CW for cisnormative language and homophobia
Let's take a look at good ole Trinity. The two biggest sports at the school are football and boxing, and ironically enough those two sports are total opposites from each other. Football is a team sport- it requires a group of young men to work together to overcome an opposing team. The game is slow paced, requires strategy and planning, as well as speed and strength. Boxing on the other hand is a one-on-one type sport, mano a mano, just two dudes being guys in the ring beating each other up. It's quicker paced, doesn't require teamwork, and may require some kind of strategy? I don't know, I don't know jack shit about boxing. Either way, it also requires speed and strength like football but is overall more intense. Both sports are highly dangerous, and players can often suffer from concussions and CTE. Moreover, both sports are seen as highly masculine. Sure, there's female boxers out there and I guess a female football league that I found on wikipedia but I've never heard of it before so whatever, I'm just trying to say that these are traditionally masculine pursuits more so than some other sports.
One interesting thing about The Chocolate War is that almost every major student character is on a sports team. Jerry, Goubert, Carter, Janza are all on the football team and Carter also boxes. Even Obie used to play football and regrets not going out for the team at Trinity. The only student that stands out is Archie, who hates sports and considers athletes to be stupid (side note, he doesn't exercise and eats chocolate like every day, kid's gotta be rotting from the inside). I've mentioned in previous posts that Archie is different from the other boys in that he's not a traditional manly man. He represents something scarier to the boys of Trinity than a typical violent bully- he's something that they can't understand and can't fight their usual way. Sports are pretty straightforward- go use your strength to crush the other guy, pretty straightforward. But you can't just go beat up Archie (well, you could but you'd have to answer to the other Vigils and you don't wanna go toe to toe with Carter). He's intelligent, a creature that uses wits and manipulation.
This failure of the traditional masculine fighting style is represented in the fact that Trinity's sports haven't won in ages, which is costing the school funding. Society at large values masculine pursuits such as sports and when schools fail to deliver, they are punished. It is this failure of masculinity kicks off the plot that turns a high school into a war zone.
However, this failure is also the source of strength in overthrowing the Vigils. Throughout the story, Jerry rejects the masculine ideals of violence and holds a peaceful protest. To the other boys, he seems emasculated (going back to my previous post talking about conformity where Jerry appears as the opposite of what young men should strive to be) and getting beat up and called gay is the straw that breaks the camel's back. He gives into violence but becomes further emasculated from losing the fight. Of course, I can't exactly blame him for giving in. What was he supposed to do? Just take the harassment and the beatings? Jerry was stuck in a lose-lose situation and was going to be emasculated either way.
This isn't the Vigils first time emasculating someone. They do the same with Goubert, though it takes far less to break him. Let's take a look at Goubert; he is "fifteen years old and six-one-and-a-half", he is highly athletic- an amazing runner and promising young football player- but he is also timid and sensitive. Already we see a dichotomy between masculine and feminine traits in him. Being summoned and given an assignment by the Vigils is what first breaks him. In chapter 8, immediately after saying his age and height, the narration remarks that he is "too old to cry" and that "he was ashamed and disgusted with himself." We've all heard the old adage 'boys don't cry', and Goubert has been firmly indoctrinated into that belief. His main motivation is the fear of being further emasculated by both the Vigils and Trinity, and this is what leads him to quitting the football and track teams and to stop giving his talents to Trinity, which he believes is "evil". When explaining his reasoning, Goubert tells Jerry that he "was crying like a baby" and that he sees "what [the Vigils are] doing to [Jerry]", and though Jerry doesn't quite understand it Goubert insists that Jerry give up on his rebellion before being further emasculated like he was.
Jerry too falls for the old boys don't cry belief, as I mentioned in my previous post there's a quote in the book where the narration states that "Jerry wished he could be as strong as his father, always in control, masking his sorrow and grief." Jerry pushes back against being emasculated in his own way- he doesn't ever show that the Vigils' harassment is getting to him. He remains 'strong' and doesn't ask for help from any adults in his life. Granted, no adults at Trinity would be able to help, but he makes no effort to tell his father or look outside of Trinity for support. Now, I'm sure that it's common for victims of bullying to be ignored by any authority figures, but regardless Jerry is avoiding telling any adults about it so as not to appear weak.
Now, Archie stands out compared to the other boys- he rejects traditional masculinity, he's the one doing the emasculating and doesn't fear it. Or does he? I think he actually does, but in a different way from the other boys. His fear lies less in being made effeminate or gay and more in being made into a child again. He often calls people 'kid' even if they are around the same age as him, and is unhappy being "a senior in a lousy little high school". Obie mocks Archie by having him meet int the gym knowing that Archie detests it, but it's not really successful in emasculating him. The only person who really intimidates him is Brother Leon, the one who is really in charge and a reminder that Archie is just a teenage boy. Archie himself is being emasculated and made to feel powerless so he exerts his own power on others to feel like a man again.
The movie depicts all this and adds in a homoerotic element as well. I discussed this more in depth in a previous post, but I'll briefly go over it here too because it plays into emasculation. While handing out assignments, Archie asserts his power by invading their personal space, touching them, and overall acting sexually aggressive to scare them. Naturally they are afraid of this, anybody would be, but it adds another later because to these boys, a man showing sexual interest in them puts them in a woman's place.
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And I think that's all I've got. I've said all I can about The Chocolate War and don't have anymore posts planned for it (until I get the sequel at least). Stay tuned for another blog post about something else.
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