options regard­ing pos­si­ble Vig­ils’ involve­ment and the impli­ca­tions of Renault’s actions. He decides to orches­trate a meet­ing with Renault to assess the choco­late sale’s sta­tus. This leads to the real­iza­tion that the Vig­ils are already impli­cat­ed in Renault’s refusal, giv­en their orig­i­nal assign­ment to him. The chap­ter clos­es with a ten­sion-filled atmos­phere as Archie plots next steps, aware of the poten­tial con­se­quences of Renault’s defi­ance.

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