Willy Wonka and the Financial Divide of the Sixties

Everyone knows the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...unless you've been living under a rock of course. Roald Dahl's 1964 childhood classic, follows the story of young Charlie Bucket his once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour Willy Wonka's incredible chocolate factory; along the way, we are introduced to four other children who have also won this opportunity. As the story progresses, all of the children except Charlie behave in a greedy and self-centred way, causing them to be punished accordingly, until Charlie is the only child left. At the end of the book, we find out that Wonka had used this tour as a way to test the children's morality in order to find a suitable heir to his business. We are used to seeing similar things happen in films, TV shows and books - the inherently good people getting the recognition and praise they deserve, while those who are morally corrupt, face consequences for their actions. However, something that is not obvious to young readers, and many adults, is that this supposedly fictional world can be seen as an interpretation of a capitalist dystopia, which scarily holds many similarities to the world Dahl lived in at the time of writing. In recent years, many scholars have looked into Dahl's beloved books as cleverly political without hindering the enjoyment of his readers. The main political issue that influenced Dahl while writing this book, was the level of poverty in Britain during the Sixties. Perhaps the most obvious way Dahl has incorporated poverty here is through the socioeconomic status of our protagonist and his family. In the first chapter, we are introduced to the Bucket family which consists of the four grandparents, two parents and Charlie himself. We are also told that they all live in a tiny wooden house at the edge of their town where they only have two beds between the seven of them. As Mr Bucket is the only family member to work, his income is not enough to provide the family with their basic human needs, apart from the smallest and plainest meals. As a result of this, the majority of the family are on the brink of starvation. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (an economic research centre in London) claimed that as a result of Conservative government policies, alarming numbers of English households faced extreme poverty during the 1960s, attributing large family size coinciding with benefit reduction as the main causes. However, we also see the economic disparity in the characters of Veruca Salt and her family. Veruca Salt is possibly the most well-known children's character associated with childish greed. She is able to get anything she wants by asking her wealthy father to buy it for her, with which he complies. It is clear that Veruca takes her family's fortune for granted and this has led to her complete disregard for the consequences of her actions. In the context of the Sixties, Veruca Salt and her constant need to have new things is reminiscent of the consumer lifestyle that was expanding during this decade. During this time, affluent people would spend money on luxury, non-essential items. Author, Can Fenerci, highlights the important point that despite their differences in wealth, Charlie and Veruca find themselves in the same place; while Veruca's ticket was obtained through utilising her father's finances, Charlie succeeded through pure luck. The vast wealth gap between these two characters is comparable to the societal structure of the Sixties. Journalist, Samantha Leerson, highlights the very important point that Charlie and his family are the only characters in this book that could truly benefit from the generosity shown by Willy Wonka, however, they are in the position least likely to receive this life-changing empire. However, the consumer lifestyle presented in Veruca's character just shows the economic disparity that was present during the Sixties. Perhaps the message Dahl wanted to put across to his young audience, in a subtle way, was that having money does not make you a good person. Sometimes those who have little, are happier than those who have/demand everything. - Angel Barber Further Reading: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/dec/03/willy-wonka-to-wind-in-the-willows-how-childrens-books-reveal-inequality https://the-artifice.com/charlie-chocolate-factory/ http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/poverty-in-the-divided-kingdom https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11726111.pdf http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2016-17/16-17_2-43/part2-never-had-it-so-good.pdf