"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" represents a fun children novel with many modern fairytale characteristics. There are many surreal elements in this book and as in any other fairytale nobility and kindness are rewarded.
In the center of the story are Charlie and 4 other kids who represent the worse human flaws. Veruca Salt is a spoiled rich girl whose parents make her every wish come true. August Gloop is an obese boy that eats everything and that almost cost him his life because he nearly drowned in chocolate. Mike is a boy who always watches TV.
The complete opposite is Charlie whose family is barely making a living but they always manage to surprise him for his birthday. The moral of the story is that kindness always wins. The reader sees the main problems of the modern society such as unhealthy eating and people becoming couch potatoes. As any other fairytale, this one also has a happy ending.
The novel is written in the third person singular and divided into 30 chapters and every chapter has a title.
Genre: children novel
Time: unspecified
Place: unspecified
Charlie Bucket is a boy who lived in a small wooden house on the outskirts of town. He had a big family and lived with six adults: 2 grandpas, 2 grandmas, father and his mother. His family was poor and only his father had a job but he lost it and in the end he shoveled snow for a small paycheck.
There was only one bed in the house and his grandparents slept there for 20 years already. Near this poor house was a miraculous and wonderful chocolate factory. Charlie loved chocolate and always walked slowly when he was near the factory so he could enjoy the smell.
The owner of the factory was Willy Wonka. He shut down the factory and fired everyone because he was furious about the fact that his competition was stealing his recipes with the help of their spies who worked in the factory.
One day the factory started working again and it was making the most delicious treats. There was a big mystery about the opening of the factory because the doors were never open, nobody saw Wonka and nobody saw a single worker there.
That situation went on for 10 years and then there was an article in the newspaper that Willy Wonka put golden bars in five of his chocolates and that five lucky people will get the tour of the factory and chocolate to last a lifetime. Charlie wanted to visit the factory but since he only got one chocolate for his birthday chances of that happening were minimal.
Winter came and the Bucket family was freezing inside the wooden house. The father lost his job and started shoveling snow so his paycheck was lower that the last one. The family was starving and Charlie looked like a skeleton.
He got a chocolate for his birthday and he was hoping to get the golden bar and a tour of the factory. Soon four lucky winners were published: August Gloop who always ate, Veruca Salt who was spoiled, Violeta the girl with the gum and Mike who always watched TV.
Grandpa Joe bought him a chocolate bar but the ticket wasn’t in it. The family was still happy that they had a tasteful chocolate. Charlie found 50 pence and decided to buy another chocolate and give the rest to his mom. He found the golden bar in that chocolate.
He had to go to the factory on February the 1st with a family member. Grandpa Joe was his companion. Both of them were very happy. Finally, the day arrived and Willy Wonka waited for them in front of the factory and took them on a magical journey.
Chocolate was everywhere. There were a chocolate river and a chocolate waterfall. The visitors were introduced to the workers, the Oompa Loompas. There were dwarf from a foreign country who only ate caterpillars. Wonka got a whole tribe into the factory and they were constantly inventing songs and singing.
When they got to the chocolate river August started eating everything he could and in the end, he fell into the river and almost drowned. After that, through a pipe, he went to a room where chocolate was refined. Wonka showed him a gum he had just invented and wasn’t for sale yet. Greedy Violeta took it despite the warning and she became a purple balloon.
The next in line was the room where squirrels were preparing the walnuts. Veruca wanted a squirrel but when Wonka told her that they are not for sale she got angry and opened the big glass door. The squirrels checked her and saw that she was hollow. They threw her into the trash pipe.
The chocolate TV room was next and Wonka showed them his newest invention. He made a chocolate TV and with it, people could send little chocolates. Mike was crazy about TV and wanted to be sent by one. Wonka told him that it wouldn’t be safe but he decided to go into the TV. At the end, he became as small as the TV people. He was so small that he could sit on a palm of a hand.
At the end, only Joe and Charlie were left. Wonka explained that the other kids are fine and that he had done all of this because he was searching for somebody to inherit the factory. He picked Charlie so the whole family got the chance to move into the factory. They will never be cold or hungry again. It is hard to explain how happy Charlie was.
Characters: Charlie Bucket, grandpa Joe, mister and miss Bucket, August Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet, Mike, Willy Wonka, Oompa Loompas
Charlie Bucket is the main character of the novel and he is described as a kind, honey, thoughtful, full of understanding and noble. Charlie loved his family and always respected them. He was a child that did not have many demands in life. He only wanted chocolate more that everything. Unfortunately the poor family did not have enough money for the chocolate.
The family saved some money every day so that they could buy him one chocolate bar for his birthday. Unfortunately, Charlie’s biggest torture was the big chocolate factory near his home.
Charlie showed his nobility every day even when he found 50 pence on the street. He bought a chocolate and gave the rest to his mom. The chocolate had the golden bar in it.
The Bucket parents took care of Charlie and only his father had a job. He worked in a factory but he got fired. After that, he started to shovel snow. The paycheck got smaller and the family got hungrier.
Grandpa Joe was the oldest on out of all of the grandparents. He was 96, weak and fragile, and didn’t talk much until Charlie got the golden bar. He was so happy that he accepted to accompany Charlie into the factory.
August Gloop was the first founder of the golden bar. He ate too much and didn’t know when to stop.
Veruca Salt found the second golden bar and she was very spoiled by her parents. His father owned a peanut factory and bought hundreds of chocolate bars and then made all of his employees search for the golden bar. Veruca’s mom was a geography teacher but did not know where the land of Oompa Loompas was.
Violet was the third finder. She was mean and careless and her only goal was to break the worlds record in chewing one gum.
Mike also found a ticket and his main hobby in life was watching TV. When the journalists came to his house he was upset that they disturbed his TV watching.
Willy Wonka was the owner of the factory and the biggest chocolate inventor. He had shiny eyes and a goatee. He was magnificent and turned every tour of the factory into an interesting journey. He is described as a witty character.
Oompa Loompas were Wonka’s employees. They were happy and did everything with a smile on their face.
Roald Dahl was a famous British author that got popular with his many works. He was born in 1916 in Wales.
He had an exciting and interesting life. He spent most of his youth in Africa in an oil company. In the 2. World War he was a British volunteer and he crashed in the middle of the desert. He survived thanks to 8 operations.
He is one of the most interesting children author and wrote many book that were screen adapted.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was sold in 13 million copies.
One of his books even inspired Walt Disney to make a cartoon about little gremlins that destroyed airplane motors.
Roald Dahl is considered to be one of the greatest children writer who used to be criticized about his harsh humor. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of his most famous works. He died in 1990.
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