Alicia kim's blog

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Feb. 3, 2024

Introduction:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a classic novel written by Roald Dahl. It was published in 1964. Roald Dahl wrote a sequel called Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, published in 1972. It is often ranked as one of the most popular books ever.

The Plot:
Charlie Bucket is a boy who lives with his parents and their grandparents in poverty. One day, Charlie starts to wonder about the factory that he encounters every time he passes it to go to school. He asked one of the grandpas about it. Grandpa Joe started telling a tale about Willy Wonka, the factory owner, and all of the amazing candies he makes. He also talks about how the factory shut down after rival factories sent in spies to steal recipes. The next day, the news announced that Willy Wonka had hidden five golden tickets in Wonka Bars and if you found them, you would be able to get a tour of the factory. The first four tickets were found by Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, and Mike Teavee. Charlie luckily finds a dollar bill and buys two chocolate bars; he finds the last golden ticket. Charlie ran home to tell his family and Grandpa Joe volunteered to escort Charlie to the factory. On the tour day, Wonka invites the five children and their parents into his factory full of magical sweets. They also meet the Oompa-Loompas, a mischievous group who help run the factory. During the tour, the other four kids give in to their impulses and get kicked out of the tour in funny but dark ways: Augustus falls into the Chocolate River and gets sucked up a pipe, Violet turns into a huge blueberry from chewing a special gum, Veruca and her parents end up in the garbage chute after she tries to catch a squirrel, and Mike gets shrunk by the Television Chocolate machine because he didn’t listen to Wonka. The Oompa-Loompas sing about each child’s bad behavior whenever something bad happens to them. After seeing Charlie is the only one left, he congratulates Charlie for ‘winning’. Wonka reveals that the tour was a test to find someone to take over his business, and Charlie is the only child who passed because of his genuine nature. They take a ride on the Great Glass Elevator and see the other four children leave the factory. Then, they fly to Charlie’s house, where Wonka invites Charlie and his whole family to come live with him in the factory.

Analysis:
One thing that stands out quickly is the comparison of the first four children and Charlie. The novel describes the first four children as greedy, bratty, gum-addicted, and TV-addicted. However, Charlie is introduced as an innocent and humble child. It showed the difference in their personality as the first four children grew up rich or with abundance but Charlie had to live in poverty. This might be related to him being so humble and genuine. The lesson of the story might have been ‘If you are humble and kind to others, the reward will go to you.’ One of the children, Veruca Salt, is a bratty young girl whose dad is very wealthy. She got her golden ticket by making his dad find it and buy lots of chocolate bars. This shows that having a lot of money is good, however, if you start using it in the wrong way, it might open a lot of blind traps for you. Also, the novel tells about how the children had bad behavior except for Charlie. When we make wrong choices, the consequences may not be immediate, but they can come back to haunt us. Life is unpredictable, and we never know what will happen next. For example, Charlie would have never expected to visit the chocolate factory or win it. But it was his good behavior that made it possible. In the end, he got what he deserved. We should live out our lives being humble, generous, and kind so that we won’t regret our decisions.

Conclusion:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a novel written by Roald Dahl and published in 1964. It is considered one of the most popular books of all time. The novel tells us about how we have to put ourselves on good behavior and be kind to others. It also tells us to use money wisely instead of wasting it like Mr. Salt. The novel has lessons about how we should live our lives so that we won’t regret our choices and decisions.