Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Speech

The book Charlie and the chocolate factory was written in 1964. The story is about a man named Willy Wonka who owns a world famous yet mysterious chocolate factory and a boy named Charlie Bucket who is a poor boy yet in the face of all the suffering he goes through he maintains the attitude of a good boy who puts others before himself. The book uses many narrative techniques such as setting, characterization, conflict and resolution and other techniques to present the themes of the book. I am Chris Atkins and I will be talking to you today about these themes and the how in the book they are shown using one or more of the techniques described above.

(3mins)Charlie Bucket is a poor boy who lives in the shadows of a grand chocolate factory. He lives with his parents and his grandparent and they all share the one bed. Charlie’s favorite grandparent and his best friends Joe use to work in the Chocolate factory which towers over their home. He tells Charlie stories of the mysterious factory he once worked in. Charlie’s family is so poor that only once a year, on his birthday, can Charlie have a Wonka bar from the factory. Willy Wonka the owner of the factory who has been in hiding for 10 years suddenly appeared to announce a contest in which 5 chocolate bars somewhere in the world contained a golden ticket. This ticket would give the recipient a tour of Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory. Quickly 4 of the golden tickets were snatched up. Charlie received his traditional Wonka bar for his birthday and opened it in anticipation to see if it contained the last golden ticket. It did not. On the way home from school the next day Charlie found a dollar and he took it to the candy store to buy another Wonka bar. This time Charlie did indeed find the final golden ticket. Charlie and 4 other children gathered for the tour of a life time they were about to receive. Throughout the tour the bad children meet with unfortunate fates due to their behavioral problems. Augusta who’s a fat kid with an eating problem fell into the chocolate river while eating it. Violet who is a girl who chews gum incessantly was turned into a blueberry when she chewed some gum against Mr. Wonka’s advice. Veruca who is a spoilt rich girl was thrown down the garbage chute because the squirrels recognized her as a ‘bad nut’. Mike who is obsessed with TV was shrunk when his desire to be on TV made him ignore all warnings. Charlie the only child who had no behavioral problems was rewarded compared to the punishment the other children received when Willy Wonka gave the chocolate factory to Charlie.

(2mins)The books themes include Poverty vs. Wealth, Good things come in small packages, what goes around comes around and Adults vs. Children. The way the book views the theme of poverty vs. wealth is that it positions the reader to view wealth as a bad thing and to not necessarily make poverty to look like a good thing but to show that it certainly does have its benefits and that if you are in such a situation yourself it’s not the end of your happiness. Wealth is shown in the form of the 4 other children who won the golden tickets but Vercua Salt and her family are shown as the true characters that embody wealth. Vercua is a bratty girl who wants anything and everything and believes that she can have everything. Vercua’s spoilt nature is eventually her downfall in the book when she is unable to buy a squirrel which belongs the Mr. Wonka she runs into the room to simply take one. The squirrels that are trained to throw away bad nuts (walnuts) grab Vercua and throw her down the garbage chute. When her parents run in after viewing Veruca go down the chute the squirrels recognize them as bad nuts as well and throw them down the chute. Throughout the book Dahl makes references that the children are not to be blamed for their behavior but it’s the parents fault. It the case of this theme the reader is positioned to believe that wealth causes bad parenting. Veruca's parents can afford to give her anything she wants and that’s exactly what they do. This wealth has caused Vercua to become a ‘bad nut’ and the lack of parenting and the simple reliance on money to raise their child has turned her parents into ‘bad nuts’ as well. On the flip side Charlie the poor boy is the nicest boy you could ever meet. He faces many hardships through his poverty yet he never complains or accepts charity. He has a very loving and close family. A happiness that the Veruca and her family simple just can’t buy.

(1.5 min)Good things come in small packages or don’t judge a book by its cover is a great theme to take from this book. Charlie is the nicest boy and has great inner strength yet you would not believe it simply by looking at him. He is a thin pale young boy who lives in poverty. Further into the story when Charlie’s father loses his job and the food supply becomes low Charlie shows great inner strength