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Chapter 26
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
Mike Teavee is more excited than Grandpa Joe at what they just saw. He asks if Mr. Wonka could send other things, like breakfast cereal, in the same way. Mr. Wonka insists that breakfast cereal is disgusting—it’s made of pencil sharpener shavings. But he could, he supposes, send cereal through. Mike asks if a person could also travel through the air, and Mr. Wonka is aghast. He says it’d be risky and might yield bad results, but he supposes it could be done. At this, Mike Teavee races for the camera, shouting that he’ll be the first person ever to travel by television.
Now that Mike has seen Television Chocolate work once, he’s okay accepting that it’s real. But it’s significant that his first instinct is then to transmit himself through this special camera, as this shows how self-centered his thinking is. In addition, it shows that he doesn’t think Mr. Wonka’s clear safety directions are worth following—so presumably, he's going to get in trouble for not following directions.
Themes
Mike doesn’t listen as both Mr. Wonka and Mrs. Teavee shout for him to stop and come back. When he gets to the camera, he leaps and pulls the switch. The light flashes, and he disappears. Mrs. Teavee screams. Mr. Wonka says that they have to hope for the best; hopefully, Mike will come out okay on the other end. Mr. Wonka leads everyone to the television set, but nothing happens. Mr. Wonka frets that hopefully, “no part of him gets left behind”—it’s been a bit of a problem that sometimes, only half the chocolate bar ends up in the TV. Mrs. Teavee screams.
Finally, Mr. Wonka reveals why Mike should’ve followed his instructions: he might not end up in one piece in the television. Though Mrs. Teavee gets upset with her son now, she and Mr. Teavee haven’t done much to shift Mike’s behavior for much of the novel. Their parenting style seems hands-off compared to the other parents; they weren’t even in the room when Mike had his interview after finding his Golden Ticket. This perhaps implies that Mike’s misbehavior is in large part due to Mr. and Mrs. Teavee’s passivity and lack of discipline in parenting him.
Themes
The screen flickers and grows brighter as Mike’s image slowly appears in the screen. He waves at his parents and celebrates his victory. Mrs. Teavee snatches her son up while Mr. Wonka celebrates—Mike is all in one piece and “unharmed.” But Mrs. Teavee insists that Mike has been harmed—he’s only an inch tall. Mr. Wonka says that’s to be expected, and Mr. Teavee says he’s throwing away the television set as soon as they get home. He picks up his tiny son and puts him in his breast pocket.
To Mr. Wonka, there’s a bright side to all of this: Mike made it into the television in one piece. Mr. and Mrs. Teavee, though, have other ideas about how this should’ve gone. Notably, Mr. Teavee seems to blame what happened to Mike on their own television set at home, which underscores the fact that Mike’s vice is that he’s too interested in television. Interestingly, Mr. Teavee is the only parent to express any interest in changing his and child’s behavior after the tour ends.
Themes
Mrs. Teavee asks how they can make Mike grow. Mr. Wonka says that little boys are “springy and elastic,” so they should be able to stretch him in the machine that’s used for testing chewing gum. Mike might be able to stretch miles, and he’ll definitely be thin. Mr. Teavee and Mrs. Teavee are concerned, but Mr. Wonka says that it’ll be fine—they’ll then give him a dose of Supervitamin Candy, which contains vitamins A-Z (but not vitamins S and H). He’ll also get a dose of vitamin Wonka, which will make Mike’s toes grow as long as his fingers, enabling him to play piano with his feet. He snaps his fingers and hands an Oompa-Loompa a paper of directions. The Teavees follow the Oompa-Loompas out of the room.
Mr. Wonka frames the vitamins Mike will receive as a gift, but to the Teavees, this is ridiculous and frightening. Again, Mr. Wonka notes outright that Mike will be thin when he’s done being stretched, framing this as though this is a positive thing. This reiterates that in the world of the novel, being thin is better—Mike becoming thinner may accompany a change in how he interacts with television, in a way that the novel suggests will improve him.
Themes
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The remaining Oompa-Loompas start to drum and sing again. This time, they sing that children shouldn’t be allowed near television sets, since they just stare at it “until their eyes pop out.” TV may keep kids still and give parents time to do chores, but it kills the imagination and makes it so kids can’t understand “a fantasy, a fairyland.” Children who watch TV can’t think anymore. The Oompa-Loompas acknowledge that parents want something to entertain their children, and they have a solution: books. Books let kids read about all sorts of fantastical adventures. The Oompa-Loompas beg parents to throw their TV away and install a bookshelf instead. It’ll take a few weeks, but kids will eventually come around. In closing, they say that it serves Mike right if they can’t fix him.
The issue with television, per the Oompa-Loompas, is that it’s harder for kids to learn to think for themselves and enjoy the awe-inspiring things that the world has to offer when they’ve already seen so much on their television screens. Even so, they nevertheless acknowledge that parents need something to keep their kids occupied, and television seems like a useful tool for this. But even as the novel insists that television is bad for children, it gives an antidote: books. With this, the novel justifies its own existence: it’s a fantastical adventure that also happens to teach kids lessons about kindness and virtue.
Themes
