History Literature / TheChocolateWar

[[TheFilmOfTheBook A movie of the first book]] was made in 1988, directed by Keith Gordon and starring Creator/JohnGlover as Brother Leon. However, it has been [[PragmaticAdaptation strongly criticized]] for its changes to the book's ending, as the movie gives the story a more happy ending.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Averted. Even though Archie maintains his stance against violence, the first book involves him [[spoiler:setting up a one-way boxing fight]], and the second book ends with Archie [[spoiler:moving the Vigils towards bullying, extortion, and weapons]]. The only thing holding him back was ruining his reputation.

* SadistTeacher[=/=]SinisterMinister: Brother Leon isn't sadistic, but he's likely sociopathic.

* TheScapegoat: In ''Beyond the Chocolate War'', Archie is this end the end for Obie. Obie tries [[spoiler: to murder Archie for life at the school being miserable, even though Obie joined the Vigils on his own accord, and he enjoyed bullying the other students alongside him before he dated Laurie.]]

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: Before Archie’s aforementioned BreakingSpeech at the end of ''Beyond The Chocolate War'', Archie points out to Obie that nobody forced him to join the Vigils to begin with, and he knew what he was getting himself into, so pinning all the blame on Archie for the school being a living hell is bull.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Archie catches Janza masturbating in a bathroom stall, pretends to take a picture, and blackmails him.

* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Most definitely NOT PlayedForLaughs.

* JizzedInMyPants: Tubs can have a climax without [[ADateWithRosiePalms touching himself]] when thinking about his crush Rita.

--> "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".

* 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".

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: Before Archie’s aforementioned HannibalLecture at the end of ''Beyond The Chocolate War'', Archie points out to Obie that nobody forced him to join the Vigils to begin with, and he knew what he was getting himself into, so pinning all the blame on Archie for the school being a living hell is bull.]]

* TheScapegoat: In ''Beyond The Chocolate War'', Archie is this end the end for Obie. Obie tries [[spoiler: to murder Archie for life at the school being miserable, even though Obie joined the Vigils on his own accord, and he enjoyed bullying the other students alongside him before he dated Laurie.]]

* TheBrute: Emile Janza, the Vigils' enforcer of sorts, and the only character in the book who really qualifies as ChaoticEvil.

A 1974 young adult novel by Robert Cormier.

If you read a lot of young adult literature, you probably have [[HappyEnding one guess]] where this is headed. If you've read other books by Robert Cormier, you're more likely to have [[DownerEnding the correct guess]]--and also a good idea of why this novel shows up so often on [[BannedInChina banned-books lists]].

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* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Obie delivers this to Archie at the end of ''The Chocolate War'', stating that even though Jerry failed, ''someday'' Archie's luck will run out and there could come a student who can break the school's status quo. Archie, of course, is less than impressed.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Obie delivers this to Archie at the end of ''The Chocolate War'', stating that even though Jerry failed, ''someday'' there may come a student who can break the school's status quo. Archie, of course, is less than impressed.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Obie delivers this to Archie at the end of ''The Chocolate War'', stating that even though Jerry failed, ''someday'' there may come a student who can break the school's status quo. Archie, of course, is less than phased.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Obie delivers this to Archie at the end of ''The Chocolate War.''

** The same is true with the film adaptation, though there were minor changes made. [[spoiler: Despite trying not to do what the Vigils wanted him to do, he plays right into their hands by performing in the fight (even though he wins the fight, he still loses, as he notes). Brother Jerry appears to have retained his Headmaster position (and has gotten all the chocolates sold). Though Archie gets his comeuppance and demoted, Obie is now in Archie's position and appears to make assignments more horrible than anything Archie assigned (and the Vigils continue to retain power). Jerry still loses and the bad guys still won.]]

** The same is true with the film adaptation, though there were minor changes made. [[spoilers: Despite trying not to do what the Vigils wanted him to do, he plays right into their hands by performing in the fight (even though he wins the fight, he still loses, as he notes). Brother Jerry appears to have retained his Headmaster position (and has gotten all the chocolates sold). Though Archie gets his comeuppance and demoted, Obie is now in Archie's position and appears to make assignments more horrible than anything Archie assigned (and the Vigils continue to retain power). Jerry still loses and the bad guys still won.]]

** The same is true with the film adaptation, though there were minor changes made. Despite trying not to do what the Vigils wanted him to do, he plays right into their hands by performing in the fight (even though he wins the fight, he still loses, as he notes). Brother Jerry appears to have retained his Headmaster position (and has gotten all the chocolates sold). Though Archie gets his comeuppance and demoted, Obie is now in Archie's position and appears to make assignments more horrible than anything Archie assigned (and the Vigils continue to retain power). Jerry still loses and the bad guys still won.

* SmugSnake: Brother Leon

* RevisedEnding: As explained above in BittersweetEnding.

** 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 caught but is elected student body president the next year.

* ApatheticCitizens: Deconstructed. Brother Leon (knowingly) falsely accuses a student of cheating in front of his class. When none of the other students defend him, he accuses them of being ApatheticCitizens. Never mind that he's a teacher and they are students.

** ShootTheShaggyDog

* 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. If Archie draws the black marble, then he will have to perform the assigned task in the student's place to ensure that the Assigner keeps the assignments reasonable. The second book reveals [[spoiler:Archie simply 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]].

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler:Janza gives one to Jerry]] at the end of the novel.

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