The Chocolate War- Robert Cormier- Tone Blog-10/1/14

Isabela J.
10/1/14
What type of writing techniques does the author use?
Pages- 0-43



     The Chocolate war. What a weird name for a book. Well, thats exactly what it is. This books takes place in a Catholic schools for boys. There can be no harm in a Catholic school, right? Well, in this school there isn't, but thats no because of the teacher. Or the rules. But for the Vigils. The Vigils is a "secret" group of boys that the teachers know about and the kids are scared of. The Vigils are kind of like the bullies that enforce their rules..? They assign assignments to kids in the lower grades and make them do things that the Vigils find "Funny" so they don't try and think to mess up the status quo. However, when one kid is picked to sell annual chocolates to raise money for the school, he refuses the Vigils and things get nasty. Now, Jerry Renault has to decide, "Do I dare disturb the universe?..."  As you could probably notice, the way I described this book is with questions,which is a style of writing. Every author has a style of writing whether it is by questions, word choice, format, anything. Thats what this blog is about. Style and mood.


      While reading, I noticed one really big part of the book is when we see an assignment be given out for the first time. During this part of the book, I noticed that the writer, Robert Cormier, used a lot of imagery and detail. One specific part that I remember reading where we see this is when the author starts describing the setting of the meeting, and how he uses descriptive words and explains the lightbulb hanging in the room,"---private, the solitary entrance easily guarded, and dim, lit by a single bulb dangling from the ceiling, a 40-watt bulb that bestowed only a feeble light on the proceedings." I think this is a good quote to show style in writing because he described the lightbulb using words like "Feeble." I think that this is a good showing of Cormier, because you really don't see words like that in modern literature.


     Another thing I want to talk about is mood. Mood is the way you feel after you read a book or a part of the book. One part that made so tense and curious is when Archie, the person who gives the assignments, is beating around the bush about an assignment he is going to give to a kid named, Goubert or as they call him, The Goober. Robert describes the way the kids are acting and all the tension in the room that it makes you feel like you are right there waiting to see what is going to happen. The exact part of the book I am talking about is right here,someone snickered. Archie stiffened, shot a look at cCarter=r, a withering look that said, tell them to cut the crap. Carter snapped his fingers, which sounded in the the quite storage room=m like the banging of a gavel." I picked this part because you can tell how instantly the mood in the book is and you feel as if you were part of the vigils.