Roald Dahl

Boy Going Solo"

Sometimes it's difficult to find the connections between the patterns in an artist's life and his work. But with Roald Dahl, the connections are quite clear. It is known that there were many tragedies in Roald Dahl's life and he had to overcome these somehow, whether he gave up and moved on, or fought against them and found victory. All of Dahl's works reflect at least one aspect of his personal life, whether it be his childhood, his marriage, his children, his experiences, or himself. It is quite apparent that after all the hardships he survived, he managed to turn such experiences into creative stories for children. He wrote about small aspects of his life and magnified them, and made them amusing for children, and even adults. One theme that is apparent in almost all of Dahl's works the use of violence and cruelty by authority figures on the weak, and once again, he seems to turn this around to be more of a positive, amusing aspect, rather than a negative, traumatizing one.

There are many patterns that are apparent in Dahl's life and works, which include tragedy in the family, negativity towards figures of authority, and lastly, orphans and absent parental figures.

There was a great deal of tragedy that occurred in Dahl's family while he was growing up, and while he was a parent as well. It all began when his sister, Astri died of appendicitis in 1920. Roald's father, Harald Dahl, quickly deteriorated and died of pneumonia a few months later. Pneumonia was treatable, but only if the patient is willing and will fight to stay healthy and alive. Harald refused to fight, therefore the disease took its toll and he died. Most people believe he died of a broken heart.

Roald married actress Patricia Neal, and had three daughters and a son: Olivia Twenty, Tessa Sophia, Theo Matthew Roald, and Ophelia Magdalena. On July 30th, 1960, Theo Matthew Roald's