Alex Aloise - Outside Reading 4

In my Adolescent Literature class earlier this semester we read the book The Chocolate War. The book doesn't feature very much religious or spiritual context but it did remind me a lot of our class discussion on Fight Club and the idea of Communitas. The Chocolate War takes place at private school. The school is essentially "run" by a secret society of students known as The Vigils. This group is very close knit. The members all act in secrecy and they are very manipulative and powerful. The main character, Jerry, is given an assignment by the Vigils, which he refuses. The Vigils collectively make Jerry's life a living Hell. The pack mentality exhibited by The Vigils was, to me, very much like the men in Fight Club. They were all united for one single cause and all identified themselves by that cause. The Communitas displayed in both pieces showed very strong groups who had very defined causes and reasons for being. The Vigils gave the boys in the Chocolate War a surrogate family while they were away at boarding school. It was almost like a fraternity, only with a much larger impact. I believe that sense of belonging and Communitas is what brought the boys together and also what kept them together. They acted according to the group, the family, because if they did not, they would have no one.