Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:Wonka_Book_8934.jpg|frame]]▼
| title = Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
| original title =
Perhaps [[Roald Dahl]]'s best known work, this book has twice [[The Film of the Book|been filmed]]. (They're [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)|here]].)▼
| caption =
| author = Roald Dahl
| central theme = Good is always rewarded
| elevator pitch = Charlie, a poor but nice boy, earns a ticket to visit the titular chocolate factory owned by the mysterious Willy Wonka, along with other four more unpleasant kids. As the other kids are disposed in bizarre but fitting ways, it becomes obvious that Mr. Wonka has different plans for his tour than what he initially slipped.
| genre = Fantasy
| publication date = January 17, 1964
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
▲Perhaps [[Roald Dahl]]'s best known work,
In the book, Charlie is an angelic boy who lives with his parents and grandparents in a small hovel. When [[Trope Namer|Willy Wonka]], a reclusive businessman, announces a competition to allow five lucky children into his [[Applied Phlebotinum|chocolate factory]], Charlie wins one of the places [[Million-to-One Chance|against high odds]].
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Overdosed]]: In addition to the two films, there's a stage play that's extremely faithful to the book, and a stage musical that uses the 1971 film's songs but is a closer match to the book plotwise (creating another, sort of hybrid, continuity). There is also an [[opera]] version produced in 2010, entitled ''[[The Golden Ticket]]''. A [[Prequel]] film exploring the youth of Wonka is in production as of mid-2020.
* [[Adorably Precocious Child]]: Charlie.
* [[Advertised Extra]]: Once Charlie arrives at [[Applied Phlebotinum|the factory]], he does ''nothing'' and, therefore, wins the factory. Granted, he spends the first third of the book starving to death while being a really good kid. By the time he gets to the factory, he's got nothing to prove to the readers.
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** Another part of the reason why they may be so happy working for Wonka is because, while they do now have to work for their cocoa beans, they are also allowed to live in comfortable housings in the [[Applied Phlebotinum|factory]], which is a fairly safe working environment. Back in Loompaland, they lived in rickety treehouses, survived primarily on mashed caterpillars, and spent their lives trying to hide from the variety of terrible monsters that also lived in Loompaland and which would devour Oompa-Loompas by the dozens if they could. Having to make chocolate in a strange land isn't much sacrifice when you didn't like your homeland in the first place and it means you don't have to worry about being eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a between-meals snack.
*** And, uh, there is the fact that he uses them for testing the side effects of his confectionary, sometimes with (it's implied) FATAL results.
* [[Harsh Life Revelation Aesop]]:
*** As Grandpa Joe narrates, there are some chocolatiers like Mr. Wonka who care more about the wonder of making sweets and feeding people. Then there are others like Slugworth, Prodnose and Ficklegruber, who only care about making money by any means possible. They actually do drive Mr. Wonka briefly out of business by stealing his recipes, and put thousands of good employees out of a job. While Mr. Wonka does reopen, he is much more cynical, hiring Oompa-Loompas and keeping them in the factory while swearing all of the kids to secrecy. Business can corrupt the most ideal person.
*** Money makes a difference. When the Golden Ticket contest starts, Charlie muses it would be nice to win one and visit Mr. Wonka's factory. Out of all the adults, Grandpa George is the most cynical. He says that the kids most likely to win are the ones who can buy candy bars every day. The Buckets can only afford to give Charlie one bar of chocolate a year, which Charlie makes sure to last for a month. Sure enough, all the other kids who get a ticket are fairly wealthy or competitive, able to buy at least a few bars a day, and adults also get in on the search. While Grandpa Joe gives Charlie a dime he stored for emergencies to give him another chance, it takes a literal miracle for Charlie to get the last Golden Ticket. The stage versions in West End and Broadway outright imply if not show that Mr. Wonka manufactures circumstances to get the ticket in Charlie's hands.
* [[Hollow-Sounding Head]]: Veruca. Unusually it is an actual plot point rather than just a brief gag.
* [[Hollywood Atlas]]
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{{reflist}}
{{The Big Read}}
[[Category:Children's Literature]]▼
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Literature of the 1960s]]
▲[[Category:Children's Literature]]
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