Fun, Absurdity, and Wonder Theme Analysis

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a fundamentally absurd and funny book. The candy factory where most of the novel takes place is filled with amazing fictional sweets, like chewing gum that provides a three-course meal and ice cream that doesn’t melt in the sun. Moreover, the eccentric chocolatier Mr. Willy Wonka and his Oompa-Loompas (the tiny men who work in his factory) seem fantastical and even magical. Particularly when Mr. Wonka takes Charlie Bucket and four other children on a tour of his factory, readers are encouraged to engage with the Wonka factory’s delights like Charlie does: with awe and wonder. Through the lessons that Mr. Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas impart during the tour, the book suggests that people should simply enjoy the world around them for what it is, acknowledging and accepting rather than manipulating or rejecting their surroundings.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory first suggests that absurd, entertaining stories are worthwhile—no matter how outlandish they might be. For example, as Grandpa Joe tells Charlie about Mr. Wonka and his chocolate factory, he shares a fantastical story about a palace made of chocolate that Mr. Wonka built for Prince Pondicherry (an Indian prince). Grandpa Joe describes faucets that dispense hot chocolate and massive bricks of solid chocolate that make up the palace’s walls. The story enchants Charlie—and most importantly, the narrator notes, these fantastical stories distract the Bucket family from their poverty and their hunger. Stories, the novel shows, can help a person escape from circumstances that are less than ideal. Later, at the chocolate factory, the novel shows that this idea applies to real-life experiences as well. Charlie is entranced as Mr. Wonka leads the group of children and parents through his factory and accepts without question the chocolate river, edible grass, and other bizarre and unique candies. To Charlie, it all seems too good to be true. And especially given Charlie’s poverty, he seems to realize the importance of enjoying the tour as much as possible. While the other, wealthier kids may have opportunities to experience fantastical things again because their families can afford such luxuries, Charlie’s can’t—so for him, it’s essential to make the most of his visit. As far as he knows, it’s the only exciting, fun trip he’ll ever get to take.

On the other hand, the novel shows that questioning or trying to control something fun and absurd can take away from its entertainment value. The clearest example of this is when television-obsessed Mike Teavee is confronted with a chocolate bar inside of a television. Mike knows how television works, so he’s skeptical when Mr. Wonka demonstrates that he can take a mattress-size bar of chocolate and transmit it so that it appears inside a television screen—where a viewer can then pluck the bar out of the screen and eat it. Believing that such a thing is impossible, Mike only laughs when Mr. Wonka invites him to take the chocolate bar out of the television. So Charlie, who sees the world with wonder and is willing to take things as they come, ultimately removes the chocolate from the television. This suggests that questioning something like this, rather than trusting and accepting it, can cause people to miss out on truly fantastical things. And throughout the factory tour, Veruca Salt shouts at her father, Mr. Salt, that she wants to own the fantastical items she sees. She wants a candy ship on a chocolate river, an Oompa-Loompa, and one of the squirrels that Mr. Wonka trained to shell walnuts. While Charlie takes the time to enjoy and savor all the delights that Mr. Wonka shares with the group, Veruca’s only thought is how to possess the things she sees. And this, the novel suggests, diminishes her enjoyment of the factory tour: she looks at the factory only with greed, not with wonder or delight.

Finally, the novel suggests that readers should try to emulate Charlie’s way of seeing the world and offers several ways to do that. Throughout the novel, Charlie and Grandpa Joe—who looks at the world with the same kind of childlike wonder as Charlie does—have more fun than the people on the tour who are skeptical and critical. Through their example, the novel implies that accepting and enjoying things for what they are results in a happier life, as people with this attitude are better able to appreciate and take full advantage of their experiences. More concretely, though, the novel suggests that readers can learn to think this way by doing two related things: watching less (or no) television and reading books instead. After Mike Teavee shrinks himself in Mr. Wonka’s Television Chocolate room, the Oompa-Loompas sing a song about how television “rots kids’ brains,” makes them “dull,” and destroys a person’s imagination. The fact that Mike has spent his life in front of a television, the Oompa-Loompas imply, is why he’s not willing to reach into the television and grab the chocolate when Mr. Wonka invites him to—his imagination no longer allows for that sort of thing. According to the novel, books provide the antidote to television. Where television destroys imaginations, books, according to the Oompa-Loompas, expand imaginations and allow children to experience all sorts of fantastical, nonsensical worlds. With this, the novel’s message is twofold: first, it champions looking at the world with wonder, excitement, and acceptance. Second, it encourages readers to keep reading and experiencing new worlds, long after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s last page.