Friday, September 6, 2019
That Was Then, This is Now†and “The Chocolate War†Essay Example for Free
That Was Then, This is Now†and â€Å"The Chocolate War†Essay â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now†by S.E. Hinton (1971) and â€Å"The Chocolate War†(1974) by Robert Cormier are boundary-shattering young-adult novels, each of which penetrates to the heart of issues with which adolescent readers can readily identify. However, as groundbreaking as these novels were upon their initial publications, both of the novels conform to an established literary idiom, prevalent throughout young-adult literature for many centuries. Both â€Å"The Chocolate War†and â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now†present novels of initiation; more specifically, novels of male-initiation. Aspects of the male-initiation novel include specific conditional criteria that both define and structure the concept of manhood; among these criteria are issues of heterosexuality, embodiment, and collectivism. (Bereska, 2003)            The prominence of traditional male-initiation archetypes and notions of masculinity in the novels, together with the novels’ unconventional narrative styles, pace, and conventions helped generate two of the more popular, controversial, and memorable titles in the 1970s YA catalog. â€Å"Like classics or current adult fiction, some YAL includes a variety of situational archetypes such as the test/trial as a rite of passage, the journey or quest of the hero, birth/death/rebirth, and the search for self.†(Herz Gallo, 1996, p. 11)            In both novels, notions of manhood and sexual orientation play key roles in defining character and plot development, as well as thematic development. Bryon, the main character in ‘That Was Then, This is Now†prides himself as a ladies’ man and is compared to (or confused with) the Romantic Poet Lord Byron, who was an infamous womanizer, on different occasions during the story. â€Å"While not explicitly stated, it is an implicit assumption that the boys world is a heterosexual world; there are no logical alternatives to heterosexuality. In books from the 1940s to the late 1990s[] A normal male body is presumed to be both masculine in gender and heterosexual (Nelson (Bereska, 2003)            Along with heterosexuality as a harbinger of normalcy, the male world in YA initiation novels is â€Å"characterized by particular types and degrees of emotional expression, naturalized aggression, male hang-out groups, hierarchies within those groups [and] competition,†(Bereska, 2003). In both â€Å"The Chocolate War†and â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now†the world is portrayed as a male-dominated â€Å"war zone†where a survival of the fittest mentality reigns above issues of emotionality, sensitivity, or compassion.            While drugs, street-fights, and casual sex present controversial and very stark terrors in the world of â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now,†in Cormier’s male-dominated world, the male-hierarchy is not only prevalent, its strictures are living law: â€Å"football is easy compared to Jerrys other extracurricular activities at Trinity High: placating the Vigils, the schools secret society, and avoiding Brother Leon, the acting headmaster[] Archie Costello, de facto leader of the Vigils, orders Jerry to refuse to sell chocolate for ten days, as a way of exerting power†(Cheaney, 2001, p. 256).            The aspect of embodiment: that is, the physical manifestation of male characteristics (or defining manhood by male bodily capacities and functions) is a vital component of both novels, symbolized by, not only erotic scenes and passages, but by visceral acts of violence. Foremost among the explicit symbolism of male initiation as male-body-experience is the climactic brutality of â€Å"The Chocolate War†when raffle-tickets are drawn to direct blows against bodies. Raffle tickets are drawn to see when and where Jerry and Emile Janza (a thug) will strike one another with boxing blows. One of the members of the school gang The Vigils finally draws a raffle ticket that allows Janza to strike Jerry below the belt.             In â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now,†Mark and Bryon vital, viral male bodies are contrasted with Bryon’s ailing mother, a victim of the poverty and desperation that hangs over her household. While Bryon’s healthy erotic-physical response to Cathy brings about a sense of patriarchal responsibility for MM, Mark, whose sexuality had never been as pronounced as Bryon’s deviates from a â€Å"pure†state of male-embodiment, becoming a drug-user and drug-pusher, selling drugs to help support Bryon’s mother.            The corruption of the communal (but male dominated and protected space) in this case comes by way of drugs with threaten MM’s physical and mental maturity; during his LSD hallucinations, he seems to regress to a childlike, vulnerable state. It is at the point of Bryon’s decision to turn Mark in as a drug dealer despite their â€Å"brotherhood†that Bryon’s initiation is completed and the transformation of his masculinity from purely male-identified to communally-identified takes place.            Both â€Å"The Chocolate War†and â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now†end ambiguously if not tragically. Although Bryon makes a successful transition from self-motivated and socially alienated to selflessness and social responsibility, his initiation into manhood exacts a heavy toll and violates the previously established intimacy between the stories two main characters. Keeping in mind the aforementioned â€Å"classical†motifs of male-initiation, Bryon’s â€Å"sacrifice†of his male-to-male friendship with Mark in favor of his traditional familial relationships with Cathy and MM fulfill the classical notion of heterosexual manhood as established via physical embodiment, and collectivism.            â€Å"The Chocolate War†ends with pyrrhic victory, in that Jerry dares to â€Å"disturb the universe†by challenging the male-on-male hierarchy generated by The Vigils, but at the novel’s close Jerry is beaten and physically injured; with a broken jaw, he tells his friend, The Goober, not to disturb the universeâ€â€that it’s not worth it. The book ends as Archie displays no remorse for the past, and Jerry no hope for the future. Cormier’s themes for â€Å"The Chocolate War†were rooted in â€Å"the individuals response to evil, a concern deeply rooted in Cormiers Roman Catholic conscience[]I was made aware of evil, and Im aware of it now. I mean, we constantly try to be good, and most of us are because of the lack of opportunities to do evil. Opportunities for evil abound at Trinity High because most of the boys dont recognize it for what it is.†(Cheaney, 2001, p. 256) Though Hinton’s themes seem less explicitly grounded in traditional religious morality, her work, like Cormier’s, deals with issues of profound sociological consequence, along with themes of dynamic individuation and social integration. Perhaps â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now†can be rightfully regarded as offering a somewhat less tragic arc than â€Å"The Chocolate War,†the impact of both of the novels on the YA genre was (and remains) explosive.            Classical literature often fails to exert the kind of hypnotically personal impact on young-adult readers that commercially published YAL sometimes offers. â€Å"Literature can be a way for teens to release these tensions.†This point remains highly valid as the enduring appeal and success of â€Å"The Chocolate War†and â€Å"That Was Then, This is Now’ demonstrates. â€Å"Students can read a book, for example, about a teenager reaching puberty and can talk about what the character is feeling in the third person, not the first. They can say she felt instead of I felt.[]Why do they want to read it? Perhaps because it helps them feel as if they are not alone.†(Alsup, 2003) Each of these novels melded traditional elements of the male-initiation story while simultaneously breaking through previously held notions regarding the thematic scope and sociological relevance of YA novels. References Bereska, T. M. (2003). The Changing Boys World in the 20th Century: Reality and Fiction.  The Journal of Mens Studies, 11(2), 157+. Herz, S. K., Gallo, D. R. (1996). From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Alsup, J. (2003). Politicizing Young Adult Literature: Reading Andersons Speak as a Critical Text Critical Texts Confront Difficult Topics. Students Need to Read, Write, and Talk about These Relevant Issues. Journal of Adolescent Adult Literacy, 47(2), 158+. Cheaney, J. (2001, December). Teen Wars : The Young Adult Fiction of Robert Cormier. World and I, 16, 256.
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