The Chocolate War - Part 2

I've had the book done for about a week now and honestly, I've been struggling with how to approach the second half of TCW. There have been about a million different angles rattling around in my head and I can't use all of them yet I cannot decide which ones are more important. Let me put it another way: I was grinding my teeth through the rest of the book. Not because of anything wildly offensive, although I didn't appreciate the author using the term 'eye raping' in reference to the guys from school leering at girls on the street. But the way the term was tossed around shows the age of the book. That would never fly now. And with good reason.
It was the animalistic, innate violent nature of mankind on display and on demand that disturbed me the most. In large part because of how in step it is with the current school conditions. Bullying, homophobia, cruel and sadistic violence waged on students by other students and condoned/facilitated by adults. It's all very current and all very apt for today's times. Very Lord of the Flies. And yes it is very harsh on the Catholic Church and Catholic schools but nothing too far fetching. Priests inciting violence among the social stratospheres in a school? Encouraging anti-social, sociopathic, animalistic, jungle-like behavior to accomplish one's agenda? Why is this so out of line where the Catholic Church is concerned? Knowing what we know now about what was going on in the CC in the 70s and 80s, none of this is slanderous by any stretch of the imagination.
I guess the real shocker is how unresolved the book leaves the reader. For a Catholic school, there is oddly enough no justice for the meek. They don't inherit the Earth. There are no just desserts. The guy doesn't get the girl in this book. Not that we know of. While individual students---some saints, some not---show great insight as to what their puppet master teachers are really scheming, they fall in line with group-think. They know the truth, they know what it looks like and they can call by name but choose not to because of fear. Of course they are teenagers---no loyalty whatsoever in that bunch no matter what decade they exist in. They're not accustomed to fighting their own moral and ethical battles, much less against teachers. They just want a short term solution to an immediate distress. Violence through exploitation.
I guess what ultimately is most troubling to me is why parents would seek to extinguish this book. Its accounts while written in 1974 go on every day in today's world. Children hiding violence and bullying from their parents because of fear. Bullying being plain ignored from both sides. Parents refusing to admit their child is a bully or exhibits bullying behavior or being blinded to the fact their child is a victim and teachers ignoring it because they just don't want to get involved or because they have their own agenda they're running. In Michigan alone there have been two public cases in recent months where a girl killed herself after enduring extreme bullying as a result of her accusations of rape committed by an older classmate. And a student being harassed by a teacher pushing his own agenda after the student disagreed with the teacher's stance. Over the years the names and details may change but the issues remain the same.

Book #2 will be Death Comes For the Archbishop by one of my favorite pioneer literature authors Willa Cather. I've decided to continue grinding my ax with the Catholic Church and this book seems to fit the bill.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier - Part One

I chose The Chocolate War (TCW) because it has made the Top Ten Banned List for the past 10 years. It piqued my interest and going on preconceived notions (knowing nothing about the book), I assumed it would be a guy's perspective Gossip Girl book (Gossip Girl books permeate the list).
What jumped out at me when I began reading was the original publication date. 1974. Parent groups are wringing their hands over a book that 30 + years old. Honestly now. It's an old book and it shows. The setting is a Catholic all boys high school in the 70s. They reference marijuana often but they call it 'grass' which is such an antiquated Baby Boomer term that it makes me laugh. Reminds me of how my grandparents called their couch a davenport and my grandma's robe was a 'housecoat'. TCW has powerful concepts but the power of the concepts is definitely weakened significantly by dated terminology. It's pretty difficult to see an impressionable teen taking the book seriously or viewing it admirably when they know marijuana by the name grass.
The plot of the book revolves around the idea of bullying which is an issue that has been at the forefront of the media and an issue that I have strong feelings about (another reason I chose this book). But it addresses how bullying can be found at every level of society and how no one is really exempt from dealing with it in one way or another. Within the social stratosphere of the Catholic high school is a gang made of students who issue edicts to their classmates which must be obeyed even at high personal consequence. TCW is full of different perspectives, mostly from the students who are your typical Catholic school guys. Some of them are 'masters of their domains', some of them aren't. Women's role in the book is one in the background, part of the scenery and purely objectified. But nothing out of the ordinary for classic literature, just watered down misogyny at its blandest. Maybe sexual self exploration is what parents take issue with but unlike American Pie, it's not part of the main or even secondary storylines. It's stated matter-of-factly like the sky is blue and the book moves on.