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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Vice and Virtue
Parenting
Poverty and Wealth
Fun, Absurdity, and Wonder
Prejudice and Bigotry
Summary
Analysis
The Oompa-Loompas guide the boat to the red door, which is labeled “Inventing Room—Private—Keep Out.” Mr. Wonka unlocks the door and explains that this is where his new inventions are. He warns the group that no one should touch or taste anything in the room, and the children all agree. Then, Mr. Wonka says that nobody—not even an Oompa-Loompa—has seen the inside of this room. He leads everyone inside with another warning to not touch anything.
Since Augustus got sucked up the pipe because he didn’t follow directions, it seems all the more necessary that the remaining children follow Mr. Wonka’s instructions exactly. This means that they shouldn’t touch anything—even something as seemingly innocuous as a chocolate river could be dangerous, if one interacts with it the wrong way.
Themes
Charlie looks around the room, which is filled with big metal pots filled with boiling stuff. Strange machines make odd noises, and there are pipes everywhere; it smells delicious. This is clearly Mr. Wonka’s favorite room. He bounces around, lifting pot lids to sniff and taste and turning knobs on machines. Then, he runs over to a machine that drops out a small green marble. Mr. Wonka explains that it’s an Everlasting Gobstopper, which he invented for kids without much pocket money. You can suck them forever and it will never disappear. Violet insists that it’s like gum, but Mr. Wonka says it’s not—chewing an Everlasting Gobstopper would break one’s teeth. He assures the children that the Gobstoppers do last forever; there’s an Oompa-Loompa who’s been sucking on one for a year.
Charlie seems to enjoy simply watching Mr. Wonka zip around the room and play with his inventions. He’s following directions and accepting what’s in front of him, so he’s having a great time. Violet, though, is trying to relate Mr. Wonka’s unique, fantastical innovations (like the Gobstoppers) to things she’s seen before (like gum). She’s not accepting the things in this room as they are, which the novel suggests lessens her enjoyment. What Mr. Wonka says about the Gobstoppers being good for poor kids suggests that he’s sympathetic to kids from difficult economic situations—like Charlie. Finally, it’s perhaps a bit alarming that there’s an Oompa-Loompa who’s been sucking on a Gobstopper for a year. It’s unclear whether the Oompa-Loompa actually wants to be doing this, and Mr. Wonka seems unconcerned that this person has been part of a yearlong experiment that seemingly has no end.
Themes
Then, Mr. Wonka skips across the room to show the group Hair Toffee, which, when eaten, gives the eater a new head of hair, a moustache, and a beard. Veruca is incredulous, but Mr. Wonka says that she’d look great with a beard. He explains that the recipe isn’t right yet; yesterday when he tried it on an Oompa-Loompa, the Oompa-Loompa’s beard grew faster than they could keep it in check, and they had to use a lawnmower to trim it. Soon, there won’t be any more bald children.
Mr. Wonka’s ideas seem odd and ridiculous to someone like Veruca, who believes that there should be a good, sensible reason for everything. The Oompa-Loompa acting as a test subject for the Hair Toffee again seems somewhat sinister, as there’s little indication the Oompa-Loompa had any choice in the matter.
Themes
