That Was Then, This is Now” and “The Chocolate War” Essay Example for Free

That Was Then, This is straight off and The Chocolate struggle riseThat Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton (1971) and The Chocolate War (1974) by Robert Cormier atomic number 18 boundary-shattering young-adult novels, each of which penetrates to the heart of issues with which adolescent readers mint readily identify.However, as groundbreaking as these novels were upon their initial publications, both of the novels conform to an established literary idiom, familiar throughout young-adult literature for many centuries. Both The Chocolate War and That Was Then, This is Now present novels of psychiatric hospital more than than specifically, novels of manful-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 straightness, embodiment, and collectivism. (Bereska, 2003) The prominence of traditionalistic male-initiation bowknothetypes and notions o f maleness in the novels, together with the novels unconventional narrative styles, pace, and conventions careed generate two of the more popular, controversial, and memorable titles in the 1970s YA catalog. Like classics or current adult fiction, some YAL includes a variation of situational archetypes such as the test/trial as a rite of passage, the journey or pursuit 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 disclose roles in defining lawsuit 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. composition not explicitly stated, it is an implicit assumption that the boys world is a heterosexual world there are no logical alternatives to heterose xuality. In books from the 1940s to the late 1990s A prescript 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 characterized by particular types and degrees of stirred expression, naturalized aggression, male hang-out groups, hierarchies within those groups and competition, (Bereska, 2003). In both The Chocolate War and That Was Then, This is Now the world is envisioned as a male-dominated 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 That Was Then, This is Now,in Cormiers male-dominated world, the male-hierarchy is not only prevalent, its strictures are living law football is easy compared to Jerrys other extracurricular activities at ternary High placating the Vigil s, 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 umber 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 The Chocolate Warwhen 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 hoop The Vigils finally draws a raffle ticket that allows Janza to strike Jerry below the belt. In That Was Then, This is Now, Mark and Bryon vital, vi ral male bodies are contrasted with Bryons ailing mother, a victim of the poverty and desperation that hangs over her household. While Bryons healthy erotic-physical response to Cathy brings about a sense of patriarchal responsibility for MM, Mark, whose sexuality had never been as pronounced as Bryons deviates from a pure state of male-embodiment, becoming a drug-user and drug-pusher, selling drugs to help support Bryons mother. The corruption of the communal (but male dominated and protected space) in this case comes by way of drugs with threaten MMs physical and mental maturity during his LSD hallucinations, he seems to reverting to a childlike, vulnerable state. It is at the point of Bryons decision to turn Mark in as a drug dealer despite their brotherhood that Bryons initiation is completed and the transformation of his masculinity from purely male-identified to communally-identified takes place. Both The Chocolate War and That Was Then, This is Now end ambiguously if not tra gically. Although Bryon makes a booming transition from self-motivated and socially alienated to selflessness and social responsibility, his initiation into manhood exacts a heavy terms and violates the antecedently established intimacy between the stories two main characters. Keeping in mind the aforementioned(prenominal) classical motifs of male-initiation, Bryons 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. The Chocolate War ends with pyrrhic victory, in that Jerry dares to disturb the universe by challenging the male-on-male hierarchy generated by The Vigils, but at the novels close Jerry is beaten and physically injured with a broken jaw, he tells his friend, The Goober,not to disturb the universethat its not worth it. The book ends as Archie displays no remorse for the past, and Jerry no hop e for the future. Cormiers themes for The Chocolate War were rooted in the individuals response to evil, a concern deep rooted in Cormiers Roman Catholic conscienceI was made aware of evil, and Im aware of it now. I mean, we constantly castigate 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 Hintons themes seem less explicitly grounded in traditional religious morality, her work, like Cormiers, deals with issues of profound sociological consequence, along with themes of dynamic individuation and social integration. Perhaps That Was Then, This is Now fucking be rightfully regarded as offering a somewhat less tragic arc than 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 shape of hypnotically personal impact on young-adult readers that commercially published YAL sometimes offers. Literature can be a way for teens to release these tensions. This point remains highly valid as the enduring appeal and winner of The Chocolate War and That Was Then, This is Now demonstrates.Students can read a book, for example, about a teenager ambit 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.ReferencesBereska, T. M. (2003). The Changing Boys World in the 20th Century cosmos and Fiction. The Journal of Mens Studies, 11(2), 157+.Herz, S. K., Gallo, D. R. (1996). From Hinton to Hamlet Building Bridges between juvenility Adu lt Literature and the Classics. Westport, CT Greenwood Press.Alsup, J. (2003). Politicizing newfangled Adult Literature Reading Andersons Speak as a Critical Text Critical Texts face up 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.