Problematic Books: Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

A couple of weeks back the Dr Seuss publishers annouced that they would stop publishing 6 titles in the series as the books contained content that was racist. While reading up about the whole "cancel culture" debate I came across several other beloved books over the last century that have been considered problematic and had to be revised. I thought I'd start a short series describing the problematic content in these books.

Amongst the most loved children's books is Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I personally love his books and usually recommend them to both children and adults. People who have read this book will no doubt be familiar with the Oompa Loompas who work for Willy Wonka in the Chocolate factory. However not many will know that in the very first publication of the book, the Oompa Loompas were actually described as pygmies from “the deepest heart of Africa”. The Oompa Loompas were actually slaves of Willy Wonka and he brought them to the factory on a ship in crates which had holes in them for air. Sound familiar? Feels a little uncomfortable now? In fact at one point in the book one of the bratty children (Veruca Salt) tells her father to buy her an Oompa Loompa. Roald Dahl at that time clearly didn't see a problem in suggesting another human being could be bought. The Oompa Loompas in the original book weren't just fanciful creatures from Loompaland like the later editions of the book portray, they were actual human beings.

When the book was going to be converted into a movie, several objections were raised and Roald Dahl was forced to make the changes (Oompa Loompas were converted into Rosy-cheeked people from a fictional place called Loompaland). However he was never very happy about it and at one point remarked that their attitude was "real Nazi stuff".

Next time you read the book, see if you can pick up any other problematic content (Yes there is more). The intention is not to malign the books or the authors but only to identify the problematic content in our books so that we can grow and learn from it.