Dehumanization is Around Us - The Chocolate War sends the message that dehumanization occurred by blind obedience to power and authority
Dehumanization is Around Us
I was a normal girl when I was in elementary school, but after what I did, all my classmates worshiped me as a “hero.” I remember I was in grade five; my Chinese teacher was really cruel. If the students did not do their homework, he will punished the students by clapped their face. Not only the teacher could clap the students’ face, he also asked all the students in class to clap the punished student’s face. If anyone did not want to do that or clapped softly, he or she will be the one to be clapped next. There was one student did not do his homework because his father died and he had to take care of his mother and sisters. He explained to the teacher, but the teacher thought he was lying so he asked all the students in the class to clap his face. As no one want to be the next victim they all clapped his face hardly. Finally it’s my turn, but I could not do that because he was my best friend. I told the teacher “Sorry! I can’t.” The teacher answered me “Never mind, just be clapped 30 times, it’s not a big duel.” After that, I was standing in front of 30 people and waiting for them to clap my face. That was the most horrible time in my life; I was so scared and ran away. I just keep running to the principal’s room, I cried and told the principal everything that the teacher did. The principal was totally shocked and called the teacher to his room. However, the teacher denied all the truth. He said I was a bad girl and I was lying. Therefore, the principle asked the students in the class was that truth or not. All the students said “the teacher is lying” at the same time. The principle was so angry and fired him. The principle also reported the case to the police, but I don’t know was the teacher in the jail or not. That’s the only time I heroically performed.
Likewise, The Chocolate War shows the demands of tribalism, which compromises our humanity by deference to authority, sadistic dynamic of the dehumanization, double standard of morality and symbiosis.
The Chocolate War sends the message that dehumanization occurred by blind obedience to power and authority. A secret society in Trinity is The Vigils. It has the inconceivable influence and power at the school. Archie Costello, the assigner of The Vigils, designs the cruel assignments for the helpless students in order to participate. No one will ever try to go against his ideas and no one wants to be an enemy of The Vigils. The spineless and cowardice for the students leads to Archie manipulating everyone to obey and carry out his wishes. “Tell me why you are here,” (The Chocolate War) Archie asked The Goober in order to show his powerful. When The Goober responded to his questions, he has to answer as “Yes sir” or “respect” the assigner of The Vigils, Archie. The Goober succumbs to the authority and power. He passively accepts and conforms to the assignment. For the students, the assignment is something inescapable and unable to fight against it. The purpose of The Vigils is to establish anonymity to “minimize each prisoner’s sense of uniqueness and prior identity.” In fact, the students mean nothing in the face of The Vigils’ power (Breakthrough Writer). Similar to the Milgram experiment, the “teachers” followed the order of the experimenters blindly for reinforcing actual electric shocks to the “learners” every time they answer the questions wrongly. They do completely what they are told, neglectful of their humanity and social morality. Like the Stanford experiment, the prisoners are forced to wear smocks that look like dresses to restrain their movement like a “feminine” manner. Then, the “guards” strip the “prisoners for the punishment of their masculinity for the clothes to be naked completely for representing the helplessness and powerlessness of the prisoners, like the students of Trinity. While not as extreme, The Vigils do take the students to their hideout where the students are rendered helpless and in a way are “naked.” The Vigils’ strip the students of their masculinity by the assignments, which are a reminder of who has all the power and who must be obedient. (Breakthrough Writer)