Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Chocolate War (pg 216-263)

Summary- Jerry gets called to met the Vigils. Archie tells him that he should tell chocolate. Archie told Jerry instead of saying "no" during class when Brother Leon does role call,he should say "yes". Obie noticed that Archie was asking him which made Obie think he was scared of him. After that Jerry says hi to this girl at the bus stop and decides to call her. She thought he was this other boy and then she thought he a was a perv. During practice the next day Jerry had to tackle Carter. Carter was way stronger than Jerry. After a couple of tries he tackles him. While he was running someone tackled him from behind. Jerry was being harrassed. His poster he made about the Vigils was ruined and his new sneakers were too. They even stole his project for Art class. When Brian counts up the sales he is surprised because the chocolate sales are doing really well. Even though sales are up Brother Leon still does the roll call. As usual Jerry says no he didnt sell any. The kids get mad because they are selling chocolate and Jerry is not. Jerry gets sent home from practice because he hadnt completed any passes. Emile stops him and then a group of boys come out the bushes and jump Jerry. During the big event at the school Jerry gets beat up badly and the Goober came to check on him. He told Obie to call an ambulance. Jerry's jaw was broken and Brother Jaques comes back and doesnt know whats going on. Brother Leon explains that it got out of hand but all the chocolates go sold.

Quotation- "Funny, how his mind was clear suddenly, apart from his body, floating above his body, floating above the pain"(Cormier 258)

Reaction- This quote is very descriptive. It lets you see how bad he got beat but then how he wasnt thinking about it. This part of the book had the most action. Jerry got beat up alot. The Vigils showed how their influence came into play. The chocolate sales were very important to Brother Leon. He even let Jerry get beat up over it. The one true friend to Jerry was the Goober. He would always look out for Jerry. I think this is the most exciting part of the book.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Chocolate War (pg 151-215)

Summary- Brain Cochran who was the head of sales noticed that sales were dropping at an alarming rate. He thought he made a mistake but he hadn't, sales had been down for a whole week. Brother Leon was not happy about this. Sales were worse than last year. Some students have sold over forty boxes but that couldnt make up for the rest of the students. Goober told Jerry he was quitting the team. Goober says that he has to quit the team because of something with Brother Leon. Archie and Brother Leon get into an arguement because Brother Leon was blaming Archie because he wasnt doing a good job promoting the chocolate. Brother Leon wants Archie to force Jerry to sell the rest of the chocoaltes. Leon says that if the sales go down the drain, so will the Vigils.


Quotation- "Nine or ten Vigil members were present, including Carter who was getting tired of ths Vigil crap,especially when it meant he had to miss boxing, and Obie who looked forward to the meeting with pleasure, wondering how Archie would proceed." (Cormier 166)

Reaction- This quote allows you to see that most of the Vigils stopped caring about what was going on. Carter didnt really like going to the meetings becuase he had to miss boxing. This part of the books show how Brother Leon is abusing his power as head of the school. He threatens that the Vigils will be no more if the sales dont improve. The only reason why Brother Leon needs the money is because he is 20,000 dollars in debt for buying that chocolate.

The Chocolate War (pg 82-150)

Summary- Brother Leon was counting on Archie and the Vigils to help him sell the chocolate. John Sulkey was introduced and he was good at getting people to buy things. He was confident that he could sell more chocolates than anyone. Brother Leon was serious about getting the chocolate sold. He asked everyone to help sell chocolates. He would go around the class and ask how many boxes each person sold. When Jerry's name came up everyone knew he didnt sell any boxes. Archie and Emile are talking about a picture of Emile. Emile wants to buy the picture but Archie said that he didnt have to but he did have to do him a favor. Brother Leon and David Caroni are talking about his F he got this term. Caroni never ever received an F in his life. Caroni also scored very high on Trinity's entrance exam. Brother Leon was surprised at his F. Brother Leon continues to do the roll call, asking how many boxes each kid sold.



Quotation- " The teacher looked as he always did-the moist eyes that reminded Caroni of boiled onions, the pale damp skin, and the cool talk, always under control." (Cormier 109)

Reaction- This quote gives a good description about how Brother Leon looks. I could picture what David Caroni was saying. This part of the book was good and you got to see how Jerry didnt sell the chocolates. It is like his 1st stand. He is the only one who is not selling any boxes of chocolate. This is the beginning of Jerry's defiannt acts. Each day you think he might say he sold a box but the same thing happens everyday.

Monday, November 30, 2009

The Chocolate War (pg 41-81)

Summary- The next part of the story is when Brother Leon was messing around in class. He was messing with this kid named Bailey. Bailey was the top student in Brother Leon's class. He had all A's in his classes. Brother Leon was accusing him of cheating. Bailey was outraged by his comments. The rest of the class just watched Brother Leon pick on Bailey. They laughed and watched it like a tv show. Someone tells Brother Leon to leave him alone and then he trys to figure out wo that was. He then explained to the class that he knew that Bailey was not a cheater and that they were the real cheaters. Emile is introduced into the story. Archie catches him stealing gas from a senior named Carlson. Emile was just laughing the whole time. Emile was the kid that harassed teachers and other students. He would make noises and never get in trouble. The wa Goober ran was described as beautiful. At practice they were looking at the way he ran the football patterns. He was a good football player.



Quotation- "When he ran , he forgot about his acne and his awkwardness and the shyness that paralyzed him when a girl looked his way" (Cormier 53)


Reaction- This book is very interesting. The characters in this book are different. This quote made me laugh because The Groober was a pretty big guy and he was shy when a girl looked his way. The quote said when he ran he forgot about his acne and awkwardness. The Groober was smarter when he ran. Jerry said that he could solve math problems when he is running and that when he is running everything is simpler.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Chocolate War (pg 1-40)

Summary-
The book starts out in medias res. The main character Jerry is introduced when he is trying out for the Trinity High School football team. He was trying out for the quarterback position. He was getting hit hard and he could barely get back up after. The coach helped him up and told him to come back tomorrow. He got back to the locker room and vomited. The Vigils, a secret group run by boys at school. The leader of the group was Carter. The assigner was Archie but even though Archie was the signer he had the brains which made him the real leader. Brother Leon, a teacher at the school needs help selling two thousand boxes of chocolate. He asks Archie to help, which means he wanted the Vigils to help.

Quotation-
"Carter was the president of the Vigils because the president was always a football player- the muscle someone like Archie needed. But everyone knew the head of the Vigils was The Assigner, Archie Costello..." (Cormier 32)

Reaction-
The Vigils was a secret group that had influence on the school. Archie was a powerful kid at Trinity High School. The quote shows that the Vigils is diverse. They have muscle and brains. Jerry Renault is the new freshman at school and is adjusting to the way the school operates. The chocolates that need to be sold is important to Brother Leon because they need the income because they havent been getting enough money lately