History Literature / TheChocolateWar

* AttemptedRape: Bunting tries to rape Laurie, even though he was told to "only" harass her.

* LuckBasedMission: Almost literally. Every time the Vigils assign a student to perform a task, the "Assigner" responsible for ordering it (Archie) must draw a marble from a ceremonial box. Out of the 7 regular marbles, there is one black marble. The rule goes that if Archie draws the black marble, then he will have to perform the assigned task in the student's place. Ostensibly, this is to make sure that the Assigner doesn't make any one task too difficult or dangerous, as there's a chance he will have to do it himself. Most of the time, though, Archie palms his own white marble before drawing and presents it, though he notes there are a few times where he leaves it up to chance.
** Invoked toward the end of the first book. Jerry and Janza are put into a boxing match on the football field where the assembled students buy a box of chocolate in exchange for turning in a raffle ticket. On the ticket, they write whom they want to make a punch and on what part of the body of the other person, thus making the entire fight "scripted". But in setting things up this way, Archie forgot about the black box, which Obie brings to the field in a last-ditch effort to stop the fight before it's too late. But of course, Archie manages to draw two white marbles, one for Jerry's place and the other for Janza's, without skipping a beat.
* ManipulativeBastard:...though Archie never gets his own hands dirty, much rather preferring to manipulating others to get the job done.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Janza gives one to Jerry at the end of the novel.]]
** In the movie [[spoiler: Jerry delivers it to Archie instead.]]

* OnlySaneMan: Carter serves as this for the Vigil's for the most part. While he has no problems with majority of the Assignments Archie gives out, he's becomes increasingly reluctant if it comes close to compromising the Vigil's status. [[spoiler: This was the main cause of his conflict with Archie in ''Beyond The Chocolate War.'']]

* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler: Obie becomes so obsessed with gaining revenge on Archie in the second book that he actually attempts to kill him.]]

* SadistTeacher: Brother Leon isn't sadistic, but he's quite probably sociopathic. He's also a SinisterMinister.

* ShaggyDogStory: Both the stories and the movie are Shaggy Dog Stories. The first book even crossed into being a ShootTheShaggyDog.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: ''Way'' on the cynical side, to the point of being nihilistic.

* TragicHero: Jerry Renault, the main character in the first book, is a rare YoungAdultLiterature example. His ''hamartia'' is when he participates in the raffle/boxing match at the end, to get revenge on the Vigils.

** Invoked again in ''Beyond the Chocolate War''. After [[spoiler:David Caroni commits suicide]], Brother Leon tells the student body that they were guilty of not seeing any signs that [[spoiler:their classmate was suicidal]]. He is then [[ShutUpHannibal hit in the face]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome with a tomato]]. The student who does it is never found but is elected student body president the next year.

* BittersweetEnding: The Film. [[spoiler: Jerry beats Archie in the boxing match, but ultimately feels everything he went through was pointless because at the end, he ended up playing their games anyway. On a slightly more positive note, Archie is overthrown as the Assigner and the position is given instead to Obie, who gives relatively harmless, albeit immature and disgusting, assignments instead.]]
* BrokenPedestal: Brother Leon is this for student David Caroni, which is implied to be the reason he commits suicide in BTCW.

* ChaoticStupid: Obie in the movie [[spoiler: after taking over Archie's job as the assigner. He ends up giving out truly stupid assignments just for the sake of "ItAmusedMe."]]

* DealWithTheDevil: Brother Leon (initially a vaguely sympathetic SternTeacher) makes one with Archie so that the Vigils will make sure the chocolates get sold. By the end of the book, he's [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope made his way]] to [[spoiler:looking the other way when Archie arranges the fight between Jerry and Emile, [[MoralEventHorizon despite the fact that the chocolate sale is over]].]]
* {{Determinator}}: Jerry for much of the first book, [[spoiler: He's seemingly broken at the end of the first novel but in Beyond The Chocolate War he becomes one again.]]
* DirtyCoward[=/=]LovableCoward: Obie, Archie's right-hand-man, is with the Vigils so he won't be one of their victims. His job is to pick whom to torment, but he never engages in the bullying, and he feels guilty about his actions (though not guilty enough to stand up to Archie.) Eventually he becomes one of the Vigils' victims, even though he remains a member, when [[spoiler: Archie orders three guys to sexually assault Obie's girlfriend in front of him]].
* DoomedMoralVictor: Cruelly subverted. [[spoiler: Jerry achieves nothing. Obie does get off a nice speech about how Archie's luck will run out someday, but the second book indicates that [[CrapsackWorld good will never win in this setting]].]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:David Caroni kills himself because of Brother Leon's harassment.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Averted. While the first book has Archie being explicit against resorting to violence, the second book revealed that this stance to be a lie since Archie moves the Vigils towards violent bullying and held back only because of fears of it ruining his reputation.
* ForWantOfANail: [[spoiler:The key difference in the ending of the movie versus the ending of the book, as previously stated, is Archie drawing a ''black'' marble instead of a white one, meaning that ''he'' would have to fight Jerry.]]
* GroinAttack: Jerry nearly gets one from Janza before he manages to deflect the blow. Unfortunately, it just infuriates Janza into a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown
* HannibalLecture: Archie delivers a massive one to Obie near the end of ''Beyond the Chocolate War''. "I am Archie. And I'll always be there, Obie. You'll always have me wherever you go, whatever you do. Know why, Obie? Because I'm you. I'm all the things you hide inside yourself. That's me".
* HeelFaceTurn: Carter, the leader of the Vigils, turns against them in the second book. Archie, the actual leader, promises to destroy his life.
** [[spoiler: Considering by the end, due to paranoia, Carter is a shell of his former self and is ''still'' paranoid over ''when'' Archie plans to get back at him, it becomes pretty clear Archie kept his words.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: In the film, Archie draws a black marble on his second turn, right before the boxing match ''he'' designed. He's then forced sub for Janza and receives a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown from Jerry]].
* HumansAreBastards: Archie believes this and loves to exploit it, particularly near the end of the first book when he holds a boxing match with a raffle for 100 dollars to the owner of the entry with finishing move.
-->"That's why it works,Carter,because we're all bastards"

* KarmaHoudini: Every single villain. With the possible exception of [[spoiler: Janza, since Bunting is planning a fatal "accident" for him.]]
* LuckBasedMission: Almost literally. Every time the Vigils assign a student to perform a task, Archie, as the group "Assigner", draws a marble from a ceremonial box filled with them. Out of the large number of regular marbles, there is one black marble. The rule goes that if Archie draws the black marble, then he will have to perform the assigned task in the student's place. Ostensibly, this is to make sure that the Assigner doesn't make any one task too difficult or dangerous, as there's a chance he will have to do it himself. Most of the time, though, Archie palms his own white marble before drawing and presents it, though he notes there are a few times where he leaves it up to chance.

This book was followed by an even more depressing 1985 sequel, ''Beyond the Chocolate War''. Jerry is DemotedToExtra, being transferred to a public school due to the cruelty of the Vigils, and his friendship with Goober is implied to end due to post-Chocolate War tensions. Obie, the only sympathetic Vigil, takes over as protagonist after his girlfriend is nearly raped by Archie's heir apparent, Bunting, to take over running the Vigils. Obie tries (unsuccessfully) to bring down Archie via a humiliating prank but fails miserably. However, by this point Archie (now about to graduate) has turned the group over to his successor Bunting, on the condition that he keep Archie's sadistic enforcer Emile Janza around as his second-in-command. Using Janza as his hand puppet to suggest policies that he could never have gotten approved if he were leading the Vigils, Archie is able to bring new levels of power and income to the Vigils, and Bunting enacts a new wave of violence against the school and illegal activities (dealing drugs, extortion in the form of "taxes").

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Presented matter-of-factly.

* NoPlaceForAJuvenile: The school for the most part when one thinks about it.

At Trinity, a boys' [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Catholic School of Horrors]], a secret club known as the "Vigils" [[TeenageWasteland controls everything]], and its members abuse their power for their own personal amusement. Brother Leon, a corrupt teacher who's trying to replace the current headmaster, makes a deal with them--if they can double the number of chocolates sold at the annual fundraiser, and he gets promoted because of the fundraiser's success, he'll give them unofficial backing and even more power. But what nobody's expecting is that one OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, Jerry Renault, will rebel and try to sabotage the club's power.

At a boys' [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Catholic School of Horrors]] called Trinity, a secret club known as the "Vigils" [[TeenageWasteland controls everything]], and its members abuse their power for their own personal amusement. Brother Leon, a corrupt teacher who's trying to replace the current headmaster, makes a deal with them--if they can double the number of chocolates sold at the annual fundraiser, and he gets promoted because of the fundraiser's success, he'll give them unofficial backing and even more power. But what nobody's expecting is that one OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, Jerry Renault, will rebel and try to sabotage the club's power.

At a boys' [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Catholic School of Horrors]] called Trinity, a secret club known as the "Vigils" [[TeenageWasteland controls everything]], and its members abuse their power for their own personal amusement. Brother Leon, a corrupt teacher who's trying to replace the current headmaster, makes a deal with them--if they can double the number of chocolates sold at the annual fundraiser, and he gets promoted because of the fundraiser's success, he'll give them unofficial backing and even more power. What nobody's expecting is that one OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, Jerry Renault, will rebel and try to sabotage the club's power.

At a boys' [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Catholic School of Horrors]], a secret club known as the "Vigils" [[TeenageWasteland controls everything]], and its members abuse their power for their own personal amusement. Brother Leon, a corrupt teacher who's trying to replace the current headmaster, makes a deal with them--if they can double the number of chocolates sold at the annual fundraiser, and he gets promoted because of the fundraiser's success, he'll give them unofficial backing and even more power. What nobody's expecting is that one OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, Jerry Renault, will rebel and try to sabotage the club's power.

At a [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Catholic School of Horrors]], a secret club known as the "Vigils" [[TeenageWasteland controls everything]], and its members abuse their power for their own personal amusement. Brother Leon, a corrupt teacher who's trying to replace the current headmaster, makes a deal with them--if they can double the number of chocolates sold at the annual fundraiser, and he gets promoted because of the fundraiser's success, he'll give them unofficial backing and even more power. What nobody's expecting is that one OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, Jerry Renault, will rebel and try to sabotage the club's power.

This book was followed by an even more depressing 1985 sequel, ''Beyond the Chocolate War''. Jerry is DemotedToExtra, being transferred to a public school due to the cruelty of the Vigils; his friendship with Goober is implied to end due to post-Chocolate War tensions. Obie, the only sympathetic Vigil, takes over as protagonist after his girlfriend is nearly raped by Archie's heir apparent, Bunting, to take over running the Vigils. Obie tries (unsuccessfully) to bring down Archie via a humiliating prank but fails miserably. However, by this point Archie (now about to graduate) has turned the group over to his successor Bunting, on the condition that he keep Archie's sadistic enforcer Emile Janza around as his second-in-command. Using Janza as his hand puppet to suggest policies that he could never have gotten approved if he were leading the Vigils, Archie is able to bring new levels of power and income to the Vigils, and Bunting enacts a new wave of violence against the school and illegal activities (dealing drugs, extortion in the form of "taxes").

This book was followed by an even more depressing 1985 sequel, ''Beyond The Chocolate War''. Lead character Jerry is DemotedToExtra, being transferred to a public school due to the cruelty of the Vigils. His friendship with Goober is implied to end due to post-Chocolate War tensions. Obie, the only sympathetic Vigil, takes over as protagonist after his girlfriend is nearly raped by Archie's heir apparent, Bunting, to take over running the Vigils. Obie tries (unsuccessfully) to bring down Archie via a humiliating prank but fails miserably. However, by this point Archie (now about to graduate) has turned the group over to his successor Bunting, on the condition that he keep Archie's sadistic enforcer Emile Janza around as his second-in-command. Using Janza as his hand puppet to suggest policies that he could never have gotten approved if he were leading the Vigils, Archie is able to bring new levels of power and income to the Vigils, and Bunting enacts a new wave of violence against the school and illegal activities (dealing drugs, extortion in the form of "taxes").

* ArcWords: [[Creator/TSEliot Do I dare distub the universe?]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_chocolate_war_cover.jpg]]

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_chocolate_war_cover.jpg]]

[[TheFilmOfTheBook A movie of the first book]] was made in 1988, but has been [[PragmaticAdaptation strongly criticized]] for its changes to the book's ending, as the movie gives the story a more happy ending.

[[TheFilmOfTheBook A movie of the first book]] was also made, that has been [[PragmaticAdaptation strongly criticized]] for its changes to the book's ending, as the movie gives the story a more happy ending.

[[TheMovie A movie of the first book]] was also made, that has been [[PragmaticAdaptation strongly criticized]] for its changes to the book's ending, as the movie gives the story a more happy ending.

This book was followed by an even more depressing sequel, ''Beyond The Chocolate War''. Lead character Jerry is DemotedToExtra, being transferred to a public school due to the cruelty of the Vigils. His friendship with Goober is implied to end due to post-Chocolate War tensions. Obie, the only sympathetic Vigil, takes over as protagonist after his girlfriend is nearly raped by Archie's heir apparent, Bunting, to take over running the Vigils. Obie tries (unsuccessfully) to bring down Archie via a humiliating prank but fails miserably. However, by this point Archie (now about to graduate) has turned the group over to his successor Bunting, on the condition that he keep Archie's sadistic enforcer Emile Janza around as his second-in-command. Using Janza as his hand puppet to suggest policies that he could never have gotten approved if he were leading the Vigils, Archie is able to bring new levels of power and income to the Vigils, and Bunting enacts a new wave of violence against the school and illegal activities (dealing drugs, extortion in the form of "taxes").

* DoomedMoralVictor: Cruelly subverted. [[spoiler: Jerry achieves nothing. Obie does get off a nice speech about how Archie's luck will run out someday, but the second book indicates that good will never win in this setting.]]

* BitterSweetEnding: The Film. [[spoiler: Jerry beats Archie in the boxing match, but ultimately feels everything he went through was pointless because at the end, he ended up playing their games anyway. On a slightly more positive note, Archie is overthrown as the Assigner and the position is given instead to Obie, who gives relatively harmless, albeit immature and disgusting, assignments instead.]]

** Invoked again in ''Beyond the Chocolate War''. After David Caroni commits suicide, Brother Leon tells the student body that they were guilty of not seeing any signs that their classmate was suicidal. He is then [[ShutUpHannibal hit in the face]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome with a tomato]]. The student who does it is never found but is elected student body president the next year.

'''This book provide examples of:'''