Examples Of Obedience In The Chocolate War

Obedience and The Chocolate War

The question of what causes people to obey is a complicated one. When teenagers are growing into young adults, many of them tend to disobey. In The Chocolate War, only few have the courage to disobey due to fear of punishment. “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”- Albert Einstein. In The Chocolate War, those who obey are those who don’t do anything to take a stand against evil. Brother Leon is an evil person who uses his power to manipulate students and teachers to obey him, such as students like David Caroni who allowed himself to be blackmailed. Richy is a character who obeys because of his need

to follow the group, and I am like both Richy and David because I obey out the fear of punishment, need to go along with the group, and the belief in the rightness of rule.

Richy is one who obeys because of the need to go along with the group, and power in authority. Richy decides not to sell the chocolates anymore instead of being an obedient trinity student because of Howie Anderson, who was president of the Junior class. When he heard Howie speak of not selling the chocolates,
Howie’s voice rang with authority, as if he was delivering a pronouncement to the world. Richy listened with a kind of awe. (p.135)

Richy was under the influence of power in authority because a upper class men who was president of the Junior class decided to disobey, so Richy realizes that if Howie Anderson did this, “-that was something” (pg.134) ,and it had to be the right thing to do because someone with so much authority like Howie is doing it. Richy needs reassurance that this is the right thing to do if everyone else is doing it
Want to make it official? I mean, call as meeting of the class?”(p.135)

To call a meeting of the class would finalize that everyone is dong this, and Richy would not be alone in his decision which is what he needs to get the courage to disobey.

David Caroni was one who obeys because of fear of punishment. David was an easier person to pick on by Leon because “..he seldom received a mark lower than an A” (p.103). This made him an easy victim because David had a lot to lose if he chose not to obey. David obeyed Brother Leon by telling Leon why Jerry was not selling the chocolates. The consequence of not obeying would be that Brother Leon would give him the failing grade forever, and David considered “all the other F’s it was possible that Leon could give him in the future” (p.108). This is fear of punishment because the punishments David could receive from not obeying were the F’s, disappointed parents, and angry Vigils who got ratted out. All of those are consequences of disobedience, and obeying seemed like the easier choice,.

Although the consequences of obeying would be much easier than disobeying, Caroni allowed himself to be blackmailed and take the easy way out. Jerry is outside of David’s universe of obligation so it wouldn’t have had a consequence for him if revealed the truth. Another reason that motivated him to obey was because he had never gotten an F before, and he hoped that if he told Brother Leon he could “..erase that F by telling Brother Leon simply what he wanted to hear..” (p.108). Although David chose to obey Brother Leon, the consequence of him obeying led him to lose his faith in humanity and believe that people could not be good “And he did see- that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn’t trust anyone, not even yourself” (pg.109). Also now he knows that he had the chance to stand against evil, but he didn’t. Because David obeyed, he has this burden of knowing he did the wrong thing with him forever and his feeling are evident because once he made his choice, “he had to get out of there as fast as possible, before he vomited all over Brother Leon’s desk” (p.109) Therefore David is one who obeys, but was in a difficult choice either choice, he would have to suffer the consequences.

Throughout the book people obey Leon under the influence of many of the reasons of obedience. Brother Leon uses fear of punishment to bring all students to obey him. An example is when Brother Leon brought Bailey in front of the class, and he slapped him, and accused him of cheating. This makes all other classmates in fear of punishment from Brother Leon because they will now obey him in fear that the same thing that happened to Bailey could happen to them. You can tell the entire classroom is effected by Leon’s act such as Jerry who “..squirmed in his chair” (p.41),and everyone is “..alert every minute, just as everyone was alert now, looking at Bailey, wondering what Leon’s next move would be” (p.41). The students inability to stand up to brother Leon proved to him that all the students are afraid of him and fear of punishment works for obedience. What was once said by Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Leon gains obedience from almost all the students at Trinity because of fear of punishment. Brian Cochran, Treasurer of the Chocolate Sale, is an example of this because “he hated the job because he lived in fear of Brother Leon” (p.93), and he only has the job he has because he is afraid of what punishment brother Leon could bring to him if he disobeyed him.

Brother Leon not only has students obey him, but he has other teachers to obey him too. Leon has the advantage as ext in line for headmaster to affect teachers jobs of those who challenge him. An example of someone who challenge Leon, but then stopped is Brother Jacques. This is because Brother Leon has fear of punishment over Brother Jacques. Because of Leon’s position in the school, he can take away anyone’s job such as Brother Jacques. It is evident that Brother Jacques cannot disobey Brother Leon without punishment when he has “rebuke in his voice but a gentle, guarded rebuke, not the hostility he had reviled to Archie.” Brother Leon also has a belief in authority over Brother Jacques, because information that comes from the next possible headmaster is more believable than a new teacher who has this crazy theory of what really happened . Even Archie notices this when he “realized that Leon was still in command, still in the position of power.” Although it often seems as though only students fear disobeying Brother Leon, teachers do as well because of the power he holds over their fate.

Brother Leon uses his power from obedience to convince David Caroni into feeding him information about Jerrys resistance.

Brother Leon uses fear of punishment to get David to say what he wants by purposely giving him a bad grade. If David obeys, he may get the mark fixed and if he doesn’t, Brother Leon will give him a failing grade, and David will have “allowed Brother Leon to blackmail him (pg.109). This puts David in fear of punishment because as a scholarship student, it would be such a disappointment and shame to continue having this F, and possible other f’s in the future. When David submits to brother Leon and tells him about the assignment, it gave Brother Leon the obedience he wanted and the idea that he could blackmail students to get

obedience.

When I was six, I stole a bunny picture, and had not obeyed what my mother always said and what I was always taught.

Being the child I was, I had not thought about the girl who drew it, nor the punishment I could receive from stealing the picture. All I thought about was I want the picture. So ignoring the morals I grew up with, I stole it. Three days later when I was confronted about it, I broke out crying in front of everyone.The remorse and guilt that I still feel to this day has prevented me from ever doing something that will hurt others. My actions not only hurts others, but it hurts myself. This is fear of punishment because I don’t want to ever feel that way again, or having someone call me out in public again, but is also belief in rightness of the rule because I feel guilt due to my brain knowing that I did a bad thing to hurt others, and I should not do that again. I do not obey when it is a small choice in life. For example, if my mother tells me not to eat cake after eight at night, sometimes I don’t listen because the consequence is not that bad and I am not inflicting pain on others. If there is a heavy consequence, I will usually choose to obey, but If the consequence is small and has little impact, I most likely will

disobey.

Our entire lives are influenced depend on people deciding if they likes us or not,and that determines our future. If I do what everyone else is doing, I tend to be liked more. I am like Richy in this way, because he wanted confirmation in not selling the chocolates, that he was not alone in his decision.When doing something rebellious or different in some way, I always need a crowd or another person to do it with me. For example last year when everyone wanted to boycott by wearing Sperrys to school, they announced in a Blazer New Networks because the consequence would be less severe if a large sum of people disobeyed. Like Richy wanted to cal a class meeting, the Blazer news Network was like an official event in the middle school that confirmed that this is happening.

All three of my characters are different, as David Caroni chooses to obey, Brother Leon demands obedience, and Richie chooses not to obey Brother Leon, but his peers. People obey due to how it will affect them in the end, as showed by David Caroni. I am like David Caroni in which I obey because I fear punishment, but I am also like Richie because a crowd of people encourages me to disobey as well. The entire book regards to obedience because if none of the kids had obeyed and sold the chocolates, there would be no fight or assignments regarding Jerry. “The power of the leader comes from those who allow themselves to be lead.”- And thats what all the boys at trinity let themselves do.