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The Black Box
It is “traditional” at Trinity High for every student to decorate the inside of his locker with a poster. In the inside of freshman Jerry Renault’s locker, there is a poster of a man walking alone on the beach. At the bottom of the poster are the words “Do I dare disturb the universe?”—a quotation from the famous long poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot. The poster, then, is a symbol for the disruption of tradition. Even though in simply hanging it, Jerry is participating in a Trinity tradition, in pursuing the poster’s challenge he soon finds himself on a course that will break with tradition and isolate him from his school, his peers, and even himself.
Trinity is an environment so deeply steeped in tradition that it is nearly impossible to take an original action or strike out on one’s own. This is why Jerry’s refusal to take part in the chocolate sale is so shocking and disorienting to the rest of the student body; tradition is what keeps Trinity afloat, and without tradition, the very edifice of Trinity begins to fall apart. The school is not prestigious, or wealthy, or particularly rigorous—all it has, really, are its longstanding traditions, and by disrupting them, Jerry is committing what is in the eyes of many of his peers and teachers a grave sin. The poster, however, symbolizes that Jerry has thought long and hard—each time he opens his locker—about what it means to be a “disturbance,” and what it means to “dare” to disturb a longstanding order. The poster’s message is doubly ironic, as the tasks assigned by Archie Costello and the Vigils are themselves mostly dares; this environment in which dares are necessary in some cases and extremely taboo in others is hypocritical and inconsistent, just like many of the structures that hold up Trinity itself.
Jerry’s Poster Quotes in The Chocolate War
The The Chocolate War quotes below all refer to the symbol of Jerry’s Poster. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 19 Quotes
Jerry opened his locker. He had thumbtacked a poster to the back wall of the locker on the first day of school. The poster showed a wide expanse of beach, a sweep of sky with a lone star glittering far away. A man walked on the beach, a small solitary figure in all that immensity. At the bottom of the poster, these words appeared—Do I dare disturb the universe? By Eliot, who wrote the Waste Land thing they were studying in English. Jerry wasn't sure of the poster's meaning. But it had moved him mysteriously. It was traditional at Trinity for everyone to decorate the interior of his locker with a poster. Jerry chose this one.
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This passage is an interesting one, as Jerry, inspired by the poster in his locker, furthers his commitment to breaking with tradition even as he knowingly participates in an established Trinity tradition by hanging the poster in the first place. Jerry clearly wants to be a “true son of Trinity” and participate in its history—he longs to join the football team, has accepted the Vigils’ assignment, and has engaged in the tradition of hanging a poster in his locker. Still, his poster choice betrays his subconscious desire to “disturb the universe,” and actually break with the traditions and rituals that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores s
“Renault."
It would be so easy, really, to yell “Yes." To say, “Give me the chocolates to sell, Brother Leon." So easy to be like the others, not to have to confront those terrible eyes every morning. Brother Leon finally looked up. The tempo of the roll call had broken.
“No," Jerry said.
He was swept with sadness, a sadness deep and penetrating, leaving him desolate like someone washed up on a beach, a lone survivor in a world full of strangers.
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Shortly after surveying his poster and questioning what it means to “disturb the universe,” Jerry finds himself back in Brother Leon’s class, once again subjected to the Brother’s cruel torment. While disturbing the universe seems exciting and thrilling in theory, the cold, hard reality of rebellion is a lonely thing—and as Jerry considers how much he has already sacrificed, and how much more he will have to suffer in pursuit of his goal of disturbance, he feels very isolated indeed. Jerry’s poster features a man walking along a beach in silent contemplation—Jerry’s feeling of being washed up on a beach Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea s
Chapter 28 Quotes
The morning after that first night phone call, Jerry opened his locker and shook his head in disbelief. His poster had been smeared with ink or some kind of blue paint. The message had been virtually obliterated. Do I dare disturb the universe? was now a grotesque jumble of unconnected letters. It was such a senseless, childish act of vandalism that Jerry was more awed than angered. Who'd do such a crazy thing? Looking down, he saw that his new gym sneakers had been slashed, the canvas now limp shreds, rag-like. He'd made the mistake of leaving them here overnight.
Ruining the poster was one thing, a gross act, the work of the animal—and all schools had animals, even Trinity. But there was nothing prankish about ruining the sneakers. That was deliberate, somebody sending him a message.
The telephone calls.
That attack on the football field.
Now this.
He closed the locker quickly so no one would see the damage. For some reason, he felt ashamed.
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In this passage, Jerry opens his locker to find that it has been vandalized—his poster has been desecrated and his sneakers have been ripped to shreds. The vandalism that has been done to his locker is “childish”—in other words, it is chaotic and seemingly without direction. The annihilation of the poster seems pointed, but the destruction of the shoes is violent and almost sadistic. As Jerry realizes that he is being sent a message—not just through this act of vandalism, but through all of the other assaults and embarrassments, small and large, which have befallen him over the past several Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provide
Chapter 38 Quotes
"It'll be all right, Jerry."
No it won't. He recognized Goober's voice and it was important to share the discovery with Goober. He had to tell Goober to play ball, to play football, to run, to make the team, to sell the chocolates, to sell whatever they wanted you to sell, to do whatever they wanted you to do. He tried to voice the words but there was something wrong with his mouth, his teeth, his face. But he went ahead anyway, telling Goober what he needed to know. They tell you to do your thing but they don't mean it. They don't want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too. It’s a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don't disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say.
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In the wake of the climactic fight between Jerry and Janza, Jerry lies beaten—physically, emotionally, and psychologically—in the arms of his only friend and ally. The Goober attempts to console Jerry while they wait for an ambulance to arrive, but Jerry has been so thoroughly flattened and defeated that he cannot connect to The Goober’s kind words. Jerry, after all of his struggle against the institution of Trinity and its mindless traditions, has ultimately failed; the Vigils still rule the school, Brother Leon’s sale, for all intents and purposes, was a financial success, and the traditions that govern Trinity have Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit.
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Jerry’s Poster Symbol Timeline in The Chocolate War
The timeline below shows where the symbol Jerry’s Poster appears in The Chocolate War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 19
...to class, while Jerry stops off at his locker. He opens it and sees the poster inside—it depicts a man standing on a beach, and features the quotation “Do I dare...
(full context)
Chapter 28
...Jerry gets to school to find that his locker has been vandalized—someone has smeared his poster with ink or paint, obliterating the question “Do I dare disturb the universe?” More than...
(full context)
...universe?” once more, and decides that he does dare. He feels that he understands the poster in a new way, and deeply identifies with the lone man on the expansive beach.
(full context)
Chapter 34
...is Moses parting the Red Sea. When Jerry opens his locker, he finds that the poster and sneakers are gone, and the whole thing has been scrubbed clean.
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