Boy Study Guide

Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 to Harald and Sofie Dahl, both Norwegian immigrants. He had three siblings and two half-siblings from his father’s previous marriage. Dahl’s oldest sister Astri died of appendicitis in 1920. Heartbroken and afflicted by pneumonia himself, Roald’s father died soon after. The passing of Roald’s father left his mother alone in Wales, but she resolved to honor his wish for his children to receive an English education and sent Dahl to the Llandaff Cathedral School in Weston-super-Mare, England in 1925. Later, Dahl attended the Repton School near Derby and formed an interest in photography. Throughout his experiences with English schools, Dahl encountered harsh methods of discipline that shaped his thinking about corporal punishment, religion, and authority. After his graduation from Repton, Dahl travelled the world while working for Shell Oil, before enlisting in the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the beginning of World War II. Dahl’s plane crashed in 1940, and he suffered serious injuries that resulted in his being unable to fly any longer. Dahl was then posted in Washington, D. C., where he published his first piece of paid writing. After publishing an array of adult fiction, he published his first children’s book, James and the Giant Peach, in 1961. In 1953, Dahl married an American actress, with whom he had five children. Among Dahl’s greatest literary successes were Matilda (1988) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). He died in 1990.

The events of Boy end in 1936, only a few years before the start of World War II, which began in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom. In this massive global conflict, the major Allied Powers (the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and the Soviet Union) opposed the major Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, and Italy) in a war that lasted until 1945. Dahl enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a fighter pilot, which brought him to Libya, Greece, and Syria. Between 1940 and 1943, Libya and Greece saw Italian occupation (with Greece simultaneously invaded by Germany in 1941), while Syria was controlled by the Axis puppet state of Vichy France until UK invasion in 1941. After the fall of the Axis Powers in 1945, Dahl published Over to You, a collection of short stories inspired by his tenure in the RAF. Within the scope of Boy, several of Dahl’s asides point to advances in medicine—particularly in the humane use of anesthesia—since the events of Dahl’s childhood took place. Although anesthesia has been implemented in unreliable forms since ancient times, the 20th century saw several major developments in surgical practice that resulted in its use becoming more widespread. The improvement of tracheal intubation made general anesthesia safer and easier to administer, and Paul Janssen’s discovery of new pharmaceutical compounds increased anesthesia’s efficacy. In addition, training programs in anesthesiology became more popular by the end of the century.

Dahl deals with the imbalance of power between children and adults in many of his works for children, but perhaps most recognizably in Matilda (1988). The effects of his time as a volunteer chocolate taster at Repton are also visible in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). In his lifetime, Dahl published a variety of other beloved children’s books, including but not limited to James and the Giant Peach (1961), The BFG (1982), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970). He was also an acclaimed author of short stories, among which “The Landlady” is likely his best-known work. For memoirs comparable to Boy, its sequel Going Solo (1986) is a clear choice. One might also turn to biographies of Dahl, such as Donald Sturrock’s Storyteller (2010) and Jeremy Treglown’s Roald Dahl (1994).