• blem@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Grandpa Joe is bedridden for years, being a strain on the family, but as soon as Charlie comes home with a golden ticket he can somehow dance and sing. Add theft of fizzy lifting drinks and Grandpa Joe turns out to be an asshole.

  • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Witches. Matilda. James and the Giant Peach. Turns out Roald Dahl was just universally distrusting of all adults. Rightfully so.

    Except for the dad in Danny Champion of the World, who was the coolest dad ever.

    • BrooklynMan
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      If you ever read the books, it was also clear that he really, really hated children, too.

      • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve read all of the books I listed. And most of his short stories as well. I don’t think he hated anyone, he just had a very dark perspective in general. The whole world is grotesque, but the antagonists are adults in a majority of his novels. It’s very much in the tradition of Lewis Carrol; children serve to contrast the absurd and cruel aspects of daily life. Industrialization, authoritarianism, violence, poverty; it’s all deconstructed through a child’s lens.