The BFG

Sophie and the BFG, despite their relative powerlessness, triumph over incredible odds to imprison the nine man-eating giants. Significantly, both characters adhere to the trope of the underdog in their respective worlds. Sophie is a friendless orphan and she reassures the BFG that “no one is going to be worrying too much about me” (38). This suggests that, as well as having no family—“‘I don’t have a mother and father,’ Sophie said. ‘They died when I was a baby’”—Sophie doesn’t have close friends, either (38). Furthermore, the woman who runs the orphanage, Mrs. Clonkers, is cruel and vindictive. It is apparent that Sophie has no allies in her world.

Similarly, the BFG is an underdog in the Giant Country. He explains to Sophie that, “I is the titchy one. I is the runt” (36). The other giants derisively call the BFG a “ruddy little runt,” a “troggy little twit,” a “shrivelly little shrimp,” and a “mucky little midget” (74). As well as taunting him, the nine giants routinely throw, kick, and beat the BFG. In abusing the BFG, the giants “spread out quickly in a large circle, each giant about twenty yards from his neighbor, preparing for the game they were going to play” (74). The way the giants quickly spread into a circle, without needing to discuss or plan their actions, signifies that this is not the first time this has happened and it is a commonly played game among the nine bullying giants. When Sophie asks the BFG whether they would ever, “really hurt you,” the BFG responds with, “I isn’t ever trusting them” (76). This illustrates that the BFG worries that the other giants could and might “really hurt” him. The audience is positioned to feel sympathetic for the BFG’s plight; he is the object of systematic and cruel bullying by the other, bigger giants, and constantly feels unsafe. He also must endure the guilt and discomfort of watching the nine giants departing every night to kill and eat humans, a practice which he believes to be “wrong and evil,” as he tells the Bloodbottler, though the BFG is not large or powerful enough to intervene in the practice (61).

Together, Sophie and the BFG succeed in both the world of humans and the world of giants. Using Sophie’s ingenuity and the BFG’s dream-mixing skills, they manage to bring the Queen of England into their mission of defeating the man-eating giants. Sophie and the BFG’s victory—imprisoning the nine man-eating giants in the 500-foot-deep pit—saves countless lives. Roald Dahl demonstrates that underdogs can be powerful despite others’ perception of their powerlessness, especially when they harness their individual strengths and skills and rely on their trusted friends.