Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl was born September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, South Wales. At the age of eight, he was sent to a boarding school in southwest England and went on to attend Repton, a prestigious boarding school near Derby. One of his most vivid memories of his Repton years concerns the testing of chocolate bars. Cadbury, a famous chocolate manufacturer, would occasionally give the students some new types of chocolate bars and ask the students to rate them. While he was performing this pleasant task, Dahl would fantasize about working in the lab where these chocolates were invented. He had no idea, though, that he would one day base a book on these daydreams.

Upon graduating from Repton in 1933, he went to work for Shell Oil Company and was stationed in East Africa. With the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot. He survived a fiery crash in Libya and numerous dogfights over Greece before he was disabled and sent back to England. During the 1940s, he wrote a series of stories about his war experiences. The stories were well received, and he decided to become a full-time writer. Throughout the 1950s, he wrote numerous short stories, specializing in what one critic called "the eerie, macabre, chiller-type story."

Dahl began writing for young people in the early 1960s. His first children's book, James and the Giant Peach, was published in 1961 and was followed by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1964. Since then he has published numerous books for young readers, including a second book about Charlie entitled Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972). Several of Dahl's children's books have met with strong disapproval from some adults who think that his stories are vulgar, excessively violent, and encourage disrespect for authority. Despite these charges, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and several of his other children's books remain tremendously popular. He died on November 23, 1990 in Oxford, England.

Dahl has said that his only purpose in writing books for children is to entertain and foster a love of reading. The book's slap-stick humor, fantastic setting, and exaggerated characters appeal to the tastes of young readers. It has an original and fast-paced plot about a poor boy who, along with four other children, wins an opportunity to tour a wondrous and mysterious chocolate factory that has been sealed off from the public for ten years.

The book is especially effective when read aloud and is frequently used by teachers who read to their classes. This is partially due to Dahl's playful use of language, featuring rhymes, puns, and hyperbole.

Although the main setting of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a magical confectionery, it begins in a contemporary industrial area known simply as "a great town." Because Dahl never mentions the city's name or location, he gives a sense of universality to the story. It could be taking place in practically any large city in England or America. The city, however, has one distinguishing characteristic: it is the home of Wonka's factory.

From the outside, Wonka's Factory looks much like any other factory, but the interior is fantastic. The city's residents are unaware that most of the factory lies underground, consisting of winding tunnels and various chambers. The Chocolate Room, for example, resembles an outdoor park complete with a beautiful waterfall; but the cascading liquid is actually melted chocolate. Another chamber is called the Inventing Room. Crammed with pipes, pots, and odd machines, it is a center of activity. Although each chamber is different, a sensual quality pervades the entire factory. It's a place where practically everything tastes, smells, and looks good.

Charlie Bucket, the central character in the book, is not really a character at all. Aside from being a well-behaved boy from a poor family, Charlie has no distinguishing qualities and no distinct personality. He is, as his name suggests, an empty container, a shell waiting to be filled. It is the reader who fills in the outline by becoming Charlie. By providing a character who stands for the reader, Dahl propels us into the story in a very direct way.

The other children are more symbols than characters. Augustus Gloop, an obese boy, symbolizes gluttony; Veruca Salt, a spoiled rich girl, embodies selfishness; Violet Beauregarde, a gumchewing chatterbox, exemplifies mindlessness; and Mike Teavee, a television addict, represents idleness. These children have no characteristics other than the behavior flaws that they represent. When they are punished for their sins, the reader can take a righteous pleasure in their fate without feeling pangs of pity.

Another set of characters that figure in the story are the Oompa-Loompas, tiny people who live and work in the factory. In the original 1964 version of the book, they have black skin and are said to be pygmies from Africa. After critics accused Dahl of racism, he changed the portrait of the Oompa-Loompas. In the revised edition, published in 1973, they are no longer black. They have long, wavy hair and come from an imaginary place called Loompaland. Besides working in the factory, at various points in the book, the Oompa-Loompas comment on events in the story through their songs.

Aside from Willy Wonka, the adults in the story are minor figures. Although Charlie lives with his parents and four grandparents, the only one who participates in his adventures is Grandpa Joe, and he does little more than answer a few of Charlie's questions. Willy Wonka, the owner of the factory, is the character upon whom the story hinges. He is an aggressive and manic person, always in control and on the move. Like the other characters, he is the personification of a particular aspect of human behavior. He represents the young person's libidinal drive, the desire to indulge in sensual pleasures, and act out aggressive fantasies. He is free to do the things that most children only wish that they could do.

One of the reasons the book is so popular with young readers is that it presents their own fantasies. Dahl does not simply depict children's daydreams; he crafts a satisfying story in which the sensual pleasures of a food fantasy are harmoniously combined with the thrills of an aggression fantasy. While adults may find the story disconcerting, children find it both amusing and reassuring. In a sense, Dahl lets young people know that their less civilized fantasies are shared by others, and that can be a comforting thought.

Among adults, there is no general agreement as to the book's literary merits. Some opponents of the book consider it one of the most tasteless books ever written for children. Others, however, argue that the book should be read as a modern fairy tale, within a tradition in which the characters are stereotypes and violence and ruthless punishments are taken for granted.

Dahl does, in fact, draw on that tradition. He not only borrows the forms of violence that run through many fairy tales, but he uses the types of characters found in these tales. As Bruno Bettelheim points out in The Uses of Enchantment, fairy tale characters are "either good or bad, nothing in between."

Over the years, Charlie and the Choco-late Factory has been accused of being vulgar, sadistic, subversive, ageist, and racist. Of all these accusations, however, the charge of racism is the most serious. The charge, of course, has to do with the portrayal of the Oompa-Loompas as black pygmies from Africa. Dahl has commented that it hadn't occurred to him that his depiction of the Oompa-Loompas was racist. But after critics pointed out that all of the workers were black, he revised the book. Dahl would prefer that people read the revised edition, which is the only edition that is now in print. However, there are countless copies of the original version in circulation.

1. In the first part of the book, Dahl tries to build the reader's anticipation about the chocolate factory. What techniques does he use? How successful is he?

2. The chocolate factory is supposed to be a wondrous place. What are its most wondrous features? Of its many rooms, which is your favorite?

3. Four of the five children who tour the factory are punished for their misbehavior. How do their fates correspond to their actions? Are their punishments too severe?

4. The four children who are punished are not the only characters whom Dahl condemns. He also criticizes their parents. How do these parents contribute to their children's behavior?

5. Although this book is very popular with children, it is disliked by many adults. Why do these two different age groups have such different reactions to the same text?

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been called a modern fairy tale. What characteristics does it have in common with traditional fairy tales?

2. Throughout the book, Dahl coins words and employs puns. Why does he do this? Does this type of word play enhance the story?

3. In some ways, Dahl is following in the footsteps of Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) and Edward Lear (1812-1888). Compare Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Carroll's Alice books or Lear's nonsense poetry. What similarities and differences do you see?

4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a sensual quality to it. How does Dahl work the five senses into the story? Which of the senses does he refer to most frequently?

5. Critic Eleanor Cameron says this book is "tasteless." Read her essay "A Question of Taste" or some of her other attacks on the book. Does she convince you that the book is bad for children? Is it necessary that all children's books be in good taste?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was made into a film which was released in 1971. The film is called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and it stars Gene Wilder as Wonka. Dahl wrote the screenplay, and it is quite true to the book. In the film, however, Charlie plays a more active role than he does in the book.

In 1972 Dahl published a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory entitled Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. This factory features Charlie, his family, and Willy Wonka, but most of the story takes place in outer space rather than in the chocolate factory. Unlike the first Charlie book, the sequel does not have a strong plot. This gives it an episodic quality that becomes distracting after the first several chapters. The general consensus among critics is that it is one of Dahl's weakest children's books.

James and the Giant Peach, 1961
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 1964
The Magic Finger, 1966
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, 1972
Danny: The Champion of the World, 1975
TheBFG, 1982
The Witches, 1983
Boy, 1984
Going Solo, 1986
Matilda, 1988