Summarizer meeting #1 - Matija

     Our literature circles book is currently going through "The Chocolate War", by Robert Cormier. This book goes over the troubles of freshman Jerry Renault, and how he struggles to fit in at Trinity School, a catholic institution in the city. He has a very bad personal life, as he lost his mother when he was young, and his father is sullen and quiet all the time, he also suffers heavily from the loss of his spouse. At school, Jerry is awkward, but everyone seems to like him, he tries out for football, and excels in the quarterback position. However, the school is running low on funds, and a budget - saving plan is brought into action by the schools superintendent, Mr. Leon. He proposes that every student will sell 50 boxes of chocolates at two dollars each, which the students resentfully accept. All of them but Jerry Renault, who's rebellion was inspired by a torn poster reading - "Do I dare disturb the universe?".

     This act of defiance infuriates Mr. Leon, who proceeds to contact an underground society known as the Vigils, who dictate what goes down and happens in Trinity school, they have power to command every single student, and make anything happen within the borders of the campus. Mr. Leon begs them to suppress this outburst of free thought, and they deny him at first, when he threatens to reveal them to the world and shut them down, they comply. They go on to start rejecting Jerry Renault from social groups, and more specifically, in the school football team, they start dropping his passes on purpose to ultimately get him kicked out. They also beat him up quite badly on a couple of occasions. The final straw, however, was when Janza, a monstrous boy who enjoyed giving others a hard time, accuses him of being queer, and spreads the rumour throughout the entire school, and entirely ruins his reputation. Jerry snaps, and challenges Janza to a one - on - one battle, where due to the overwhelming support of Janza, the Vigils rig the fight so he would win without mistake. As Jerry Renault sprawls on the ground after being defeated, he is taken to the ER, suffering from broken ribs and ruined facial tissue. The story ends on the trivial scene where Mr. Leon and Archie, the leader of the vigils, chat about how they wish they could have one of the chocolates, walking away from the disaster.