The Chocolate War

The chocolate sale is a symbol of the school’s institutional authority; Brother Leon’s and Archie’s voracious hunger for power and control; and the emptiness and decadence of valuing tradition over ideas and individuals. By calling it a “tradition,” Brother Leon attempts to present the sale as something in which the boys should be unquestioningly honored to participate, and to obfuscate the real goal of the sale—to make an unprecedented amount of money for the school and secure Leon’s position as full Headmaster during the old Headmaster’s illness. Archie notes the emptiness of his pitch to the students:

He poured it on like Niagara—school spirit, the traditional sale that had never failed, the Headmaster lying sick in the hospital, the brotherhood of Trinity, the need for funds to keep this magnificent edifice of education operating on all gears. He recalled past triumphs, the trophies in the display case in the main corridor, the do-or-die determination that made Trinity a place of triumph through the years. Etc. Crap, of course (65).

The chocolate sale exemplifies how tradition has often been used as a means of maintaining institutional power and control. For the boys selling the chocolate, for Brother Leon and Trinity, and for Archie and