Race, editing, and censorship
Dahl's widow said that Charlie was originally written as "a little black boy." Dahl's biographer said the change to a white character was driven by Dahl's agent, who thought a black Charlie would not appeal to readers.[10][11]
In the first published edition, the Oompa-Loompas were described as African pygmies, and were drawn this way in the original printed edition.[10] After the announcement of a film adaptation sparked a statement from the NAACP, which expressed concern that the transportation of Oompa-Loompas to Wonka's factory resembled slavery, Dahl found himself sympathising with their concerns and published a revised edition.[10] In this edition, as well as the subsequent sequel, the Oompa-Loompas were drawn as being white and appearing similar to hippies, and the references to Africa were deleted.[10]
In 2023, publisher Puffin made more than eighty additional changes to the original text of the book, such as: removing every occurrence of the word fat (including referring to Augustus Gloop as "enormous" rather than "enormously fat" and greatly changing the words of his song); removing most references to the Oompa-Loompa's diminutive size and physical appearance and omitting descriptions of them living in trees and wearing deerskins and leaves; removing or changing the words mad, crazy, and queer; omitting many references to Mike Teavee's toy guns; and removing references to corporal punishment (such as changing "She needs a really good spanking" to "She needs a really good talking to" and "She wants a good kick in the pants" to "She needs to learn some manners").[12][13]
| 1964 text[14] | 1973 revised text | 2023 text[13] |
|---|---|---|
| 'If he's perfectly safe, then where is he?' snapped Mrs Gloop. 'Lead me to him this instant!'
Mr Wonka turned around and clicked his fingers sharply, click, click, click, three times. Immediately, an Oompa-Loompa appeared, as if from nowhere, and stood beside him. The Oompa-Loompa bowed and smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. His skin was almost pure black, and the top of his fuzzy head came just above the height of Mr Wonka's knee. He wore the usual deerskin slung over his shoulder. 'Now listen to me,' said Mr Wonka, looking down at the tiny man. |
'If he's perfectly safe, then where is he?' snapped Mrs Gloop. 'Lead me to him this instant!'
Mr Wonka turned around and clicked his fingers sharply, click, click, click, three times. Immediately, an Oompa-Loompa appeared, as if from nowhere, and stood beside him. The Oompa-Loompa bowed and smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. His skin was rosy-white, his hair was golden brown, and the top of his head came just above the height of Mr Wonka's knee. He wore the usual deerskin slung over his shoulder. 'Now listen to me,' said Mr Wonka, looking down at the tiny man. |
'If he's perfectly safe, then where is he?' snapped Mrs Gloop. 'Lead me to him this instant!'
An Oompa-Loompa appeared, as if from nowhere, and stood beside him. 'Now listen to me,' said Mr Wonka, looking down at the man. |
Unused chapters
Various unused and draft material from Dahl's early versions of the novel have been found. In the initial, unpublished drafts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory nine golden tickets were distributed to tour Willy Wonka's secret chocolate factory[15] and the children faced more rooms and more temptations to test their self-control.[15][16] Some of the names of the children cut from the final work include:[17]
- Clarence Crump, Bertie Upside, and Terence Roper (who overindulge in Warming Candies)[18][19]
- Elvira Entwhistle (lost down a rubbish chute, renamed Veruca Salt)[15][18]
- Violet Glockenberry (renamed Strabismus and finally Beauregarde)[15][18][20]
- Miranda Grope and Augustus Pottle (lost up a chocolate pipe, combined into the character Augustus Gloop)[15][18]
- Miranda Mary Piker (renamed from Miranda Grope, became the subject of Spotty Powder)[20][21]
- Marvin Prune (a conceited boy involved in The Children's-Delight Room)[17][21]
- Wilbur Rice and Tommy Troutbeck, the subjects of The Vanilla Fudge Room[15][18][22]
- Herpes Trout (renamed Mike Teavee)[20]
"Spotty Powder"
"Spotty Powder" was first published as a short story in 1973.[21][23] In 1998 it was included in the children's horror anthology Scary! Stories That Will Make You Scream edited by Peter Haining. The brief note before the story described the story as having been left out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory due to an already brimming number of misbehaving children characters in the tale. In 2005, The Times reprinted "Spotty Powder" as a "lost" chapter, saying that it had been found in Dahl's desk, written backwards in mirror writing (the same way that Leonardo da Vinci wrote in his journals).[16][24] Spotty Powder looks and tastes like sugar, but causes bright red pox-like spots to appear on faces and necks five seconds after ingestion, so children who eat Spotty Powder do not have to go to school. The spots fade on their own a few hours later. After learning the purpose of Spotty Powder, the humourless, smug Miranda Piker and her equally humourless father (a schoolmaster) are enraged and disappear into the Spotty Powder room to sabotage the machine. Soon after entering, they are heard making what Mrs. Piker interprets as screams. Mr. Wonka assures her (after making a brief joke where he claims that headmasters are one of the occasional ingredients) that it is only laughter. Exactly what happens to them is not revealed in the extract.[15][16]
In an early draft, sometime after being renamed from Miranda Grope to Miranda Piker, but before "Spotty Powder" was written, she falls down the chocolate waterfall and ends up in the Peanut-Brittle Mixer. This results in the "rude and disobedient little kid" becoming "quite delicious."[21][25] This early draft poem was slightly rewritten as an Oompa-Loompa song in the lost chapter, which now puts her in the "Spotty-Powder mixer" and instead of being "crunchy and ... good [peanut brittle]" she is now "useful [for truancy] and ... good."[16]
"The Vanilla Fudge Room"
In 2014, The Guardian revealed that Dahl had removed another chapter ("The Vanilla Fudge Room") from an early draft of the book. The Guardian reported the now-eliminated passage was "deemed too wild, subversive and insufficiently moral for the tender minds of British children almost 50 years ago."[15] In what was originally chapter five in that version of the book, Charlie goes to the factory with his mother instead of Grandpa Joe as originally published. At this point, the chocolate factory tour is down to eight kids,[22][26] including Tommy Troutbeck and Wilbur Rice. After the entire group climbs to the top of the titular fudge mountain, eating vanilla fudge along the way, Troutbeck and Rice decide to take a ride on the wagons carrying away chunks of fudge. The wagons take them directly to the Pounding And Cutting Room, where the fudge is reformed and sliced into small squares for retail sale. Wonka states the machine is equipped with "a large wire strainer ... which is used specially for catching children before they fall into the machine" adding that "It always catches them. At least it always has up to now."[22]
The chapter dates back to an early draft with ten golden tickets, including one each for Miranda Grope and Augustus Pottle, who fell into the chocolate river prior to the events of "Fudge Mountain".[15][27] Augustus Pottle was routed to the Chocolate Fudge Room, not the Vanilla Fudge Room explored in this chapter,[22][26] and Miranda Grope ended up in the Fruit and Nuts Room.
"The Warming Candy Room"
Also in 2014, Vanity Fair published a plot summary of "The Warming Candy Room", wherein three boys eat too many "warming candies" and end up "bursting with heat."[28]
The Warming Candy Room is dominated by a boiler, which heats a scarlet liquid. The liquid is dispensed one drop at a time, where it cools and forms a hard shell, storing the heat and "by a magic process ... the hot heat changes into an amazing thing called 'cold heat.'" After eating a single warming candy, one could stand naked in the snow comfortably. This is met with predictable disbelief from Clarence Crump, Bertie Upside, and Terence Roper, who proceed to eat at least 100 warming candies each, resulting in profuse perspiration. The three boys and their families discontinue the tour after they are taken to cool off "in the large refrigerator for a few hours."[19]
"The Children's-Delight Room"
Dahl originally planned for a child called Marvin Prune to be included. He submitted the excised chapter regarding Prune to The Horn Book Review in the early 1970s.[29] Rather than publish the chapter, Horn Book responded with a critical essay by novelist Eleanor Cameron, who called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “one of the most tasteless books ever written for children”.[30]
