Charlie and the [redacted] Factory

By Nora Pierce Staff Writer

An Opinion

The Oompa Loompas seem to have taken one step forward and two steps back in new editions of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Several of Roald Dahl’s classic stories, including “Matilda” and “James and the Giant Peach,” have been retroactively edited in a recent push for inclusivity in children’s books. The Oompa Loompas are no longer “small men” but “small people.” Augustus Gloop will no longer be described as “fat,” but rather “enormous,” and Mrs. Twit of “The Twits” “beastly” rather than “ugly and beastly.”

While these edits may be intended to make the stories more appealing to a contemporary audience, they serve only as a distraction from Dahl’s more problematic rhetoric and societal views while threatening the free expression and art of authors. Young readers, parents, and educators should focus instead on reading critically and providing context for the time period in which the books were written.

On Feb. 17, The Telegraph reported that Puffin Books, Dahl’s publisher, was making changes to his stories to remove offensive language and make them more appealing to modern audiences. The changes were made in collaboration with Inclusive Minds, an organization that works with authors and publishers to improve inclusivity in children’s literature.

For instance, in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Gloop is the first to be lost from the tour of an organization that works to protect the freedom to write as a form of expression, found 2,532 instances of school book bans between July 2021 and June 2022, impacting 1,648 unique book titles. 41 someone else comes into power, even if you think that it’s a noble impulse to take out some of this language or to try to make it more inclusive, you can see how that power could be misused in other ways,” she said in an interview with Silver Chips. Imagine the impact that the power of censorship can have if local, state, and national legislatures use it to remove diverse storylines from children’s books.

Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory when he falls into the chocolate river and is sucked up a pipe. Wonka and Gloop’s parents warn him against reaching to consume the flowing chocolate, but “Augustus was deaf to everything except the call of his enormous stomach.” For some readers, what they first saw as harmless they see as problematic upon reflection. “You just see a kid falling in [the chocolate river] and you laugh [when you’re younger], but when you’re a little bit older… you just look at things a little bit differently,” Blair senior Nina Hans said.

It is important to understand Dahl’s stories within the historical context of the time period and the author, because Dahl was openly prejudiced and intolerant. In his own words in an interview with The Independent in 1990, “I’m certainly anti-Israel, and I’ve become anti-Semitic.” While Dahl’s comments are abhorrent, censorship of his stories is not the solution.

Reading Dahl’s books presents an opportunity for teachers to educate their students both on his history as well as the greater history of prejudice and discrimination in our world. “Even if you change [Dahl’s books], it doesn’t take away the fact of who he is and who he was and what he thought,” freshman Ellie Fulmer said.

No longer do parents have to explain to their children why some people wear wigs while reading “The Witches,”—the book does it for them by including a new line along with the description of the witches being bald beneath their wigs: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.” Lines like these clash with Dahl’s original style and take the reader outside of the magical world he has created. “In a lot of cases… [editing books] takes away from the art that the author made,” freshman Liahana Kingcull said.

“I think if you’re an educator and you’re reading [one of Dahl’s books] to a class… you should probably read the original version just to [inform the class on] who the author actually was and what he thought about certain topics.”

Dahl’s history cannot be erased. It is the responsibility of readers to understand the context in which they were written or to choose books by other authors that better align with their values.

In addition to taking away from his storytelling, the edits to Dahl’s books may have implications for the future of free expression as book bans become increasingly frequent in schools. PEN America,

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According to Sam LaFrance, the program coordinator on the free expression and education team at PEN America, Puffin Books’ edits to Dahl’s stories set a precedent for the future censorship of literature. “Once you open that door and

LaFrance also highlights the mental and financial toll that possibility of censorship can have on artists. “That environment [of censorship] is definitely exhausting and scary, and can lead some authors to not only lose income, but [lost] stature or lose confidence in the art that they’re creating,” she said.

In the end, the choice of whether to read the edited or classic versions of Dahl’s books has been left to readers and parents. After a range of public backlash, on Feb. 24, Puffin Books announced that they would publish The Roald Dahl Classic Collection alongside the rewritten books, leaving the choice of which version to read up to readers and parents. However, whichever book they choose, Dahl’s offensive history cannot be ignored, and will not be erased by edits to his treasured children’s books. Retroactively editing books only detracts from an author’s craft and threatens the future of free expression.

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