Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Analysis

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Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” tap’s into young readers anxieties by opening their imagination to new thoughts of possible events that they might experience in the future. Dahl uses Charlie Bucket, the main character as the hero of the story, and arguably a role model for young readers, to portray the life of a poor child who is not blessed with all the things that he wants, because of his economical situation. In this critical paper, I will argue how Charlie Bucket’ character can be considered a role model/ hero for young readers. Discussing the following: the way in which he portrays the not “sunny side of things”(Bettelheim, 272) that taps into young readers anxieties, such as the fear of reaching a point of starvation in their life. Secondly, how he is not a selfish person, who worries about the consequences that others suffer because of their behavior, even though of the critical economical situation that his family is living. And finally, the way in which his good behavior resulted in a victorious end, where he was able to bring complete joy to his family, by taking them from extreme poverty to a place where they would never have to worry about starvation or money anymore.

As soon as Dahl introduces Charlie to the reader, he is tapping into the young readers anxieties by opening their imagination. He uses the real life possibility of becoming very poor, like Charlie, to tell children “real life is not all sunny” and sometimes there are some misfortunes in life that one has to face. Dahl introduces Charlie to the reader as a very poor child who is living with “six grownups…in a small wooden house on the edge of a great town” where “life was extremely uncomfortable” because they were “far too poor” (Dahl, 4-5)...

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...ent in their life, such as understanding problems related to death, poverty, misfortunes, and other anxieties that they don’t know how to handle. Charlie is able to help them through letting them know that even if bad things can happen, there can always be a victorious side afterwards. Letting young readers learn from this, for future experiences that they will be facing. Those reasons are what make Charlie Bucket a great role model for young readers, and what motivates them to keep fighting against any challenges in their life.

Works Cited

Bettelheim, Bruno. "The Struggle for Meaning." The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Knopf, 1976. Print.

Dahl, Roald. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Ed. Quentin Blake. New York: Puffin, 2010. Print.

Margaret, Talbot. "The Candy Man" New York: The New Yorker, 2005. Print.

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