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?