Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Essay Sample

How Does Charlie and Chocolate Factory Speak to the Phrase “Good Things Come to Those Who Wait”? What about “Good Things Come in Small Packages”?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a magical world created for children. It is a world of sweets, chocolates, candies, miracles, little creatures, and magical inventions. This story takes you from reality to an incredible fairy tale, but this fairy tale is not so simple. At first sight, it is just a story about a lucky poor boy and his fascinating chocolate factory tour. But why did Charlie Bucket become lucky?

What distinguished him from other children? This tale answers these questions. It shows us how bad behavior and immorality can lead to consequences. It shows us that it is very important to respect elders, listen to them, and not break the rules. It teaches us how to be good, kind, moral, courteous, and generous. Because eventually, bad deeds will be punished and goodness will be rewarded. And it is not just the moral of fairy tales, but it is the law of life.

Our magical travel in this charming chocolate world begins with the acquaintance with Charlie and his family. Charlie was a kind-hearted little boy who was born in a poor family. He lived with his parents and four bedridden grandparents. He always “went into the room of his four grandparents to listen to their stories and then afterward to say goodnight” (Dahl 19). The biggest happiness for him was a chocolate bar, which he got once a year for his birthday.

He was not greedy and was ready to share his little piece of happiness with others. Upon getting the candy bar, he said, “here, Mother, have a bit. We’ll share it. I want everybody to taste it” (Dahl 45). The cold and hunger were common things for him. Grandpa George said that “he deserves better than this” (58). And the world of this little boy changed, because miracles happen to those who believe in them and deserve them. He was so anxious to get a golden ticket that would allow him to visit Willy Wonka’s factory, but his chances, compared with other rich children, were so small.

Nevertheless, it was a lucky chance when he found some money on the sidewalk and bought two chocolate bars. There was a golden ticket in one of them. As a result, he was able to visit Willy Wonka’s factory, and at the end of the chocolate factory tour, he won the factory itself. It was not just a ticket to the chocolate factory, but it was a ticket to his new life he was awarded because of his good nature and heart.

Besides Charlie, this story acquaints us with other children who were different from him. They were ill-bred, selfish, and greedy. Because of their bad nature and behavior, they were ridiculed, and they suffered the consequences in the end (Tumer). Augustus Gloop was so greedy that he started to drink chocolate from the chocolate river and fell into it. He had to be boiled to make sure that “all the greed and the gall will be boiled away for one and all” (Dahl 105). Violet Beauregard, another child, used to chew gum all the time. When she went to the Inventing Room, she took an experimental gum, despite forbiddance from adults, and she blew up into a blueberry. Veruca Salt was a very spoiled child, and she used to get everything from her parents. She wanted to have a trained squirrel. When she was refused, she entered into the Nut Room and was attacked by squirrels. She was thrown into the rubbish chute. Lastly, Mike Teavee was so obsessed with television that he used a television teleport and shrank himself because of it. All these children were punished because of their bad behavior.

You see that Charlie differs from other children in this story, who are disobedient, greedy, and aggressive towards their parents and others. They are depicted as immature and are punished to correct their behavior (Hissan 32). Despite their money, parents, and possibilities, they lacked the main principles of humanity. They lacked kindness and kindheartedness. The fate of Charlie is the opposite. He was destined to be lucky, but was actually based on his own good behavior. When others tried to use all their money and possibilities to get these golden tickets, he got it unexpectedly and without great effort. He got not only the golden ticket but the whole chocolate factory itself. Of course, he wasn’t rewarded by chance. This is the case when a kind heart and good intentions and deeds triumph. He attracted all these miracles that happened to him because of his good nature. It is like the law of the universe, or the law of the boomerang. All our words and deeds return to us. Because of his behavior, Charlie managed to change not only his own life but the life of his family. He saved them from hunger, coldness, and poverty. That is why the destiny of Charlie is not the same as the destiny of the other children portrayed in this tale. And this is a lesson that we should take from this story.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a magical fairy tale that teaches us to be human beings. It shows us how we create our fate through our deeds and actions. We should not forget that everything we do or say returns to us in some way. Miracles happen only with those who deserve them by their deeds, thoughts, and behavior. Only good nature and a kind heart are what can change our life and attract positive results to it. But if you are greedy, aggressive, and disobedient, you will not just forget about the miracles in your life, but you will also be punished because of your bad behavior. We should not forget about the principle of the boomerang. It is one of the main principles that exists in our universe. We can try to follow Charlie in his deeds and not the other ill-bred children who met a troubled end in the tale. We should take a lesson from this fairy tale and try to make our lives and behavior better.

Works Cited

Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Puffin Books, 1964.
Hissan, Wan Syakira Meor. “An Analysis of the Children’s Characters in Roald Dahl’s Novel: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, vol. 2, no. 1, 2012, p. 82., doi:10.17509/ijal.v2i1.107.
Tumer, Irem. “Analysing Roald Dahl’s Works for Children as a Means of Social Criticism.” www.tedprints.tedankara.k12.tr/27/1/2009-Irem%20Tumer.pdf.