The Chocolate War Post #5

The story has now reached a stage in which Brother Leon has reached complete frustration. By now he notices that the chocolate sales are getting lower and lower with every student, only a few students have met or exceeded their quota of 50 boxes. Many are within the 40 and 30's range. The rest of the students however have sold very little. Then there is Jerry Renault. Brother Leon believes that Jerry is the one to blame for the slow  
deterioration of the chocolate sales due to his refusal to sell the chocolate.
I was shocked to read that Leon believes that he could just blame the result of the sale on one student. It is still too early for many of the students to be influenced by his decision, and i doubt that one child who refuses to sell the chocolate could cause a sudden huge decrease on the amount of chocolate sold. The reason to why the chocolates are not selling might have to do with the fact that the chocolate sales are twice what they were last year (amount of boxes that is.) Or maybe it;s the fact that the chocolates cost more than last year.

Quote: "The boys have been infected by a disease we call apathy. A terrible disease difficult to cure" (Cormier 155)

This quote shows Brother Leon's reaction towards the decrease in chocolate sales. Leon refers to Jerry's negative influence on the other boys as a "disease."