Roald Dahl's Childhood Influences on His Most Popular Works
Research Paper
Chris Gitre
Rough Draft
M. Garcia
Roald Dahl’s Childhood Roald Dahl is one of the 21st century’s most prolific writers. He successfully wrote literature in multiple genres for an array of audiences. His most glorified novels rest in the children’s literature department but some of his most cherished writings can be found in the adult section as well. Time after time, Dahl produced profound novels for his readers. His life was extraordinary and included many prestigious accolades. After serving in the Royal Air Force, Dahl was asked to write fiction for Walt Disney himself. And to this day, remains one of the few Englishmen to turn down knighthood from the Queen of England. But much before these accolades, Roald Dahl grew up with a peculiar childhood; A childhood which influenced his writing style, character development and fanatical plot twists. By including real-life parallels to his characters and novel plots, Dahl creates a relatable and enjoyable reading experience to which the reader is fully immersed into a plausible, yet outrageous fantasy world. Roald Dahl was born on September 13th, 1916 to Norwegian parents, Harald and Sofie Dahl. At the young age of three, Dahl’s father died of Pneumonia. Shortly after that, his mother sent him to British boarding school, essentially making him an orphan. At the boarding school, Dahl faced treacherous authority figures. There the headmasters would instill fear upon the students, threatening and using wooden canes to punish the students for any and every misdeed and school code infraction. Generally an outsider, Dahl was victim to many of these tragic beatings. His teachers rated him as a well below average student, even saying that he reminded them of “a camel”. Finally, his mother came to the rescue and moved him from the school. After that, Dahl went on to accomplish great feats with in his life. His hit novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sold over 1,000,000
Chris Gitre
Rough Draft
M. Garcia
Roald Dahl’s Childhood Roald Dahl is one of the 21st century’s most prolific writers. He successfully wrote literature in multiple genres for an array of audiences. His most glorified novels rest in the children’s literature department but some of his most cherished writings can be found in the adult section as well. Time after time, Dahl produced profound novels for his readers. His life was extraordinary and included many prestigious accolades. After serving in the Royal Air Force, Dahl was asked to write fiction for Walt Disney himself. And to this day, remains one of the few Englishmen to turn down knighthood from the Queen of England. But much before these accolades, Roald Dahl grew up with a peculiar childhood; A childhood which influenced his writing style, character development and fanatical plot twists. By including real-life parallels to his characters and novel plots, Dahl creates a relatable and enjoyable reading experience to which the reader is fully immersed into a plausible, yet outrageous fantasy world. Roald Dahl was born on September 13th, 1916 to Norwegian parents, Harald and Sofie Dahl. At the young age of three, Dahl’s father died of Pneumonia. Shortly after that, his mother sent him to British boarding school, essentially making him an orphan. At the boarding school, Dahl faced treacherous authority figures. There the headmasters would instill fear upon the students, threatening and using wooden canes to punish the students for any and every misdeed and school code infraction. Generally an outsider, Dahl was victim to many of these tragic beatings. His teachers rated him as a well below average student, even saying that he reminded them of “a camel”. Finally, his mother came to the rescue and moved him from the school. After that, Dahl went on to accomplish great feats with in his life. His hit novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sold over 1,000,000