“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has not master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.” Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl is one of the most popular children’s authors of all time. His books have sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than fifty languages. Dahl’s stories are known for their humor, imagination, and sometimes dark themes. Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales to Norwegian parents. He grew up in England and attended boarding school in Sussex. Dahl’s early years were marked by tragedy; his father and sister both died when he was young, and his mother died when he was just twelve years old. After finishing school, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force and served during World War II. He later worked as an intelligence officer in Washington, D.C. It was during this time that Dahl began writing for adults. His first book, The Gremlins, was published in 1943.nDahl’s first children’s book, James and the Giant Peach, was published in 1961. The book was an instant success and has since become a classic. Dahl went on to write many more beloved books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The BFG.Dahl died in 1990, but his stories continue to delight readers of all ages.
His career spanned three decades, and his works include poems, ghost stories, three autobiographies, a cookbook, a safety manual, a medical book on measles, and numerous works of non-fiction. Despite his eclectic writing abilities, Roald Dahl, most famous and popular works will always be his stories for children.
Roald Dahl’s Biography
Dahl was born in Llandoff, Wales on September 13, 1916. His parents, Harold and Sofie Magdalene Dahl were Norwegian immigrants. He had four older and two younger siblings. In 1920, tragedy struck the Dahl family. Roald’s oldest sister and his father both passed away within a few weeks of each other. His mother, pregnant at the time of her husband’s death, was left to care for six children. Sofie Magdalene considered returning to Norway and the support of family but chose to remain in Wales at the wish of her deceased husband, whose wish was to have his children educated in British schools.
The schools that Dahl attended were often grim, unpleasant places with overtly strict educators who believed in corporal punishment. Roald was often exposed to bullying and hazing. Many of his childhood experiences are expressed throughout his stories and expose his distaste for brutality and corporal punishment. Roald began his formal schooling at the age of seven at the Landaff Cathedral School a local preparatory school for boys. The school was very strict, and the teachers were often overbearing and cruel. After a small prank Dahl was caned, his mother was so angered over the severity of the punishment that she moved him to St. Peter’s Preparatory School, a boarding school several miles from his home. At the age of thirteen, Dahl started school at the prestigious Repton Public School in Repton, Derbyshire. He lived in the Priory House with about fifty other boys. He would attend Repton until he graduated at seventeen. His days at Repton inspired several of his stories especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Repton school was used as a test market by Cadbury. The chocolate company allowed students to taste and rate new products, this sparked Dahls’ lifelong love for chocolate. He dreamed of creating a chocolate bar for Cadbury. He did not create a chocolate bar but created Charlie instead. School was a miserable place for Roald and he was not much of a scholar. His mother offered to send him to University upon his graduation, but he chose to forgo more schooling and find a job.
Career
Roald Dahl longed for adventure and wanted to find a job that would allow him to travel. He went to work for Shell Oil Company and transferred to East Africa. The start of World War II precipitated a career change for Dahl. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force where he trained to become a fighter pilot. This was one of the most influential times of his life. Roald loved flying, and he loved the adventure and camaraderie the Royal Air Force offered. He became a decorated pilot but was grounded from injuries received during a crash landing. No longer able to fly, he was offered a post as Assistant Air Attache in Washington, DC. His job was to keep America interested in and sympathetic to the war effort. During this time, he was introduced to British author, C.S. Forester. The idea was that Dahl would recount his story to Forester, who would in turn would re-write it for publication, but Dahl wanted to record his story with the agreement that Forester had license to rewrite it. After reading Roald’s finished story, Forester determined that the story was good enough to be published as is. The finished version, “Shot Down Over Libya,” was printed in The Saturday Evening Post on August 1942. It jumpstarted a new career for Roald Dahl.
Children’s stories
Roald Dahl wrote over nineteen children’s stories among the best are James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The BFG: James and the Giant Peach was written and published in 1961. It was Dahl’s first commercial success. The book was adapted into a film in 1996. The story is a favorite of many people but is not without controversy. Dahl’s story of a little orphan boy’s adventure in a giant peach has been removed form several libraries and deemed inappropriate for young children due to its dark undertones and references to wine, whiskey, tobacco, and use of foul language. Critics have also claimed that the story promotes a lack of respect toward authority in retrospect to Dahl’s childhood encounter but through the eyes of Dahl James is a lonely little orphan boy who longs for a friend. The story begins in a little cottage by the sea where James lives with his parents. His parents are killed by a run-away rhinoceros. After the death of his parents James is sent to live with his aunts, Spiker and Sponge. His aunts are extremely cruel, and James is a lonely boy with no friends. James is offered some magical green crocodile tongues from a strange man. One of the tongues grows into a peach the size of a house. The aunts try to profit from James’ discovery while treating James as a servant. While exploring the peach, James discovers a secret room inhabited by a grasshopper, a centipede, an earthworm, a lady bird, a spider, a glow worm, and a silk worm. The bugs become James’ traveling companions. As they set out on their adventure, the peach runs over the aunts killing them. After many adventures, the peach comes to rest on the Empire State Building in NY. James ends up living in Central Park surrounded by many friends. Dahl foreshadows ideas from one of his future stories in the story of James and the peach. As the peach rolls off its tree it rolls through a famous chocolate factory, a reference to Willie Wonka and his chocolate factory.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Daul’s most notable work was published in 1964, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was first published in the US. It was not released in the United Kingdom until several months later due to concerns with its gruesomeness. There was a sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, published in 1972. Inspiration for the story came from Roald’s school days when Cadbury used his school as a test site for new products. The award-winning classic introduced readers to five golden ticket winners who win a lifetime supply of chocolate and a tour of Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The five children and their families are greeted by the visionary Mr. Willie Wonka and led through the magical factory. During the tour, four of the children: Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, and Mike Teavee are too self-absorbed and spoiled to follow the rules and end up suffering dire consequences befitting their sour personalities. Only Charlie is found to be good, honest, brave, and kind. Because of Charlie’s good and respectful behavior, he is chosen by Wonka to be his successor and inherit the Chocolate Factory.
The BFG Story
The character of the big friendly giant was originally featured in 1975 in the short story Danny, the Champion of the World. The big friendly giant or BFG is the hero of the story that Danny’s father tells him at bedtime, but in 1982 he gets his own story appropriately titled The BFG. The story was adapted for TV in 1989, and Steven Spielberg released a film adaption in 2016. The BFG has won numerous awards and is listed as one the top one hundred children stories of all time. Daul’s story introduces the reader to Sophia, a young orphan girl and the BFG. One night when Sophie cannot sleep, she sees a giant man walking in the street carrying a bag. He is alarmed and that he has been seen and though Sophie tries to hide he grabs her and takes her to his cave. She learns the BFG catches dreams and stores them to share with sleeping children. The friendly giant is said to be four times the size of a regular man, but he is the kindest of all men. Unlike the other giants, he does not eat people.
After mistakenly catching a nightmare, the BFG and Sophie, go on an adventure to capture the other giants that terrorize the people. The BFG and Sophie are successful, and the Queen rewards them by building the BFG a new huge castle and Sophie a cottage right beside him. The bad giants are imprisoned in a pit. The BFG writes a book about their adventures under the name Roald Dahl.
Dahl’s career spanned four decades. His published works covered a broad range of material from short stories, poetry, screenplays, to cookbooks, and even a medical manual. Though he began his career writing for adults, his adult writing is not what he is known for. He is most known for his children’s literature. Though he will forever be remembered as a prolific writer, it seems blasé to refer to him as just a writer because he was so much more. Roald Dahl was an incredibly imaginative and marvelous story teller.
Structure of essay papers on Roald Dahl
- Childhood
- Family life
- His writing process
- His love of reading
- His dark sense of humor
- His imagination
- His ability to connect with children
- His work as an RAF pilot during WWII
- His later years spent in England
- His legacy
Conclusion
In conclusion, Roald Dahl is a very successful author who has written many popular books. His books are enjoyed by children and adults alike. He has a unique style of writing that is both humorous and exciting. He is also a very talented storyteller.
The most popular works of this author
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Matilda
- The BFG
- The Witches
- Fantastic Mr Fox
- James and the Giant Peach
- Danny, the Champion of the World
- The Twits
- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
- George’s Marvellous Medicine
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