Niharika Chapagain - Dec 09 2022 ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ is a novel for children which was published in 1964 by British author Roald Dahl and till now there are two versions of movies for this book. Roald Dahl is known for his children’s book and to write this book, Dahl was inspired by his experience of chocolate companies way back then, during his schooldays. According to him, Cadbury would send samples of chocolates to schoolchildren to know their opinion and at that time Cadbury and Rowntree, two chocolate companies, would send spies in each other’s factory to steal trade secrets. And that inspired Roald Dahl to write this story. This book’s sequel is ‘ Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator ’ which was written by Roald Dahl in 1971.
Plot: Eleven-year-old Charlie Bucket lives in a small house outside the town, with his parents and four grandparents. Their house is near a chocolate factory which was owned by Mr. Willy Wonka, and Charlie would often want chocolates due to the scent of chocolate coming from the factory, however, due to poverty, he never got to eat many chocolates. Every year, on his birthday he would get a chocolate bar as a gift, and he would eat it slowly, finishing it in a whole month. One day Charlie’s Grandpa Joe tells Charlie about how other companies sent spies to steal Willy Wonka’s recipe, forcing Wonka to close the factory. The next day, Mr. Wonka had announced in the newspaper, that he would be reopening the factory for the public, and the five children who found the Golden Ticket in five Wonka Bars would get the chance to enter the factory with their parents and get a lifetime supply of Wonka products.
When one day, Charlie’s father loses his job, Charlie finds a job to shovel the snow from the street during severe winter. After that Charlie was walking home from school, when he found a fifty-pence piece, he bought two Wonka Bars. Luckily, he finds the Golden Ticket where it is written he can bring a family member with him to the factory. Grandpa Joe agrees to go with him and the other four children who got the tickets were greedy Augustus Gloop, spoiled Veruca Salt, television addict Mike Teavee and chewing gum-addict Violet Beauregarde. Finally, the tour day comes, and Mr. Wonka welcomes five children along with their parents inside his magical factory. There they meet Oompa Loompas who helped Mr. Wonka to operate the factory. During the tour, the other four children were very impulsive, not following the rules which led to a huge disaster, and children suffered from painful consequences for their actions.
Augustus the greedy boy, gets sucked inside the pipe of the Chocolate room, after drinking the chocolate from the chocolate river. The chewing gum addict Violet steals the piece of gum which was not ready to be consumed but Violet chews the gum even after being warned and consequently turns into a giant blueberry. The spoiled kid Veruca is thrown down the garbage chute because she tried to capture a trained nut-testing squirrel who identified her as a bad nut. At last, the television addict Mike misuses one of the devices despite the warnings of Mr. Wonka and is converted into a size of chocolate. The most fun part about the book is the part when The Oompa-Loompas sings about the children each time they do something disastrous. Among the five children, Charlie was the most kind-hearted, selfless, curious child, who never took anything for granted and behaved properly. Charlie was different from other children, grown in a poor family without any facility, still he never complained, and instead was humble and calm. Seeing this, Mr. Wonka congratulates him for winning the factory and explains to Charlie and his grandfather that, this Golden Ticket, tour, things were done for helping him to find a responsible and good person who could serve as the heir to his business after he passes away. Among the five children, Charlie was the only child who was capable of handling his business and he had passed the test.
In my opinion, my favorite part was reading about the things that Mr. Wonka had hidden in his chocolate factory, for example, the part when Charlie reads things like:
Cows that give chocolate milk
Hot ice-creams for cold days
Eatable marshmallow pillows
These things were crazy and unimaginable, but it would be cool if they existed in real life. Also, in my opinion, Charlie is the sweetest and the most caring little boy in the story. I love the fact that despite not being able to have a good childhood like other children and despite not having much money and starving, he never got angry with his family and he loved his family with his whole heart, taking care of his grandparents. I loved the connection of their family and the way they love each other. Even if they have to starve or have a little amount of cabbage soup, they would be happy to be together and that was the thing that mattered the most to them. Roald Dahl’s imagination is unique as he made this book interesting and funny just by playing with words and descriptions. He gave this book exciting characters like gum addicts, television addicts, etc. My favorite statement from the book was a dialogue between Mr. Wonka and Charlie.
“Mr. Wonka: “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted.”
Charlie: “What happened?”
Mr. Wonka: “He lived happily ever after.”
I would rate the book with 4 out of 5 because the book is well-written and it is a book that most parents read out loud to their children to make them sleep. Many people must have heard this book from their parents or grandparents when they were small, but if they might not have read it, they might have surely seen its movie after growing up. Though there might be some things that people may not like, still in my point of view, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is everyone’s childhood and this book is worth reading. The movie and the book are very different so even if people might have seen the movie, reading the book gives us different vibes.
Niharika Chapagain
Grade: X, Machapuchare
Author: Roald Dahl
Genre: Novel, Children's literature, Fairy tale, Humour, Fantasy Fiction
Published by: Puffin Books, Scholastic Corporation, Allen & Unwin
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