Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryis a 1964children's novelby British authorRoald Dahl. The story features the adventures of youngCharlie Bucketinside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatierWilly Wonka.
The story was originally inspired by Roald Dahl's experience of chocolate companies during his schooldays atRepton SchoolinDerbyshire.Cadburywould often send test packages to the schoolchildren in exchange for their opinions on the new products.At that time (around the 1920s), Cadbury andRowntree'swere England's two largest chocolate makers and they each often tried to steal trade secrets by sendingspies, posing as employees, into the other's factory—inspiring Dahl's idea for the recipe-thieving spies (such as Wonka's rivalSlugworth) depicted in the book.Because of this, both companies became highly protective of their chocolate-making processes. It was a combination of this secrecy and the elaborate, often gigantic, machines in the factory that inspired Dahl to write the story.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryis frequently ranked among the most popular works inchildren's literature.In 2012, Charlie Bucket brandishing a Golden Ticket appeared in aRoyal Mailfirst class stamp in the UK.The novel was first published in the U.S. byAlfred A. Knopf, Inc.in 1964 and in the U.K. byGeorge Allen & Unwin11 months later. The book's sequel,Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, was written by Dahl in 1971 and published in 1972. Dahl had also planned to write a third book in the series but never finished it.
The book has also been adapted into two major motion pictures:Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factoryin 1971 andCharlie and the Chocolate Factoryin 2005. A stand-alone film exploring Willy Wonka's origins titledWonkawas released in 2023. The book has spawned amedia franchisewith multiple video games, theatrical productions and merchandise.
Charlie Bucket lives in poverty with his parents and grandparents in a town which is home to a world-famous chocolate factory. One day, Charlie's bedridden Grandpa Joe tells him about Willy Wonka, the factory's eccentric owner, and all of his fantastical candies. Rival chocolatiers sent in spies to steal his recipes, forcing Wonka to close the factory and disappear. He reopened the factory years later, but the gates remain locked, and nobody knows who is providing the factory with its workforce.
The next day, the newspaper announces that Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets inWonka Bars; the finders of these tickets will be invited to come and tour the factory. The first four tickets are found by gluttonous Augustus Gloop, spoiled Veruca Salt, compulsive gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde, and television addict Mike Teavee. One day, Charlie buys two Wonka Bars with some money he found in the snow. When he opens the second, Charlie discovers that the second bar he bought contains the fifth and final ticket. Upon hearing the news, Grandpa Joe regains his mobility and volunteers to accompany Charlie to the factory.
On the day of the tour, Wonka welcomes the five children and their parents inside the factory, a wonderland of confectionery creations that defy logic. They also meet theOompa-Loompas, a race of impish humanoids who help him operate the factory as a thanks for his rescuing them from a land of dangerous monsters. During the tour, the other children besides Charlie give in to their impulses and are ejected from the tour in darkly comical ways: Augustus falls into the Chocolate River and is sucked up a pipe, Violet turns blue and inflates into a giant human blueberry after chewing an experimental stick of three-course dinner gum ending with a blueberry pie flavor, Veruca and her parents fall down a garbage chute after the former tries to capture one of the nut-testing squirrels, and Mike is shrunk down to the size of a chocolate bar after misusing a machine that sends chocolate by television despite Wonka's warnings. The Oompa-Loompas sing about the children's misbehaviour each time disaster strikes.
With only Charlie remaining, Wonka congratulates him for "winning" the factory. Wonka explains that the whole tour was designed to help him find a worthy heir to his business, and Charlie was the only child whose inherent genuineness passed the test. They ride the Great Glass Elevator and watch the other four children leave the factory before flying to Charlie's house, where Wonka invites the entire Bucket family to come and live with him in the factory.
Dahl's widow said that Charlie was originally written as "a little black boy though this thought to be a falsehood." Dahl's biographer said the change to a white character was driven by Dahl's agent, who thought a black Charlie would not appeal to readers.
In the first published edition, the Oompa-Loompas were described asAfrican pygmies, and were drawn this way in the original printed edition.After the announcement of a film adaptation sparked a statement from theNAACP, which expressed concern that the transportation of Oompa-Loompas to Wonka's factory resembledslavery, Dahl found himself sympathising with their concerns and published a revised edition.In this edition, as well as the subsequent sequel, the Oompa-Loompas were drawn as being white and appearing similar tohippies, and the references to Africa were deleted.
In 2023, publisherPuffinmade more than eighty additional changes to the original text of the book, such as: removing every occurrence of the wordfat(including referring to Augustus Gloop as "enormous" rather than "enormously fat" and greatly changing the words of his song); removing most references to the Oompa-Loompa's diminutive size and physical appearance and omitting descriptions of them living in trees and wearing deerskins and leaves; removing or changing the wordsmad,crazy, andqueer; omitting many references to Mike Teavee's toy guns; and removing references to corporal punishment (such as changing "She needs a really good spanking" to "She needs a really good talking to" and "She wants a good kick in the pants" to "She needs to learn some manners").
Various unused and draft material from Dahl's early versions of the novel have been found. In the initial, unpublished drafts ofCharlie and the Chocolate Factorynine golden tickets were distributed to tour Willy Wonka's secret chocolate factoryand the children faced more rooms and more temptations to test their self-control.Some of the names of the children cut from the final work include:
"Spotty Powder" was first published as a short story in 1973.In 1998, it was included in the children's horror anthologyScary! Stories That Will Make You Screamedited by Peter Haining. The brief note before the story described the story as having been left out ofCharlie and the Chocolate Factorydue to an already brimming number of misbehaving children characters in the tale. In 2005,The Timesreprinted "Spotty Powder" as a "lost" chapter, saying that it had been found in Dahl's desk, written backwards inmirror writing(the same way thatLeonardo da Vinciwrote in his journals).Spotty Powder looks and tastes like sugar, but causes bright red pox-like spots to appear on faces and necks five seconds after ingestion, so children who eat Spotty Powder do not have to go to school. The spots fade on their own a few hours later. After learning the purpose of Spotty Powder, the humourless, smug Miranda Piker and her equally humourless father (a schoolmaster) are enraged and disappear into the Spotty Powder room to sabotage the machine. Soon after entering, they are heard making what Mrs. Piker interprets as screams. Mr. Wonka assures her (after making a brief joke where he claims that headmasters are one of the occasional ingredients) that it is only laughter. Exactly what happens to them is not revealed in the extract.
In an early draft, sometime after being renamed from Miranda Grope to Miranda Piker, but before "Spotty Powder" was written, she falls down the chocolate waterfall and ends up in the Peanut-Brittle Mixer. This results in the "rude and disobedient little kid" becoming "quite delicious."This early draft poem was slightly rewritten as an Oompa-Loompa song in the lost chapter, which now puts her in the "Spotty-Powder mixer" and instead of being "crunchy and ... good [peanut brittle]" she is now "useful [fortruancy] and ... good."
In 2014,The Guardianrevealed that Dahl had removed another chapter ("The Vanilla Fudge Room") from an early draft of the book.The Guardianreported the now-eliminated passage was "deemed too wild, subversive and insufficiently moral for the tender minds of British children almost 50 years ago."In what was originally chapter five in that version of the book, Charlie goes to the factory with his mother instead of Grandpa Joe as originally published. At this point, the chocolate factory tour is down to eight kids,including Tommy Troutbeck and Wilbur Rice. After the entire group climbs to the top of the titular fudge mountain, eating vanilla fudge along the way, Troutbeck and Rice decide to take a ride on the wagons carrying away chunks of fudge. The wagons take them directly to the Pounding And Cutting Room, where the fudge is reformed and sliced into small squares for retail sale. Wonka states the machine is equipped with "a large wire strainer ... which is used specially for catching children before they fall into the machine" adding that "It always catches them. At least it always has up to now."
The chapter dates back to an early draft with ten golden tickets, including one each for Miranda Grope and Augustus Pottle, who fell into the chocolate river prior to the events of "Fudge Mountain".Augustus Pottle was routed to the Chocolate Fudge Room, not the Vanilla Fudge Room explored in this chapter,and Miranda Grope ended up in the Fruit and Nuts Room.
Also in 2014,Vanity Fairpublished a plot summary of "The Warming Candy Room", wherein three boys eat too many "warming candies" and end up "bursting with heat."
The Warming Candy Room is dominated by a boiler, which heats a scarlet liquid. The liquid is dispensed one drop at a time, where it cools and forms a hard shell, storing the heat and "by a magic process ... the hot heat changes into an amazing thing called 'cold heat.'" After eating a single warming candy, one could stand naked in the snow comfortably. This is met with predictable disbelief from Clarence Crump, Bertie Upside, and Terence Roper, who proceed to eat at least 100 warming candies each, resulting in profuse perspiration. The three boys and their families discontinue the tour after they are taken to cool off "in the large refrigerator for a few hours."
Dahl originally planned for a child called Marvin Prune to be included. He submitted the excised chapter regarding Prune toThe Horn Book Reviewin the early 1970s.Rather than publish the chapter,Horn Bookresponded with a critical essay by novelistEleanor Cameron, who calledCharlie and the Chocolate Factory“one of the most tasteless books ever written for children”.
In a 2006 list for theRoyal Society of Literature, authorJ. K. Rowling(author of theHarry Potterbooks) namedCharlie and the Chocolate Factoryamong her top ten books that every child should read.A fan of the book since childhood, film directorTim Burtonwrote: "I responded toCharlie and the Chocolate Factorybecause it respected the fact that children can be adults."
A 2004 study found that it was a common read-aloud book for fourth-graders in schools inSan Diego County, California.A 2012 survey by theUniversity of Worcesterdetermined that it was one of the most common books that UK adults had read as children, afterAlice's Adventures in Wonderland,The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, andThe Wind in the Willows.
Groups who have praised the book include:
In the 2012 survey published bySLJ, a monthly with primarily US audience,Charliewas the second of four books by Dahl among their Top 100 Chapter Books, one more than any other writer.Timemagazine in the US included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time; it was one of three Dahl novels on the list, more than any other author.In 2016 the novel topped the list ofAmazon's best-selling children's books by Dahl in Print and onKindle.In 2023, the novel was ranked byBBCat no. 18 in their poll of "The 100 greatest children's books of all time".
Although the book has always been popular and considered achildren's classicby many literary critics, a number of prominent individuals have spoken unfavourably of the novel over the years.Children's novelist andliterary historianJohn Rowe Townsendhas described the book as "fantasy of an almost literally nauseating kind" and accused it of "astonishing insensitivity" regarding the original portrayal of theOompa-Loompasas African blackpygmies, although Dahl did revise this in later editions.Another novelist,Eleanor Cameron, compared the book to the sweets that form its subject matter, commenting that it is "delectable and soothing while we are undergoing the brief sensory pleasure it affords but leaves us poorly nourished with our taste dulled for better fare."Ursula K. Le Guinwrote in support of this assessment in a letter toThe Horn Book Review, saying that her own daughter would turn "quite nasty" upon finishing the book.Dahl responded to Cameron's criticisms by noting that the classics that she had cited would not be well received by contemporary children.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryhas frequently been adapted for other media, including games, radio, the screen,and stage, most often as plays or musicals for children – often titledWilly WonkaorWilly Wonka, Jr.and almost always featuring musical numbers by all the main characters (Wonka, Charlie, Grandpa Joe, Violet, Veruca, etc.); many of the songs are revised versions from the 1971 film.
The book was first made into a feature film as amusical, titledWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory(1971), directed byMel Stuart, produced byDavid L. Wolper, and starringGene WilderasWilly Wonka,character actorJack AlbertsonasGrandpa Joe, andPeter Ostrumas Charlie Bucket, with music byLeslie BricusseandAnthony Newley. Dahl was credited for writing the screenplay, butDavid Seltzerwas brought in by Stuart and Wolper to make changes against Dahl's wishes, leaving his original adaptation, in one critic's opinion, "scarcely detectable".Amongst other things, Dahl was unhappy with the foregrounding of Wonka over Charlie, and disliked the musical score. Because of this, Dahl disowned the film.The film had an estimated budget of $2.9 million but grossed only $4 million and was considered a box-office disappointment, though it received positive reviews from critics. Home video and DVD sales, as well as repeated television airings, resulted in the film subsequently becoming acult classic.Concurrently with the 1971 film, theQuaker Oats Companyintroduced a line ofcandieswhose marketing uses the book's characters and imagery.
Warner Bros.and the Dahl estate reached an agreement in 1998 to produce another film version ofCharlie and the Chocolate Factory, with the Dahl family receiving total artistic control. The project languished indevelopment helluntilTim Burtonsigned on to direct in 2003. The film, titledCharlie and the Chocolate Factory, starredJohnny Deppas Willy Wonka. It was released in 2005 to positive reviews and massive box office returns, becoming theeighth-highest-grossing film of the year.
In October 2016,Varietyreported that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to the Willy Wonka character from the Roald Dahl Estate and would be planning a new film centered on the eccentric character withDavid Heymanproducing.In February 2018,Paul Kingentered final negotiations to direct the film.In May 2021, it was reported that the film would be a musical titledWonka, withTimothée Chalametplaying a younger version of the titular character in anorigin story.King was confirmed as director and co-writer along with comedianSimon Farnaby; the film was released globally in December 2023.
On 27 November 2018,Netflixand The Roald Dahl Story Company jointly announced that Netflix would be producing an animated series based on Dahl's books, includingCharlie and the Chocolate Factory,Matilda,The BFG,The Twits, and other titles. Production commenced on the first of the Netflix Dahl animated series in 2019.On 5 March 2020,Varietyannounced thatTaika Waititiwas partnering with Netflix on a pair of animated series — one based on the world of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryand another based on the Oompa-Loompa characters. “The shows will retain the quintessential spirit and tone of the original story while building out the world and characters far beyond the pages of the Dahl book for the very first time,” Netflix said.On 23 February 2022,Mikros Animationrevealed that they would be producing a new collaboration withNetflix. The collaboration was announced asCharlie and the Chocolate Factory. The long-format animated event series is based on the 1964 novel and is written, directed and executive produced by Waititi.
The book has been recorded a number of times:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryhas undergone numerous editions and been illustrated by numerous artists.
The cover photo of the 50th anniversary edition, published byPenguin Modern Classicsfor sale in the UK and aimed at the adult market, received widespread commentary and criticism.The cover is a photo of a heavily made up young girl seated on her mother's knee and wearing a doll-like expression, taken by the photographers Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello as part of a photo shoot for a 2008 fashion article in a French magazine, for a fashion article titled "Mommie Dearest."In addition to writing that "the image seemingly has little to do with the beloved children's classic",reviewers and commentators in social media (such as posters on the publisher's Facebook page) have said the art evokesLolita,Valley of the Dolls, andJonBenet Ramsey; looks like a scene fromToddlers & Tiaras; and is "misleading," "creepy," "sexualised," "grotesque," "misjudged on every level," "distasteful and disrespectful to a gifted author and his work," "pretentious," "trashy", "outright inappropriate," "terrifying," "really obnoxious," and "weird & kind of paedophilic."
The publisher explained its objective in a blog post accompanying the announcement about the jacket art: "This new image . . . looks at the children at the center of the story, and highlights the way Roald Dahl’s writing manages to embrace both the light and the dark aspects of life."Additionally, Penguin Press's Helen Conford told the Bookseller: "We wanted something that spoke about the other qualities in the book.  It's a children's story that also steps outside children's and people aren't used to seeing Dahl in that way." She continued: "[There is] a lot of ill feeling about it, I think because it's such a treasured book and a book which isn't really a 'crossover book'" As she acknowledged: "People want it to remain as a children's book."
The New Yorkerdescribes what it calls this "strangely but tellingly misbegotten" cover design thusly: "The image is a photograph, taken from a French fashion shoot, of a glassy-eyed, heavily made-up little girl. Behind her sits, a mother figure, stiff and coiffed, casting an ominous shadow. The girl, with her long, perfectly wavedplatinum-blondhair and her pinkfeather boa, looks like a pretty and inert doll—" The article continues: "And if theStepford daughteron the cover is meant to remind us of Veruca Salt or Violet Beauregarde, she doesn't: those badly behaved squirts are bubbling over with rude life." Moreover, writes Talbot, "The Modern Classics cover has not a whiff of this validation of childish imagination; instead, it seems to imply a deviant adult audience."