REALISM AND FANTASY IN ROALD DAHL’S CHILDREN’S FICTION

Abstract

This article examines Roald Dahl’s children’s fiction, which is distinctive because its fantastical elements are often closely intertwined with the everyday experiences of childhood. His novels contain giants, magical powers, impossible inventions and strange transformations, but they also deal with poverty, neglect, bullying, loneliness, inequality and the unequal distribution of power between adults and children. This article examines the relationship between these two dimensions in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), The BFG (1982), and Matilda (1988). Using qualitative close reading, the article considers characterisation, setting, conflict and plot in order to show how realistic situations prepare the ground for fantastic events. The analysis suggests that Dahl does not use fantasy simply to help children escape from reality. Instead, the fantastic often grows out of a realistic difficulty and changes the child’s position within that difficulty. In Matilda, telekinesis gives visible form to a child’s resistance to oppressive authority; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka’s extraordinary factory turns character flaws into memorable consequences; and in The BFG, the world of giants and dreams allows a vulnerable orphan to become an active participant in solving a serious threat. Fantasy therefore works together with realism to make emotional experiences and social conflicts easier to recognise, imagine and remember.