At their hands (or claws), young children are not only mutilated but exterminated. “Real witches,” we are told, “hate children with a red-hot sizzling hatred that is more sizzling and red-hot than any hatred you could possibly imagine”. The Witches is centred around the theme of child-hatred. When gum-chewing champion Violet Beauregarde turns purple, Wonka is indifferent. In Wonka’s determination to make the “rotten ones” pay for their moral failings, he not only humiliates the children (and their parents), but permanently marks the “bad” children through physical disfigurement. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka not only orchestrates the various “accidents” that occur at the factory, but he stands by indifferently as each child suffers. “Now he’s as thin as straw!”įrom Miss Trunchbull to the Twits, Aunts Spiker and Sponge, and even Willy Wonka, many of Dahl’s adult characters are merciless figures who enjoy inflicting physical and emotional pain on children. “He used to be fat,” Grandpa Joe marvels.
After he tumbles into Willy Wonka’s chocolate river and is sucked up the glass pipe, he’s physically transformed. Augustus Gloop is ostracised because of his size. With the exception of Bruce Bogtrotter, “bad” children are usually unpleasant gluttons who are punished for being spoiled or overweight. MANUEL HARLAN/Royal Shakespeare Company/AAP The cruel and imposing figure of Miss Trunchbull in the stage musical Matilda.
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