The Chocolate Touch

Chocolate symbolizes change throughout The Chocolate Touch. Literally, anything John puts in his mouth changes to chocolate, showing that John’s ability doesn’t discriminate. The way his ability functions mirrors John’s transformation. In the beginning, only things that enter his mouth turn to chocolate. The less chocolate there is, the more he wants it. Beginning with the pencil, chocolate overtakes anything John puts only partly in his mouth, and John’s desperation grows with every object that changes entirely to chocolate. At the end of the book, John pecks his mother on the cheek and turns her to chocolate, which suggests that his ability’s power has grown enough to change anything his lips touch, not just anything that passes his lips into his mouth. Had he failed to resolve it, the ability might have spread to other parts of John’s body as well.

Chocolate represents John’s tragic flaw of greediness. In the King Midas story, Midas wanted riches that would solidify his power. Midas’s greed led him to acquire the “golden touch,” which almost forced him to starve because he turned all his food to gold. Similarly, John wants chocolate because it’s his favorite thing and he wants to not have to eat other foods. John’s greed serves him until he realizes that he can’t drink water to quench his thirst. Only the thought of losing his mother, however, opens John’s eyes to the suffering that his greed has caused. He’s willing to give up chocolate to fix all the problems he’s caused and overcome his greed.