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The St. Peter’s Headmaster
Dr. Dunbar, the Dahl family’s doctor, practices in Cardiff. One of few named authority figures to treat Roald with kindness and respect, Dr. Dunbar takes pity on Roald after an episode of homesickness that inspires him to fake appendicitis. Although Dr. Dunbar discovers that Roald is faking illness, he allows him to stay home with his mother for a few days under the pretense of a stomach infection. Dr. Dunbar admits that he was the one who told Roald’s mother to send Roald to boarding school in order to ease his passage into adulthood and urges him to take heart. Later, when Roald’s nose is nearly sliced off in a car accident, Dr. Dunbar is the one to stitch it back on.
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Dr. Dunbar Character Timeline in Boy
The timeline below shows where the character Dr. Dunbar appears in Boy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
13. Homesickness
...has a good sense of its symptoms and succeeds in duping both Matron and the school doctor . Roald’s mother comes to pick him up and brings him to Cardiff to see...
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14. A Drive in the Motor-Car
...of his face. Roald’s mother holds his nose in place and guides his half-sister to Dr. Dunbar ’s house, and after the doctor and his assistants operate on Roald’s nose back at...
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16. Little Ellis and the Boil
...the bed next to his with a large boil on his thigh. Matron and the school doctor enter the room, take Roald’s temperature, and decide to send him back to class the...
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