An Outside View

Here is a 10 minute short of the film/novel by Robert Cormier. This might actually be one of the greatest films of our time, so pay close attention...


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Being Yourself

For Jerry, taking his stand has taken things away from him, like close friends and the chance at being 'one of the guys' at Trinity. His way of doing things and not selling the chocolates has made him an outcast among the student body, a sore spot with the faculty - in particular Brother Leon, and thorn in the side of the Vigils. However, Jerry has gained from these things as well. As much as his rebellion has caused him some pain, it has also opened up a whole new world for him. It's as if he is tasting the air for the first time.

The change in Jerry is obvious. After his meeting with the Vigils, where Archie "asks" him to sell the chocolates rather than tell him to or threaten him to, he realizes that he has some power. Just the fact that he has Archie off balance is enough to make him feel worthy.The next thing he does makes it clear to him that he is gaining strength in his battle to become an individual. It may seem minor, but the phone call that Jerry makes to the Ellen Barrett, the girl at the bus stop that had called him a square boy and forced him to think about the direction his life was going in, is a huge step in helping him get over the hump of just being another follower. The phone call, even though it goes horribly wrong and he hangs up after she mistakes him for someone else and then calls him a "pervert", actually wakes Jerry up. The call was bad, but it proved to Jerry that he can do the things he wants to do. After the call, he instantly feels hungry. His appetite returns after he had been having a tough time even trying to eat.

By the end of his feast of ice cream, he has come to an important moment in his life. It is at this point that Jerry openly declares to himself, in his own voice so that he can hear it with his own ears, "My name is Jerry Renault and I'm not going to sell the chocolates."

Turning the Tables... Again!

With his newly found identity, Jerry has made things tough for Archie and the Vigils, never mind the school and Brother Leon. Other kids at Trinity take Jerry's example and begin to follow it. The Vigils recognize their loss of control and see that the tables have been turned on them. It becomes even more obvious when a Vigils meeting gets out of hand and a student tells Archie and Carter that no one is going to listen to the Vigils anymore, not after a freshman has made them look stupid.

That freshman is of course Jerry. The meeting gets crazy as Carter decides he's heard enough and he punches the kid out. With Archie now in the spotlight, failure seems to be his only end. However, he isn't Archie for nothing. If the tables can be turned once, they can be turned again, and that is exactly what his plan is. The hardest lesson of all is learning that there are reactions to actions, and Archie puts that plan in motion. With his job as 'assigner' on the line, Archie decides that to tear down Jerry and his reputation, the Vigils will make selling the chocolates 'popular' or 'the thing to do'!If all goes as planned, Jerry's new reputation will be the thing that takes him to even greater fame - famous for being the only one at Trinity that is a loser and didn't sell the chocolate to save the school.

For Jerry, he is about to learn that the high you fly, the greater the fall. The thing is, will he be that ready to give up on a life that he now desires? Can he reverse things or does this bring about the end of his reign at the top?

Losing Sight

At this point in the story, Jerry has become somewhat of a different person. After accepting the Vigils assignment, it seemed as if he was going to simply be what he had always been, part of the majority. It was going to be the same old Jerry, just going along with the crowd to fit in. However, Jerry's extension of the assignment shows that he has moved away from the crowd. He is no longer doing what the Vigils tell him to do , he is doing what he wants to do, becoming an individual. Some of the things that have happened due to this have changed Jerry as a person. He clearly stands out now at Trinity moreso than before. Other kids have noticed that he has "disturbed the universe", many of them admire him for doing it, and a select few think otherwise. As the chocolate sales get more intense, true emotions start to come out, as we saw Archie lose his touch in my last blog.

This new found status has given him a reason to walk with his chin up, but in some cases it has been him at odds with those closest to him. He feels like he has drifted further and further away from his father. They hardly talk at home anymore and as his father simply moves through the day like part of the pack, Jerry sort of resents that in his dad. He has also lost touch with Goober. Goober was a good friend when things were simple, but now that things have gotten complicated, Goober has receded into the background and shys away from being an individual. The more Jerry becomes the person he wanted to always be, a person that can look themselves in the mirror and admit what they are and what they want to be, the more he loses the things he used to hold close to him.

Disturbing the universe seems to shake up a lot of things. Some of those things obviously become casualties of the changes one makes in their life. The question becomes, is it worth losing those things to gain others?

Following the Right Path

At this point, Jerry has reached a crossroads in his life. The options are clear, but the decisions are not. As Jerry has grown as a person, he has become more aware of the changes that he needs to make to improve his life. One thing that he is sure of is that in order to be an individual, you must challenge the views of others. He has also learned, by witnessing it first hand, that standing up against others can get you hurt. The idea of standing up for what one believes in is as old as time. However, is Jerry's quest fro individuality worthy at this time of his life? Will it make or break him if he decides to challenge the "world" he lives in now. School is that world and the powers that be are not only temporary, but corrupt. If Jerry chooses to walk the path of resisitance, he could jepordize his education and his future. Even if he wins and becomes a stronger person, the results could be that his future is now tainted by the fact that he challenged a thing like a school and it's principal. On the other hand, if these things are only temporary and it is only high school and not the 'real world', why not challenge it?

Words, Not Fists

There is something about being able to effect people with your words and never once having to get to a point where you throw a punch at them to get them do know you mean business. If there was ever a character that exemplified that notion, Archie Costello would have to be that person.

Archie, who is not the president of the Vigils, nor the principal of the school, gets more out of the people around him by just working people with words than Brother Leon or Carter (the actual president of the Vigils). With Leon, his words are just out loud threats that no one believes. It's something that the kids have become accustomed to, he makes threats and people just sort of shrugs them off. Then, there's Carter, who will punch you straight in the jaw if you don't do what he instructs. Classmates expect the physical force from him, the pain only being temporary. However, with Archie, he torments you with the way he approaches a topic, works through it, and specifically words the possible outcome, and never once does he have to lay a finger on you or threaten you. He is able to get in your head and that force - that pain - does not end quickly.

However, in chapter 25, a flaw in Archie's character is revealed. As Jerry has taken the anti-chocolate selling brigade to another level, we see that Archie and the rest of the Vigils are quite desperate to get Jerry to obey. Archie holds a meeting in the auditorium, where he then asks how many boxes students have sold. When he gets to Jerry, Jerry stands up and declares that he will not sell any chocolates. But, Archie, very calm, gives Jerry one more chance to sell chocolates and renew his school spirit, simply "asking" him to follow everyone else in roll-call the following morning.

This leaves Jerry with a very important decision, seeing that Archie is extremely desperate at this point. Will Jerry expose Archie's despairity?

"Disturbing the Universe"

The idea of disturbing the universe is an interesting one depending on which ‘universe’ you consider. That word is loaded, for it has several connotations. Of course, the idea of disturbing the planets in space is probably the furthest definition away from reality; however a person could do something on such a small level that eventually, that action could affect the universe in a tiny unnoticeable way. But the poster in Jerry’s locker is more localized. The universe that Jerry speaks of is his world, school, home life, and of course social circle. At that level, the smallest decisions affect the universe in an enormous way. For Jerry, the decision to continue to not sell the chocolates, symbolic of him standing up for himself and being an individual will have consequences. What those consequences will be are unknown, but the idea is that it will disturb someone and something. All of the players in Jerry’s universe will be called into question when Jerry decides to ‘rock the boat’ so to speak. How they handle themselves and what their actions will be could cause changes that are so destructive that there would be no chance of returning to the world Jerry once knew.

Change is inevitable in this world and as people, we are the vehicles of those changes. The question then for Jerry, and maybe all people, is what changes- what disturbances – are worth the consequences? Does standing up for oneself against social majority add up? Does going against tradition make a good change or a bad change? Does rising up against authority open up a can of worms or does it make the future brighter? With so many unknowns, it is hard to determine which risks are tasks worthy of ones time and ultimately, one’s life – the actual living part and then the actual life itself.

Jerry needs to make a huge life changing decision. Does he throw a wrench into all that seems to run as is, or does he hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign around his neck and just follows the sheep to the slaughter.

Risk and Consequence

With that knowledge, all men, being human, will make mistakes. The idea is to decide which risks are worth the consequences that come with them.

Up to this point in the novel, the classic 'chocolate war' between Jerry Renault and Brother Leon has come to an end. However, it has not ended overall. It has simply evolved into something else; something with far greater reward or risk depending on the outcome. After 10 days of refusing to sell chocolate, Jerry has completed his task from the Vigils. Jerry, however, decides that 10 days is not long enough, that if he wants to stand up for himself he will go longer to prove that he is an individual. His denial of chocolates will further because Jerry now feels that he has let himself down for giving into the Vigils, he really doesn't want to sell candy.

"Do I dare disturb the universe?" As the poster on Jerry's locker expresses. As of now, Jerry is literally destroying school traditions to social statuses. However, does he know what he's doing? The answer is yes, Jerry is slowly gaining independence from not allowing himself to take part in the fundraiser. But it is a mere feeling of goodness that he doesn't have to conform to the pressures of everday conformity.

Do these actions have the potential to take a toll on Jerry in the long run?

The Conforming Non-Comformist

The interim headmaster, Brother Leon, has now decided to start the annual chocolate sale. Not just any chocolate sale though, this sale represents the true dedication and pride of Trinity in it's students. This sale represents each student's individual dedication through how many boxes are sold. At the same time, the Vigils’ have just chosen a new set of assignments for the freshman to fulfill. Archie has elected both Jerry and Goober for their own assignments, and both have very different reactions. Jerry looks at this as a chance to become ‘someone’, while Goober is petrified of what Archie has in store for him. Jerry’s Assignment: not to sell candy, for he will be the only non-participant and the only rupture in the system.



As Jerry begins to feel like he is a part of this group, he is also recognizing that the things the Vigils do can be destructive as well. We see this when his best friend and teammate, Goober, has not been able to handle the result of his assignment he was given; where he loosened all the screws in the desks of one teacher and that teacher ended up having to leave his job due to a nervous breakdown. And the author, Robert Cormier, has made the contrast between Jerry and Goober clear, where Goober isolates himself from everyone (even Jerry), he quit the football team, and he doesn't run anymore. That whole incident is interesting because it could foreshadow how Jerry may end up if he continues on the path that he is on.



Jerry believes that this is a once and a lifetime chance to fit into a part of something. However, in order to do so, he must defy the moral laws of the school to fit into such a group. Therefore, does one sometimes non-conform to something to conform to something else?

Conformity

Every one has the desire to be a part of something. That something can range from being a member of the church to a member of a circle of friends. For our main character, Jerry Renault, his desire is to be quarterback on the freshman football team. Being part of something means that you are wanted and accepted in a certain way. With Jerry's recent loss of his mother to cancer and a father that is working more hours to compensate, he feels left out of his family unit; thus, he wants to be accepted somewhere.
For Jerry, belonging to the family unit was his way of following what is socially accepted in society, everyone has a mother and a father. When that family unit is broken apart, Jerry feels that his life does not conform to what society expects. Even at Trinity Catholic he is surrounded kids that come from complete families, reminding him of what he doesn't have. The football team is the first indication that Jerry is seeking to be a conformist. If he can make the team, he will be a part of something and become accepted in society once again.
Archie Costello is one character in the story whom Jerry must avoid if he is going to survive at Trinity. He is the most respected senior who is the leader of a secret fraternal group known as The Vigils. The Vigils are the ones that enforce the "unwritten" rules for the student body. He is the creator of conformity in the school, seeking kids that have little or no feeling acceptance, such as Jerry. As to what Jerry's role in Archie's plans will be, it is unknown BUT these two are destined to collide.