Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

In the evenings, Charlie often listens to his four grandparents’ stories. One night, Grandpa Joe tells Charlie about the wondrous inventions of Mr. Willy Wonka, including unmeltable ice cream and candies that change color. Charlie’s grandparents assure him that Mr. Wonka’s factory is the largest in the world, and that Mr. Wonka is the most ingenious chocolatier to have ever lived. Grandma Josephine, Grandpa George, and Grandma Georgina urge Grandpa Joe to tell Charlie about Prince Pondicherry.

Grandpa Joe tells Charlie about Prince Pondicherry of India, who commissioned Mr. Wonka to build him a palace made entirely of chocolate. The palace was a marvel, but Mr. Wonka warned the prince to eat it quickly, as it would melt. The prince refused, and his palace melted around him.

Grandpa Joe tells Charlie that workers never enter or leave Mr. Wonka’s factory.

The next night, Grandpa Joe resumes his story. When Mr. Wonka used to hire ordinary workers, spies would secretly disguise themselves among them and steal Mr. Wonka’s recipes and ideas to deliver to competing chocolatiers—such as Mr. Fickelgruber, Mr. Prodnose, and Mr. Slugworth. Mr. Wonka abruptly dismissed all his workers, and the factory remained quiet for months.

Then one day, the factory suddenly started up again; the chimneys smoked and the shadows of small workers could be seen from within. However, no one enters or leaves, and the gates remain locked; no one knows who the mysterious workers are.

Charlie’s father arrives home from his factory job, holding a newspaper with the headline “Wonka Factory to be Opened at Last to Lucky Few” (19).

The newspaper article professes that Mr. Wonka released five Golden Tickets hidden in chocolate bars; those who find them will be allowed to enter his factory. The five winners will also receive a lifetime supply of candy and chocolate. Charlie sadly professes that he is unlikely to win, as he only gets one chocolate bar a year.

The first Golden Ticket is found by Augustus Gloop, a heavyset nine-year-old who eats hundreds of candy bars a day. Newspapers report on the global pandemonium of people frantically buying and stealing chocolate bars in an attempt to find the remaining four tickets.

The second Golden Ticket is found by Veruca Salt, whose father commissioned the workers of his peanut factory to unwrap thousands of chocolate bars. Veruca kicked and screamed at her father until the ticket was found.

Charlie is excited to receive his birthday present the next morning, which he knows will be a Wonka candy bar. He wonders if it will contain a ticket.

Charlie excitedly opens his Wonka candy bar. The adults in the room gather to watch; the atmosphere is one of nervous anticipation, despite everyone knowing the chance of finding one of the remaining Golden Tickets is small. To Charlie’s disappointment, there is no ticket in the wrapper. He offers to share the chocolate with his family, but no one wants to take any from him.

The third Golden Ticket is found by Violet Beauregarde, a loud girl who chews gum voraciously. She yells at her mother to be quiet on her TV interview, and then tells an anecdote of leaving gum on elevator buttons so people get their fingers stuck.

Soon after, the fourth Golden Ticket is found by Mike Teavee, a boy obsessed with television and guns. He loudly tells the “fools” trying to interview him that he’s watching TV and to stop interrupting him (33).

Grandpa Joe beckons Charlie over when he returns home from school; the other three grandparents are sleeping. He presents Charlie with a few coins from his secret savings and urges him to spend them on a Wonka candy bar in an attempt to find the final Golden Ticket. Charlie buys one and returns home, where he and Grandpa Joe open it together, filled with suspense. They are disappointed to see that there is no ticket but manage to laugh about it.

The weather turns cold; snow begins to fall. The Bucket Family is cold and hungry. The situation becomes direr when Mr. Bucket is fired from his job; there is no longer enough money to buy food, and the family begins to starve.

The Buckets notice how thin Charlie is becoming and urge him to take some of their meals—but he refuses. One day on his walk home from school, Charlie spots a dollar bill in the snow. Excited, he decides to buy himself a candy bar and give the rest of the money to his mother.