Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War, is a book of intense magnification  into the dark side of human nautre.  The book is a constant barrage of  sexual references, perversion, pain, violence, mind games, greed, power,   and corruption.  Jerry Renault finds himself pitted against this dark  side  of man's nautre and must struggle just to survive.  Archie,  (archenemy) the  personification of eveil, preys on the weakness of the  faculty and students  of Trinity.  Archie never seems to be wrong in his  ability to take  advantage of people's weaknesses.  He undermines the  moral fiber of the  school for his own self gratification.  Although he  loves what he does, he  hates it at the same time.  With the help of his  flunky Obie (obey), who  hates and admires Archie, and Father Leon  (Lion), a hateful, power hungry,  sadistic man, he makes his evil plans.   In Archie's quest for absolute  control and power, he must break the  will of Jerry Renault, who has dared  to defy him with his new-found  belief that, "Do I dare to disturb the  universe?" Maybe I do dare.   Robert Cormier's ability to create  psychological scenarios takes a  great amount of skill and talent to keep  the story interesting,  believable and flowing.  The author lets us peek  into the minds of the  many charaters, helping us to discover what makes  them tick.  Despite  the violence and sexual remarks adults will find in it,  this book  transcends those things adults may find objectionable.  It  illuminates  some very important issures about life that we often are too  inhibited  to talk about such as masturbation, peer pressure, violence and  death.   This book will relate to young adult readers.  One of the most   importan issures focuses on the fact that people should stand up for   themselves when they know they are right.  People acting like sheep  allowed  the Nazis and Hitler to take control of Germany and kill  millions of Jews.   It is also true that street gangs which are  prevalent in today's society  can be just as vicious, using the same  tactics as the Nazis.  This book can  also be looked at on a religious  level.  At the end of the book the reader  can see where Jerry can be  viewed as Christ being sacrificed on the cross.   There also have been  other passages that made reference to religion, such  as parting of the  student as if Moses was parting the Red Sea.  Also I felt  that Goober  could have been Paul when he shut himself off from Jerry when  things  started to get tuff.  But he was there in the end of the book for  Jerry  after he had been severely beaten.  Janza could be viewed as the  Roman  soldier or the SS for Hitler.  Either way he enjoyed inflicting pain,   in a perverse way.  Robert Cormier does not end his book on a happy  note.   By making the ending so graphic and violent, it forces the  reader to doubt  Jerry's decision to refuse to sell the candy at all  cost.  The reader is  forced to take a hard look at the wisdom of  Jerry's decision.  Did he do  the right thing or not?  I think he did do  the right thing.