Inspired by the actions of his son, Robert Cormier decided to write this novel titled The Chocolate War. Cormier’s son Peter, had refused to sell chocolates at his school’s annual sale as a matter of principle (Kemp1), so Cormier thought that it would be an interesting plot for a book. In this book, Robert Cormier introduces us to many characters that personify evil in order to try to control and manipulate each other to gain power. The concept of power is represented in many different ways throughout this novel. In this paper I will explain how power is represented in The Chocolate War, and how it works. I will explain the different kinds of power that operate in the school. Also I will explain whether the protagonist Jerry Renault fails or succeeds and why.
Webster’s online dictionary defines manipulation as: exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage. Manipulation occurs a lot throughout this book. Archie Costello, leader of the Vigils, which is group of students who has much authority throughout this novel, is a very manipulative person. He is the antagonist of this story and he strives to make the other students lives miserable for his personal amusement. He abuses his power by trying to disobey the authority figures over him, which is Bro Leon. Bro Leon is the head administrator of the all boys’ catholic school called Trinity High School. He is just as guilty about most bad things that happen as the group called the Vigils. Jerry was told to do his assignment for a number of days, but without consent he continued to refuse to sale the chocolates. As I read deeper into this story, I realized that Cormier’s school life must have been a similar to the characteristics of Jerry’s. Cormie...
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Kemp, Heather. “Review of The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.” Suite 101.
26 October 2008. http://teenfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm
Monseau, Virginia. “Studying Cormier's Protagonists: Achieving Power Through Young Adult
Literature.” The Alan Review. Volume 22, Number 1. Fall 1994. <
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall94/Monseau.html>
Webster, Merriam Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 27
October 2009 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aux sources.
Works Cited
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York. Dell Laurel-Leaf. 1974
Iskander, Sylvia. “Readers, Realism, and Robert Cormier.” The Johns Hopkins University Press.
The future entails breakthrough technology and unknown leadership. The harsh rules of the government in, Harrison Bergeron, causes the protagonist, Harrison Bergeron, to come up with the dangerous idea to overthrow the government which leads to the violent behavior of the antagonist Diana Moon Glampers. The author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., uses character development to show the theme of the harsh government through the eyes of the protagonist, antagonist, and the foil characters Hazel and George Bergeron in this futuristic society.
The story of Dracula has many components of it used in the film The Lost Boys. The comparison’s begin with the vampire. Dracula is centered around the main vampire, Dracula. Dracula has many powers and ways he can alter reality. In the novel Bram Stoker's Dracula we see that there is a power struggle. In all of the universe, no one being has complete control over another. In Dracula God, Dracula, Nature, and Humanity have some form of dominance over another, whether it be direct control or as the instrument through which another must exert its power. In this paper we will examine the different ways that control and power are used.
The Struggle for Power in 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Invisible Man, Julius Caesar, and Lord Of The Flies. & nbsp; If you delve into the content of almost any novel, there is almost always some kind of struggle for power. It could be for rightful integration into society; power over an island; power over a country; or in some cases, even power over the minds of others. These not at all uncommon struggles for power are what keep us interested in the plot of a book. The ongoing battle between a character and his cause makes it impossible to put down a good book. For instance, the a woman to somehow find a way to get out of the constant barrage of cameras and mind control conducted by their government. Although the two of them eventually lost the battle, there was still a victor in the struggle for power: their government. & nbsp; & nbsp; they believed, that it would be impossible to say that some kind of struggle for power did not exist. They were struggling for the power of freedom. There is not only one kind of freedom you can have. Some peoples struggle for the power of freedom might just be allowed to exist at all. & nbsp; When you read the Invisible Man, a novel by Ralph Ellison, in lies one of the most incredible and wonderful struggles for power that very possibly this world has ever seen.&nbs in very different ways. Some of the different characters mentioned above had to be handled in different ways. Mr. Norton and the superintendent had to be treated always with respect. The protagonist's ability to recognize these different forms of society and how to deal with each one of them eventually helped him adapt in a more appropriate way to different places in society. The protagonist, however, was not the only person whose deme around on egg shells when dealing with the protagonist. I believe that the protagonist sensed this. It was because of the struggles for power made by people like the protagonist that eventually turned the tide for black Americans in the 19th and 20th century. However, these struggles had been going on for several centuries before his own. & nbsp; & nbsp; The first major struggle for power in Julius Caesar comes from the conspirators. This group of "rebels" has the intention to free Rome and its people from the shackles of Julius Caesar. struggle for power in the play: winning the war that Antony will put up against Brutus and his followers. & nbsp; & nbsp; On one side of the battlefield there is Ralph, and on the other side is Jack. Just opposite of him is Jack who has an almost totalitarian kind of outlook on how to get tasks done. Of the two of them, Jack is the one who seems most likely to abuse the power that he is given. Ralph simply wants to have fun, while at the same time maintaining order on the island. This back and forth battle between the two of them continues all the way through the book until all of the boys who are still alive are rescued. & nbsp; Struggles like the ones I have mentioned are extremely common in almost all forms of literature. However, as I have pointed out, these kinds of struggles have been going on since the beginning of man.
Control over others was exerted mainly by the rich, the insiders, the educated, and the conservatives. The insanity of the times allowed the power amongst the positions to be scrambled when the allegiances of people changed. In Miller’s play, control was twisted
Baym, N. (2008). Cotton mather. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume 1 (p. 143). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Many people who have power and authority have the ability to have a strong influence over the behavior of others. They show great dominance over them, and have a lot of say in their actions. And many characters demonstrate this in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. The novel stresses us to view the advantage power has in its characters’ actions and
The conflict of good and evil presents itself in “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Child by Tiger” in two completely different ways. One story being commercial fiction and the other being literary fiction, there are many ways of viewing variables such as good versus evil, realistic versus unrealistic stories and moral significance. The stories have different voices and are meant for different audiences, but in viewing the overall moral importance of both fictional works, the story with a greater moral significance is “The Child by Tiger”.
In consideration of how power functioned in both the Crucible and the Holocaust a tend of how an individual can use power to control, influence, benefit themselves, and also protect themselves from attacks can be seen. Human Nature compels us to gain power because of want, but once we have the power we will inherently use it to influence other because of the need of the individual to have their ideas agreed with. Power can either make a leader great or make a whole society or movement corrupt. Lessons can be used about how to effectively use power to properly initiate change and make a positive impact on the world.
The Holocaust is marked as one of the most horrifying events of the 20th century.The person who was responsible for the Holocaust was Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party. The question is, how, and why was Hitler able to do this? The actual truth behind all this is that, Hitler could make the world his, just by using words. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it tells a story about a young girl growing up when Nazi Germany was invincible. The author explores some very meaningful, yet, controversial themes for the most part of the novel. Out of all themes, he believes that words hold a remarkable power. He explores how words manipulate, divide, and connect people.
Often, too much power can go to that particular person’s head, and he/she can become corrupt. As readers have seen in literature, abuses of power are often harmful to the abuser and their subjects. Corrupted authority and abuses of power eventually lead to the collapse of society. This concept is shown many times throughout the novel Lord Of the Flies and the short story “I Only Came to Use the Phone”. Displayed through characters and actions, abusive power has dominated what should be morally correct in literature.
The theme of power manifest itself in several texts in both Mosaic I and II, whether it is through an institution such as religion, science and politics or even on an individual level. In regards to these institutions, power has the ability to establish or demolish a society and this is portrayed throughout these texts. One is also able to see that it is not power itself, but a legitimation of the lust or love of power, that corrupts an individual and an example of this is seen the text Antigone.
From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.
The word manipulation is most commonly defined as exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one’s own advantage. The most common manipulation used to influence human behaviour is known as psychological manipulation. Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behaviour of others through underhanded deception. In the tragic play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author demonstrates the use of manipulation through the two main characters Prince Hamlet and King Claudius. The character fulfill their needs through dishonesty and learn that the effects of manipulating other has serious consequences that is able to manifest into a powerful force that consumes all aspects of one’s self. Just like how Hamlet uses his actions to manipulate the people around him to avenge his father’s death and how Claudius uses his words, actions, as well as his power as king of Denmark to manipulate people into fulfilling his needs. Through these characters the readers learn that by putting up a false mask of deception one loses their self as the lies take over.
The Oxford University Dictionary defines the word power as ‘authority or control’ over an individual and knowledge as ‘the sum of what is known’. In Angela Carter’s story The Bloody Chamber (1979) knowledge and power correlate with each other. The more information a character possesses the greater authority they have. In The Bloody Chamber Carter utilises a variety of literary techniques to express the importance of knowledge and power in the plot. This essay will analyse the way Carter applies these literary techniques to the story to express the importance of knowledge and power.
Each power that this film portrays is based off of an actual real life situation. First off because the film was based off of historical events of a popular industry at the time of bootlegging when alcohol was illegal during prohibition. Every bit of power that the different characters possessed or acquired through whatever way they went about to get it, the one constant variable that was shared was the wanting of power but then once that power was officially obtained they saw the next higher position that held even more power and focused on obtaining it, which is why I named this paper the cycle of power. Everybody wants power and obtaining it can get sketchy, but one thing is certain, power leads to corruption, and the question that if one gets too much power, then when will the vicious cycle end?