Fiction stories are believed to be made up and imaginary. You have no idea what the author’s mindset was when they had written their story. You would expect the author would have some form of connection with his or her writing, but you would not know or could guess what it was without personally knowing or reading about him. You would not think to compare someones life to their fiction book. Children? s books are written to entertain children. You would not expect them to have a real meaning behind them. They may teach lessons, but not be relatable to their author. As a child, many children books I read were just for entertainment.
I never thought about why the story was written. One of the most famous childrens books author is Roald Dahl, a popular British author. From all of his great books, how does his life compare to some of his stories? Did his childhood or adult life influence him to write his books? Roald Dahl had lost his father when he was only 4. He was known as a troublesome child. He was always hyper and looking for adventure. To me, he was just like any normal kid. Now, himself and a couple of other kids had gotten beaten at his first English school, Llandaff Cathedral School, for placing a dead mouse in a storekeeper? candy jar, after his mother had sent him there trying to live out his father’s dream for him.
Dahl only wanted to live his childhood life to the fullest. He hated rules and rarely ever followed them. He later had described his school days as ? days of horror? filled with “rules, rules and still more rules that had to be obeyed,” which later inspired him to write some of the stories he had wrote. Corporal punishment was also very common. His mother was trying to send him to Cambridge University but he wanted to get a job that would send him to foreign places like Africa and or China.
He had wanted to follow his dreams as a child of wanting to live wild and free. His life throughout school and the real world seemed to inspire him to write his stories. Even though he said stories don’t just appear, you have to work hard to get them, his stories showed comparisons to his thoughts growing up. In some of his stories, they main character is a child that goes through some type of struggle as a child. In his book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a young boy named Charlie, was one of five other children who had won a golden ticket which allowed them to be able to explore Willy Wonka’s magical, chocolate factory.
Four of the children were brats and eventually ended their journey early in the factory with a big consequence that had affected them physically because of their behavior. He rewarded Charlie for being a well-obedient and good child. Roald had gotten his ideas for this book from growing up in England. While attending Repton, Roald and a couple of his friends were taste testers for a chocolate company. So, you can see the comparison of his life and to the story. Another little detail, Charlie was a child with a hard childhood, but he always hoped and believed in everything he wanted to do, just like Roald.
Another one of Roald’s famous childhood stories is Matilda. Now the main character in this story was a very young, little girl. Her name was Matilda. She was incredulously smart, even as a toddler. But, the rest of her family were idiots. All they wanted to do was scam people and watch television. They treated Matilda as if she was the dumb one rather than them. When Matilda finally got to attend grade school, she met Miss. Honey, her life saver, and Ms. Trunchbull, the principal who made everyone’s life miserable. Matilda soon discovered that she had powers and used them to solve hers and everyone else’s problems.
Roald Dahl and Matilda compared by both being in the same presence as an abusive teacher. Like Roald’s teacher who had beaten him, Ms. Trunchbull was a very abusive women. She would beat children, throw them, injure them, and even lock them in closets. Another comparison is that there were so many rules in the school and even in Matilda’s house. Not saying Matilda’s house rules were strict and like other rules, but she simply was not allowed to read a book while her family was watching television. The last story by Roald Dahl that really showed huge comparisons from his life was James and the Giant Peach.
James and the Giant Peach is the story of a young boy who escapes an abusive home in a magical peach. Along the way, he makes new friends, and discovers the joys of freedom and friendship, which had previously been alien ideas to him (James and the Giant Peach from BookRags. ). Like Roald Dahl losing a parent, James had lost both of his. In the story, James was also treated abusively by his two which whom he had to live with after the death of both of his parents. But, he had found adventure after later escaping into a peach. He also upgraded from having no friends to having all of the friends in the world.
Each one of Roald Dahl’s children’s stories seem to have a bad beginning for the main character, which is a child, but a very happy ending. The children are able to find adventure and escape from the misery of a life. They can finally be happy and not have to wish for a joyful life. They can live as they please and do what they love doing most. Roald Dahl did not start writing his children stories until he had had children of his own. He would tell them bedtime stories that later became stories that he had written. Two of his children had sadly passed away, so he was even more inspired in some of his other writings and children’s books.
Roald was also inspired by other events in his life which led to him writing some of his other stories. Even though The Witches can relate to his childhood, he was inspired by his NOrwegian heritage when writing that story. Other stories were influenced by his first career, piloting. Stories like, Over to You: 10 Stories of Flyers and Flying, was certainly prompted by his experiences in the R. A. F. The characters and situations in the Claud’s Dog series from Someone Like You were supposedly based on actual people in Dahl’s village of Aylesbury (Howard).
There are many fiction stories that have had real life events placed into them. From children’s books, to adult stories. Everyone has a mind of imagination, but he all has to start from a dream or wish. You can be inspired from yourself and own events throughout your entire life. People surrounding you may influence your thoughts and may even end up as a character in your story. Roald Dahl’s childhood and his adult life events impacted on him writing his stories and also made him to be the great write he was.