Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator Essay Questions

What is the nature of the relationship between Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas?

As critic Hamida Bosmajian writes frankly, "The master-slave relation between Wonka and his workers is sweer. He is dependent on their mass and energy for the execution of his will. They, unable to ever leave the factory, are like Dante's gargoyle demons in a busy, but in their case childlike, underworld" (in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl had written that the creatures stayed there because of their craving for cacao beans). The Oompa-Loompas carry out Wonka's will but seem to delight in doing so, conspiratorially winking, "breaking into convulsive laughter over the eccentricities of the visitors," or gleefully chanting their warnings and messages. It is impossible to ever know more about this, as Dahl didn't elucidate them much further, but much is disturbing about their robotic execution of Wonka's will.

Is Charlie a strong protagonist? Why or why not?

The short answer is, no. Charlie Bucket is not particularly interesting. He has no unique characteristics, is not fleshed out, and demonstrates only slightly varying degrees of nervousness, excitement, and courage. He is not a bad child, and those moments of courage are important in the text as lessons for young readers. However, his loosely-limned character allows him to be a proxy for the reader, for Charlie's experiences can become their experiences. Also, on a textual level, Wonka may have decided to award his Factory to a boy who is not at all a threat to him in terms of doing something novel or accomplishing more than Wonka himself. He chose a shallow, anodyne boy who will idolize him and carry on his legacy.

What are the complexities of Wonka's character?

Wonka wears a lot of his characteristics on his sleeve: he is wacky, funny, quirky, spontaneous, adventurous, and particular about certain types of behavior. He doesn't like greed or obstructiveness or squabbling or idiocy; he likes to mock those who aren't in on his game. He also has a dark side, discernible in the way he puts the Bucket family in danger and the way he orchestrates the grandparents' comeuppances. He excoriates greed, yet he manufactures pills and candies that will incite that greed. He is prone to melancholy followed by extreme bouts of enthusiasm. Overall, he is a strange conflation of child and adult, sane and insane.

What, if anything, is the moral(s) of the story?

This is a very loosely structured novel that lacks a didactic tone or one clear moral; rather, Dahl presents the adventures of Wonka and Charlie to amuse and entertain. There are a few messages, though:

1) Greed is not good. The grandparents' desire to be young again leads them into a dangerous situation when Wonka-Vite backfires.

2) It is good to help people in need, as with Charlie suggesting they tow the Commuter Capsule away.

3) Children are often more intuitive than adults, who can be blundering, blustering idiots.

4) Misunderstandings are funny but potentially dangerous, as with the President thinking he needs to attack the Elevator.

What makes Dahl's books so enjoyable to children?

Critic Mark West sums this up nicely by writing that Dahl succeeds in his efforts to make his books appealing to children by "using the same kinds of humor that children use themselves, but also by sympathizing with children in their conflicts with adults." Dahl himself explained that he wrote his books for children ages seven to nine because this was an age group that was only "semi-civilized," in the process of being civilized by the adults around them; because of this, "children are inclined, at least subconsciously, to regard grown-ups as the enemy. I see this as natural, and I often work it into my children's books. That's why the grown-ups in my books are sometimes silly or grotesque. I like to poke fun at grown-ups, especially the pretentious ones and the grouchy ones." This is also probably why Dahl enjoys including bathroom humor, absurd fantastical places like space, and the desires of children such as candy.