However, the moral of the movie is do what you believe is right and don’t give up, you will eventually change the world or in this case your school. The book might seem more realistic, but a person would get nowhere in life if they did not dream or try. The movie portrays better to teenagers that life is not a punishment, that it is indeed very possible to get somewhere by truly trying and believing in what is right. This might seem corny to many but it is the truth. In order to succeed, a person should establish objectives and goals that they want to reach and attain.
In the movie Jerry is having a hard time living his life after his mother’s recent death. The Vigils at his school are not helping either. Jerry has a lot of things on his mind and does not have time to worry about the “ assignments” The Vigils have setup for him and the chocolate sale. The assignments are difficult task The Vigils assign to freshmen at Trinity, in order for them to have a hard time which results in them having psychological problems. Jerry first assignment was to refuse to sell chocolates for Trinity’s annual Chocolate Sale.
However, once the assignment was over, Jerry still refused to sell the chocolates, going against school tradition and disturbing his universe. Jerry second assignment was to sell the chocolates. He decides to rebel against The Vigils. This choice he made gave him a hard time, but he stuck to what he believed in and he eventually got what he wanted and what was right. Jerry did not get influenced by his surroundings; he stood his ground and did not give up. This is a great moral the movie is sending to the teens of today.
The morals is changing the way teens think in a positive way by showing them that life is not just something they have to push through day by day without purpose, or as Renault said “ without questioning the universe”, but a chance to achieve something. The book presents a harsher reality to the readers. The reality the book bevels is that life cannot always have a happy ending or in other words, be fair. In the book, Renault still has the right mentality and does do what is right and what he believes in, but at the end he learns a good lesson; that he is not always going to win.
He had to learn it in a harsh way, “ A new sickness invaded Jerry, the sickness Of knowing what he’d become, another animal, another beast, another violent person in a violent world, inflicting damage, not disturbing the universe, but damaging it’, (chapter 37). He realizes the world is cruel and that he shouldn’t have tried to disturb his universe. It is a rough moral and way to end the story with, but, this also has a positive effect on the teens of this era. It is telling the young people that life is not a walk in the park.
It helps them realize that sometimes, they will have to try their very best to accomplish something but that many times, they will fail, however will learn something good and true from a bad experience. Basically, they will learn that “ you Win some and you lose some”. The book’s and movie’s moral are both considered “ good” to some, but it depends on how a person looks at them. The movie may seem like it has a DOD moral but there are some people who might argue this, they believe that it is telling teens that they will always succeed.
This moral presented to the viewers is very unrealistic; it hides an important truth of life. This moral makes teenagers believe that they don’t have to try hard because they will always win the battles life has to offer them. It is also possible to disagree that the book has a good moral by looking at it in another perceptive, that the book is telling the young people to never try because it is impossible to succeed. At the end Jerry says, “ They tell you to do your thing but they don’t mean it. They don’t want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too.
It’s a laugh, Sober, a fake. Don’t disturb the universe, Sober, no matter what the posters say’, (peg. 259). The story having a good or bad moral all depends on how an individual wants to look at it. All in all, The Chocolate War is a great story that has two completely different morals which relate and influence the young generation. The book’s and movie’s different moral which could be seen in a negative of positive way, will influence the readers and viewers. Robert Cornier has really out done himself with this one.
