In the exposition of The Chocolate War, we are introduced to Jerry Renault and what seems to be a disaster of his Football tryout. Tryouts did not go well for Jerry and he had terrible nausea afterwards. We also meet Obie and Archie who seemed to have a conflict but end up cooperating with each other. Obie keeps a notebook of records, which upon Archie's request, several things about Jerry are revealed. Renault, Jerome E. was a fourteen-year old freshmen, and he was the son of a pharmacist named James. Jerry's mother had just recently died due to cancer. The story takes place at a private Catholic school and the problem was how to sell twenty thousand boxes of chocolate, should they decide to do so. Archie is the assigner for their organization called 'The Vigils' at Trinity, and he had to constantly come up with assignments and defy the black box.
Quote:
"That's why he was The Assigner. That's why The Vigils depended on him. Hell, The Vigils were the school. And he, Archie Costello, was The Vigils" (Cormier 29).
Reaction:
This quote is stressing the point that Archie was a very important and influential figure at Trinity. He is part of a gang-like organization where he assigns a member something and it becomes law. Everyone, including Obie, had high expectations of his assignments and creativity of those assignments. Archie claims to feel empty and used up after he assigns, although, he does not show it. What was interesting about this quote was that it indirectly stated that Archie Costello was the school. Instead, The Vigils were the School and Archie Costello was The Vigils, therefore, Archie Costello was the school. This was the reason that Brother Leon had sought out for Archie's help, when in reality, and although he did not dare recognize The Vigils, he was looking for their help.
