Plot Summary:
Dahl's parents were Norwegians who came to Cardiff, Wales in about 1910 after his father and his brother Oscar decided to split up and go their separate ways from Paris. His father was more than twenty years older than his mother; he was born in 1863 and she was born in 1885. By the time Roald was born in 1916, his father was 53 years old. His father had lost an arm from complications after fracturing it: according to the book a doctor was summoned, however the doctor was drunk on arrival and mistook the injury for a dislocated shoulder. His attempt to relocate the shoulder caused further damage to the fractured arm, causing it to later be amputated. He had two children from his first wife, who had died shortly after the birth of their second child. Roald's older sister Astri (his mother's first child) died of appendicitis in 1920 at the age of 7, when Roald was only three years old. His father died of pneumonia two months later at the age of 57. This tragedy came shortly before the birth of his mother's fifth and final child (a girl). Roald started at nursery when he was four years old, but has very few memories of his time there. The nursery, near his home in Cardiff, was the Elm Tree House primary school that remained active until 2004. Roald talks about different confectionery, his love of sweets, and his fascination with the local sweet shop. He also writes of the free samples of Cadbury chocolate bars given to him and his schoolmates for evaluation. Young Dahl dreamed of working as an inventor for Cadbury, an idea he has said later inspired Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. By the age of seven, Roald was attending Llandaff Cathedral School in the Cardiff. He and his friends had a grudge against the local sweet-shop owner, Mrs. Pratchett, a sour elderly widow who gave no thought to hygiene. They played a prank on her by placing a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar while his friend Thwaites distracted her. They were then caned by the school head master as a punishment, while Mrs. Pratchett watched on in laughter. On one of Roald's visits to his grandparents in Norway, he placed goat droppings in his older sister's fiancé's pipe, thus making him scream and suffer a coughing fit. Later on, one of Roald Dahl's sisters let slip what happened therefore making his sister's lover chase them into the sea. A drive in motorcar, this event happened when Dahl was nine and his sister (twenty one at the time) was driving their first car. She was driving at 35-40 mph when a sudden bend came up. When they crashed Roald flew out the car. When he got up it is said that his nose was hanging on by a small thread of skin. He was taken to the family doctors on Cardiff Cathedral Road.
Literary Terms:
The setting is in UK, in the 1900s. We follow Roald trough his years of education, and we get to learn about the school system in England. We hear a lot of his memories of the boarding schools. Some of the setting is also in Norway, where Roald and his family go on vacation every summer. Roald’s family is in the upper class. This Book is written in the first person point of view, which is Roald himself. The theme of the story is how he felt as a little boy, who was sent away to boarding school. And how it was to be separated from his family at such a young age. The conflict is that Roald sometimes has troubles and worries about relationships between friends, teachers, and him. The irony in this story is when Boald put mouse in a pot of Mrs Pratchett cooperating with his four friends and the event was exposed, his friends made an atmosphere that it is responsible for him. The symbol is the love of his mother. Whenever he is in tough situation, his mother protected him.
Evaluation:
I think that some of the special "treasures" in this book is the good descriptions of things. It makes it easy to understand Roald Dahl's feelings about the things and episodes you can read about. When reading this book I almost felt like it could be me that it was written about. When he talked about the schools he went to, it made me remember my time at elementary school, even if the school systems were totally different. And the descriptions does always have a bit of humour, and I must admit that I laughed a couple of times reading this masterpiece. That way, it became a delight to read this book. An other thing I think is remarkable about this book is that the language is so easy, and that it is divided into many chapters, who make the book very easily read. I think that Roald Dahl has made a good job writing this book, and if I should put a mark to it, I would have to say a B.
