The Chocolate War

Archie congratulates himself on the brilliance of his raffle idea as he watches the football stadium fill up with students. There is a stage The Vigils constructed with an old boxing ring in the center, and Archie disguised the event as a football rally so none of the Brothers question the presence of the crowd. Archie recalls how he called Jerry and explained that he had a way for him to get revenge on Emile Janza for having the gang of boys beat him up. He presented the event as an opportunity to face Emile one-on-one in the boxing ring.

Obie walks through the event and thinks about how much he hates Archie and how clever Archie always is. He thinks about how poor Jerry Renault is doomed and doesn’t even know it.

Jerry stands in the middle of the boxing ring and faces Emile. He realizes his mistake in showing up and believing Archie. Archie explains the rules of the match to them both, and Jerry knows Archie double-crossed him. He knows it is too late to back out. He thinks about everything The Vigils have done to him and others, and about the damage people like Archie and Emile will do to the world after they leave Trinity.

Brian Cochran sells raffle tickets and speculates about how this raffle is unique. Though he has his doubts about the event, he is scared of Archie and The Vigils, so he keeps selling tickets.

Emile is tired of being manipulated and called an animal by Archie. But Archie convinced him that he should be angry with Jerry Renault and all the other guys “who screw it up for us, who blow the whistle, who make the rules” (227). Emile longs to prove himself in front of the whole school, and feels impatient to fight, no matter what the rules or the raffle tickets say.

Archie surveys the raffle tickets and reveals to the crowd the “rules” of the boxing match: each student who bought a ticket got to assign a specific punch to be dealt by Janza or Renault, and the ticketholder whose punch ended the fight would win the raffle—$100 and the remaining chocolates. Archie congratulates himself again and basks in the admiration Carter bestows on the idea as well. He tells Carter that most people are both greedy and cruel, and the raffle rules appeal to both of those impulses. Carter is disgusted to hear this spelled out so clearly and is surprised to wonder if the fact that he bought two tickets makes him greedy and cruel like everyone else. Carter insists to himself that the world cannot be as bad as Archie makes it sound, just as Cochran comes up to report that all the tickets have been sold.

Obie and Carter surprise Archie by bringing out the black box, meaning Archie will have to draw two marbles, and then take the place of either Emile or Jerry if he draws the black marble. Carter and Obie discussed fixing the draw to ensure that Archie drew the black marble but concluded that it would not be possible. They think even if Archie doesn’t draw the marble, he deserves a good scare. The crowd falls silent as they see the black box and Archie coolly draws two white marbles.

The Goober is sick, unsure whether he is sick in his body or sick at heart about what has been happening at school. Despite this, he goes to see Jerry fight Emile, shivering as he hears some of his peers yelling “Kill him” as he arrives.

Carter pulls a raffle ticket. Jerry gets to throw the first punch but is confused when Emile simply stands there and waits for it. He swings too quickly and almost misses entirely. The next two blows are assigned to Emile, and he strikes Jerry in the jaw and the stomach. Given another chance, Jerry lands a hard punch to Emile’s jaw that surprises him. Carter continues to read the instructions without pause, and the next ticket instructs Emile to hit Jerry in the groin—an illegal punch, which Jerry dodges and therefore breaks the rules of the fight. Confused and emboldened by shouts from the crowd, Emile beats Jerry as though he is the animal Archie has called him. Everything quickly gets out of control.

Obie is nauseated by what has happened to Jerry, and then he glimpses Brother Leon at the top of the hill, watching everything. Suddenly, the stadium lights go out and the chaos increases. Archie goes to check the control panel and realizes Brother Jacques has his hand on the switch. He calls Archie the “villain” behind the whole scene.

Jerry has a fractured jaw and possible internal bleeding. He feels nothing but “wet darkness” and vaguely realizes The Goober is with him, holding his head and telling him help is on the way. Jerry thinks that worse than the pain is the knowledge he now has that it won’t be all right. He wants to tell Goober to play football, sell chocolates, or do whatever they ask him to do because it isn’t worth the cost to “disturb the universe.” He cannot talk, but wants Goober to know this, because otherwise, “they murder you.”

As they watch the ambulance carrying Jerry move slowly across the football field, Brother Jacques scolds Archie for the dangerous situation he created. Archie merely thinks how annoying it is that Jacques ended the fight by turning off the lights and that Carter made the fight move too quickly by reading the illegal punch aloud. He tells Jacques that he should be happy that they got all the chocolates sold. Leon arrives and pats Jacques on the shoulder with platitudes, saying that though Archie didn’t use his best judgment, he did it for Trinity.

Jacques stalks away, but Archie is happy knowing that he and The Vigils now have Leon on their side.

Archie and Obie sit in the bleachers where they first saw Jerry Renault at football tryouts, and Obie tells Archie that someday things will not work out for him. He stares at the goalposts, thinking they remind him of something, but he cannot remember what. Archie confesses that he told Leon to be out on the hill that night, so he could protect them if anything went wrong. He asks what happened to the last of the chocolates from the sale, and Obie says they were raided in the confusion. Disappointed, Archie asks whether Obie has a Hershey. When Obie says no and the lights go out, the boys sit together for a while in silence before they leave the field.