Conformity In The Chocolate War

Conformity is defined as a type of cultural influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. First studied in 1932 conformity can take on many different forms and is part of our everyday lives. Conformity can be introduced via peer pressure and/or accepted social norms. Both Hook and Anzaldua talk about conforming, economically and linguistically respectively, to society. In the book The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier the main protagonist, Jerry Renault, defies a powerful gang in school, called the Vigils, and must decide if conforming to their wishes is better than standing up against them and “defying the universe”. Both Hook and Anzaldua point out conformity in society based on pressures to meet various

Her native Chicano is a mixture of Spanish and English but she could never speak it around native Spanish speakers since they considered it a “bastard language” (377). Her own people would call her a “cultural traitor” for speaking the “oppressor’s language” (375). When Anzaldua spoke her native language around English speakers she would get in trouble and be told to “speak American” (377) or go back to Mexico. Anzaldua goes as far as to call her experiences “linguistic terrorism” (377). She never felt comfortable talking to other Latinas in Spanish because of the intense ridicule she would endure. This led to a lowered self-esteem by the suppression of her language and culture by both Spanish and English speakers. Anzaldua tells her audience how she had to argue with her advisors while getting a Ph.D to focus on Chicano literature. This feeling of alienation is a stark contrast to Anzaldua’s pride in her small linguistic community when she first read a Chicano novel and felt they “really existed as a people” (379). This type of cultural and linguistic suppression obviously left Anzaldua unsure about her cultural identity and how she should and could interact with people of her own ethnicity. Not only was her self-esteem severely damaged but Anzaldua came to question her cultural

This book follows Jerry Renault, the main protagonist, through his freshman year of high school and the punishments he receives from a gang called the Vigils and a teacher name Brother Leon. The Vigils give demeaning assignments to other students in the school to complete. Students follow these orders because they are scared of the power the Vigils hold. A chocolate sale sponsored by Brother Leon comes up and everyone is expected to sell chocolates by order of the Vigils. Jerry decides on a gut instinct to not sell any chocolates. Jerry is joined by other students and the Vigils see their power on the student body slipping. The Vigils plan to physiologically and physically destroy Jerry to alienate him and his rebellious attitudes. After constant brutal physiological and physical punishment Jerry finally concedes that it was wrong of him to fight the Vigils and he never should have “disturbed the