Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator Literary Elements

Children's Fiction

1970s in outer space; the Chocolate Factory; the President of the United States' office

Third-person omniscient

Tone: playful, light, whimsical, comic

Mood: light-hearted, silly, hyper, playful

Protagonist: Charlie; Willy Wonka. Antagonist: Vermicious Knids; President.

There are three major conflicts: (1) Will the Elevator safely return to the Factory? (2) Will the old ones be restored to their proper age? (3) Will the President realize they are not dangerous?

The Elevator escapes the Knids and returns safely back to Earth.

Charlie notices Wonka's eyes sparkling as the old ones proclaim they are never getting out of bed, foreshadowing the drama with Wonka-Vite and Vita-Wonk to come (91).

1. "'I haven't the faintest idea what's been going on,' said Mrs. Bucket, making one of her rare speeches. 'But whatever it is, I don't like it.'" (83)--a hilarious understatement, given the extreme danger the group was in with the Knids
2. "'We had to,' said Mr. Wonka, 'to avoid the traffic.'" (87)--an understatement regarding their circuitous journey back to the Factory.

1. Shuckworth describes the old ones inside the Elevator as older than Moses, the biblical patriarch (13)
2. Shanks curses in the name of Nebuchadnezzar, an elderly Old Testament figure (12)
3. The President jokes about "Warren Peace" by Tolstoy, referencing War and Peace (29)
4. Grandma Georgina remembers landing on the Mayflower, Yorktown, Gettysburg, and Lincoln.

See the separate "Imagery" section of this ClassicNote.

In reference to Minusland: "This, he thought, is what hell must be like. Hell without heat." (130)

N/A.

N/A.

1. "Nearer and nearer came the earth below. Oceans and continents rushed up to meet them, getting bigger every second." (84)
2. "He kept silent a bit longer, allowing their curiosity to grow."