The Chocolate War: Post #2

Summary pgs.39-78
We continue on with the rest of our story, and the action starts to rise a bit as well.  In the next chapter, we are introduced to a large fellow named Emile Janza, the roughest, toughest kid at the school, and another member of the Vigils.  Now, he and Archie do not get along very well with one another; in fact, they hate each others guts.  Despite this rivalry, they cooperate well together, ironic as it sounds.  Together, they are known as the school's trouble-making duo, but not as chaotic as the infamous pairs of Bonnie and Clyde or Beavis and Butthead for example; their deeds just resort to whoopee-cushion gags, bullying, and siphoning gas out of strangers' cars.  A day later, the chocolate sale finally starts up.  While the student body dispersed across the neighborhood to sell those Hershey bars, Archie was scheming...  Scheming to get money out of this.  The next morning, one of Archie and Emile's trademark pranks has gone awry, causing all of the desks and tables in Brother Leon's classroom to fall apart.  Naturally, he blames all of this on Archie, and pins him to the wall, boiling with utter rage.  Another fine mess.  Later that day, Jerry goes back to make an attempt at getting through the football tryouts.  Unfortunately, Renault is still the fumbling, awkward, scrawny boy messing around on the field.  After practice, he sees a note on his locker, written by a member of the Vigils, stating that he has been given an assignment.  An obligatory cliffhanger should be placed here.


Quotation Explanation
"He'd use the tip [of his blackboard pointer] to push around a book on a desk or to flick a kid's necktie, scratching gently down some guy's back, poking the pointer as if he were a rubbish collector picking his way through the debris of the classroom" (Cormier 39).

My Reaction
As the plot progresses, I am starting to believe that this type of Bildungs-Roman is a "slice-of-life" novel.  By this, I mean a story that focuses on real-life people, involved in real-life situations, dealing with real-life conflicts and problems.  Sort of like one of those teen sitcoms that air on the Disney Channel everyday.  The context of the plot seems to be quite lighthearted; nothing dramatic to an unnecessary extent aside from the prominence of the Vigils, which must be a reference to gangs in modern times.  The author still uses his metaphors creatively, as seen in the Quotation Explanation, and surprisingly, the recurring style of the characters' diction did not get too repetitive.  Speaking of the characters, a good amount of them have some very round personalities; their emotional traits change a bit depending on the situation, but not to an extreme point.  As I continue this Bildungs-Roman, I expect to see more of these defining points.