Line #3 Creator/RoaldDahl


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/63e56712ea4d8fe3263f207b3d588aaa.jpg]]
2	%%
3	->''"I don't write horror stories, I write funny stories. I think they're funny, anyway."''
4
5	Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of Norwegian descent who was most famous for his distinctively dark but often whimsical children's novels and poetry collections, though he started out as a writer of short stories for adults.
6
7	His style is exemplified by BlackComedy, and as a result even his juvenile stories contain a good deal of more-than-usually sophisticated NightmareFuel. The fact that said young target audience has been happily lapping all this up for decades now seems to imply that many kids actually ''like'' to be terrified (hey, it works for ''Series/DoctorWho'').
8
9	Trademarks include his [[AuthorAppeal love of nostalgia]] for his own childhood (with which he generally manages to avoid alienating his younger readers) and his great love of FoodPorn. Almost all of the {{happy ending}}s in his work revolve, in some way, around food... although many of them [[BittersweetEnding aren't exactly happy]]. He had less wonderful memories about the [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors headmasters at his school terrorizing, humiliating and caning pupils]] as was common in those days, as mentioned in his autobiographical novel ''Boy''. His not-unreasonable conclusion that all HumansAreBastards would inspire a lot of his later stories.
10
11	His works for adults are almost universally cynical and pessimistic about human nature; his works for children take the same attitude to a whole other level, featuring arrogant, wicked and/or just plain mean adults who menace innocent youngsters (or, in a couple of memorable cases, fuzzy little animals) more or less [[ForTheEvulz just because they can]]. Sometimes these are traditional boogeymen (e.g., The Grand High Witch in ''Literature/TheWitches'', the Giants in ''Literature/TheBFG''), but more often they're simply irredeemably vile grownups. Just how irredeemable is spelled out in exquisite detail on almost every page.
12
13	It would be a case of BeautyEqualsGoodness, except that most of his small heroes and heroines are themselves deliberately pretty average. They're also in large part {{Aesop}}-proof by virtue of their ''already''-innate goodness, intelligence, and/or resourcefulness. They generally succeed in foiling the bad guys simply by first recognizing and then rising above the relentless nastiness and/or or stupidity around them. If you're starting to suspect that there were very few grey areas in Dahl's POV, you're right.
14
15	Dahl himself grew up to have quite the exciting life. After graduation he went to fulfill his military service in Africa, where he became an AcePilot (even earning himself the nickname of [[{{TheAce}} "Ace"]] because he shot down 6 airplanes) for the Royal Air Force during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. C. S. Forester (author of the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' series) asked Dahl to write down his account of his survival after a desert crash, with the understanding that Forester would edit it into a proper magazine article. Dahl did as asked -- and Forester refused to change a word. In fact, he encouraged Dahl to publish it under his own name. Thus began Dahl's career as a writer. Dahl was later assigned to cover the British ground forces in Greece, where his squadron fought valiantly against long odds and he was shot down. The second crash injured his back and left him with recurring headaches that eliminated him from flight duty.
16
17	Although Dahl's flying career was ended by the crash, his military service was not. He found himself assigned as Assistant Air Attache to the British Embassy in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC. While there, his natural charm and ability with words and conversation got him a second, unofficial position with the British Security Co-Ordination, an office officially meant to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin coordinate security i.e. counterespionage with the United States]], but actually a quasi-espionage organization in itself, giving the British Government an inside view of American political activity, tracking down and discrediting pro-Nazi individuals, groups, and businesses, and working to make sure the United States maintained its commitment to assisting the British in their war effort. Dahl's part in this was to hobnob with [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt the president]] and his wife, a young congressman named UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, and other notables, sometimes [[ReallyGetsAround with his penis]]. Yes, he was also very popular with the ladies, almost to the point of a real-life Franchise/JamesBond (and coincidentally, another intelligence officer he worked with on occasion was none other than Creator/IanFleming).
18
19	While in Hollywood during the war Dahl had also met Creator/WaltDisney and pitched him a story called ''Literature/TheGremlins'', about creatures who sabotage army airplanes. Disney was interested in making it into a cartoon, but after a lot of preparation the idea was eventually cancelled, much to Dahl's chagrin. It was however eventually published as his first novel. The Gremlins would also feature heavily in the two ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' games, and even name one of their areas after Dahl. Another of Dahl's WWII-themed stories, "Beware of the Dog", was adapted into the film ''Film/ThirtySixHours1965''.
20
21	In the 1950s Dahl finally earned lasting fame as a writer of suspenseful BlackComedy magazine short stories for adults, later collected into the book and TV series ''Series/TalesOfTheUnexpected'', earning him the title of "Master of the Macabre" on both sides of the Atlantic. His short stories were also adapted to episodes of ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents''. In his increasingly rare spare time, he wrote the screenplays for the ''Film/JamesBond'' film ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' and ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'', both adaptations of books by his good friend Creator/IanFleming.
22
23	Dahl's eventual emergence as a full-time children's writer began in the early 1960s, after ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' and ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' became a huge success. Other popular titles followed in quick succession, accelerating into the 1980s, when Dahl was well into his sixties/seventies: ''Literature/TheBFG'', ''Literature/TheWitches'', ''Literature/{{Matilda}}''. Dahl initially hired a different illustrator for each book that he wrote, until that task was secured for the remainder of his career in 1978 by master of loopy sketchiness, Quentin Blake, who would also provide his own illustrations for all of Dahl's books that were ''not'' initially illustrated by him, finishing with ''The Minpins'' in 2017. Almost all of his juvenile books have been made into movies — the iconic ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' more than once — though he [[CreatorBacklash so disliked]] ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' that it was nearly 15 years before he allowed another of his books to be adapted (and he didn't like ''Film/TheWitches1990'' much either). Curiously, no two of these movies were made by the same person. Particularly in the U.K., stage adaptations of his work are numerous as well; in TheNewTens, ''Theatre/{{Matilda}}'' and ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' have both become successful West End musicals.
24
25	Dahl's personal life was far less lucky, and considerably more complex. He was married for many years to Oscar-winning American actress Creator/PatriciaNeal. They had five children; Olivia, the oldest, died of measles at age 7. Dahl was [[TheCasanova an utterly shameless womaniser]], but when Neal suffered burst cerebral aneurysms and told that she would never walk or talk again Dahl wouldn't hear of it, and personally took control of her rehabilitation. Over the next few years he, for want of a better word, bullied her back to health.
26
27	[[BreadEggsMilkSquick Most controversially]] (and the obvious reason why he never received a knighthood or other official UK honours, other than an OBE which he turned down as he wanted his wife to be Lady Dahl) were accusations of antisemitism, particularly because of statements like "Something in the Jewish character provokes animosity. Even a stinker like Hitler didn't pick on them for no reason." Dahl's estate would eventually issue a formal apology in 2020, acknowledging "the lasting and understandable hurt" caused by his "prejudicial remarks."
28	----
29	!!Roald Dahl's works (with pages on this wiki):
30	[[AC:Literature]]
31	[[index]]
32	* ''Literature/SometimeNeverAFableForSupermen'' (1948)
33	* "Literature/LambToTheSlaughter" (1953)
34	* "Literature/TheLandlady" (1959)
35	* ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' (1961)
36	* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' (1964)
37	** ''Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator'' (1972)
38	* ''Literature/TheMagicFinger'' (1966)
39	* ''Literature/FantasticMrFox'' (1970)
40	* ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'' (1975)
41	* ''Literature/TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugar'' (1977)
42	* ''Literature/TheEnormousCrocodile'' (1978)
43	* ''Literature/MyUncleOswald'' (1979)
44	* ''Literature/TheTwits'' (1980)
45	* ''Literature/GeorgesMarvellousMedicine'' (1981)
46	* ''Literature/TheBFG'' (1982)
47	* ''Literature/RevoltingRhymes'' (1982)
48	* ''Literature/TheWitches'' (1983)
49	* ''Literature/TheGiraffeAndThePellyAndMe'' (1985)
50	* ''{{Literature/Matilda}}'' (1988)
51	* ''Literature/EsioTrot'' (1990)
52	[[/index]]
53
54	[[AC:Screenwriting]]
55	* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' (1967)
56	* ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'' (1968)
57	----
58	!!Roald Dahl and his works provide examples of these tropes:
59	%% Remember, creators don't get trivia pages. Trivia items on this page should stay here.
60	* AcclaimedFlop: This is a notable trend with cinematic adaptations of Dahl's work. From ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' up to 2016's ''Film/TheBFG'', multiple Dahl films have been made that earned a good deal of critical acclaim but were all [[BoxOfficeBomb Box Office Bombs]] apart from ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' (which has Creator/TimBurton as the director); the one cinematic project that had Dahl's name on it that got a "mixed" reception was the Film/JamesBond movie ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', which Dahl wrote (this movie was also a financial success).
61	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Titles (''Literature/RevoltingRhymes''), character names (Willy Wonka, most of the [[Literature/TheBFG giants]]), songs, dialogue...he absolutely adored alliteration.
62	* AdultsAreUseless[=/=]ChildrenAreInnocent: The children is Dahl's books were almost always virtuous and good while the adults only served to be either kind providers or monstrously abusive. Even the ill-behaved children in ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' are the result of their parents being complete pushovers.
63	* AllForNothing: In ''Boy'', Dahl describes that his mother was so furious about him being caned at school, that she sent him to boarding school in England, which turned out to be a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors, where he was indeed caned again. It is not stated whether his mother found out about this.
64	* AnArmAndALeg: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl writes of two significant amputations:
65	** His father Harald, who fell from the roof and broke his arm; but the doctor on call was drunk and mistook it for a dislocated shoulder. He caused tremendous further damage by trying to ''drag'' the arm back into place, which then had to be amputated.
66	** During a car accident when Roald Dahl was nine years old, he shot through the windscreen, and his nose was cut almost completely off his face, but was sewn on again.
67	* BadassBookworm: He was his school's heavyweight boxing champion. This coupled with his towering 6'4 frame meant he was probably not the type of scholar you wanted to get on the bad side of.
68	* BathroomControl: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl mentions that when he went to a boarding school, a teacher harshly turned down a student's request to use the bathroom. [[PottyFailure He ended up not making it]] and was punished for it.
69	* BeastInTheBuilding: Roald Dahl was terrified of snakes, especially when he worked in East Africa. In his autobiography ''Literature/GoingSolo'', he writes about an enormous deadly green mamba entering a house, the family evacuating themselves from an upstairs window, and the snake being skillfully and humanely captured by a snake-catcher.
70	* BeenThereShapedHistory: Roald's prewriting life was WILD to say the least. 1st he shot down 6 airplanes in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII earning himself the nickname of [[{{TheAce}} "Ace"]] before surviving a plane crash in a biplane. 2nd He may or may not be a real life version of james bond (and also the inspiration for Creator/IanFleming's book) where he both met then president UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt AND future president UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson. 3nd He met up with Creator/WaltDisney and gave him the idea for some character that would show up in VideoGame/EpicMickey a good 50 years later before finally starting the writer career that history knows him for (But not before writing the screenplay for both Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice and Film/ChittyChittyBangBang).
71	* BerserkButton: The premise of ''Literature/TheMagicFinger'', in which an eight-year-old girl points her magic finger at anybody who makes her angry, and terrible things happen to that person. She cannot stand anybody hunting animals, and when the Gregg family hunt ducks, she puts the Magic Finger on them all; the family turn into duck-sized people, with wings instead of arms, and end up nesting in a tree for the night. Meanwhile, their house is invaded by four human-sized ducks, with arms instead of wings.
72	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Dahl made no pretense over exactly who he believed were "good" and "bad" people. Even when his heroes were flawed, such as ''Literature/FantasticMrFox'', the villains would have no redeeming qualities at all.
73	* BlackComedy: His work is quite macabre and sadistic. It's nearly all PlayedForLaughs to at least some level.
74	* BloodierAndGorier:
75	** His poems ''Literature/RevoltingRhymes'' are re-tellings of classic fairy tales, but more true to the cruelty and goriness of the original tales, though with his own sense for BlackComedy and fantasy twisting the tales. Dahl had the belief that children can take horror in stories as long as they also have comedy in them and that they are actually quite interested in those sort of stories, as long as they are told well.
76	** The autobiographical ''Boy'' veers into LudicrousGibs territory at times, particularly in Dahl's stories of having his adenoids removed and of the car accident that nearly cost him his nose, which spare none of the gory details. Not to mention the vivid descriptions of all the canings he endured.
77	* BuyOrGetLost: In ''Boy'', he describes the grumpy sweet shop owner Mrs. Pratchett, who would say "I don't want you in here just to look around! Either you ''forks'' out, or you ''gets'' out!" When five boys enter the shop so that Dahl can carry out the Great Mouse Plot, she snarls "I don't want the whole lot of you trooping in here if only one of you is buying!".
78	* CantSeeADamnThing: In his autobiography ''Literature/GoingSolo'', Dahl describes being blinded when he crashed his fighter plane, which then caught fire, and he had to free himself from the wreckage. His eyes were not damaged beneath his facial injuries, so he regained his sight later.
79	--> I was in two worlds. Both worlds were pitch-black, but one was burning hot, and the other was not.
80	* ChildHater: A frequent antagonist type in his stories-- Miss Trunchbull, the Grand High Witch, and Aunts Sponge and Spiker are some of the more notable ones. This theme is likely inspired by the real-life examples he observed in his brutal teachers and headmasters (and Mrs. Pratchett). He even [[CanonForeigner added two of them]] (Baroness Bomburst and the Child Catcher) into ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang''! Of course, these child-haters are always countered by kind and caring adults who provide the necessary love for the victimized children.
81	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: The methods characters use to punish, torture and/or act revenge on others are often quite crafty.
82	* CoolTeacher: As he describes in ''Boy'', Dahl had one such teacher at Repton, a math teacher named Corkers, who did just about everything ''but'' teach math and liked to joke with his students. A typical class period would have him leading the students in solving a CrosswordPuzzle rather than teaching figures.
83	* CreatorsOddball: Dahl, world famous for his children's novels, also wrote two adult novels and a number of adult short stories.
84	** The first adult novel was ''Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen'', in which gremlins end up taking over the world after World War III and World War IV destroy mankind.
85	** The second was ''Literature/MyUncleOswald'', an erotic soft core satire. Exactly why becomes more clear when one learns that he was [[TheCasanova an inveterate womanizer]]. One of his jobs in World War II actually required him to seduce well-connected American women into political compliance.
86	** Dahl's short adult stories include "Lamb to the Slaughter", about a woman who murders her husband after finding out he cheated on her, and "The Landlady", about a woman who runs a B&B but murders and taxidermies her guests. Both stories, and several more adult stories by Dahl, were later adapted into episodes of the British anthology series ''Series/TalesOfTheUnexpected''.
87	* CreatorThumbprint: He loved nostalgia for his childhood, and food. Almost all of his books revolve around food in some way, and most of the Happy Endings his heroes get are based on food in some way.
88	* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to many children's stories, Dahl's books do have a dark edge to them. They often showcase BlackComedy and scenes that have worried parents and teachers because they fear they are too horrifying or sadistic for young readers. Yet Dahl has been popular with children for decades.
89	* DarwinistDesire: In ''Literature/MyUncleOswald'', Oswald collects the sperm of geniuses in order to sell it to women who want to have genius babies.
90	* DeathByDespair: As related in ''Boy''. After Dahl's older sister died of appendicitis at the age of seven, his father never recovered emotionally. Though [[DisappearedDad father's death]] just a month later was technically due to pneumonia, Dahl believed his heartbroken father refused to fight for his life because he couldn't wait to see his daughter in heaven.
91	* DeathOfAChild: Two notable examples are the novels ''Literature/TheWitches'' and ''Literature/TheBFG'' where children are victims of murderous witches and cannibalistic giants, though we are spared the first-person view.
92	* DisappearedDad: Dahl was only three years old when his father succumbed to pneumonia, heartbroken over the death of his seven-year-old daughter (and favorite child) from appendicitis just a month earlier.
93	* DisownedAdaptation: Dahl famously hated ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', due to various changes to the story and because his choice to play Wonka, Creator/SpikeMilligan, was ignored. He subsequently refused to allow the [[Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator sequel]] or any of his other books to be adapted for the big screen. He relented near the end of his life, and allowed ''Literature/TheWitches'' to be made into a film. He regarded ''Film/TheWitches1990'' as "utterly appalling" because the book's BittersweetEnding was changed to a HappyEnding, and he reportedly stood outside his local cinema with a megaphone urging people not to watch it.
94	* EarlyBirdCameo: In ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'' Danny's father tells a story about a giant who blows dreams into children's bed rooms when they are sleeping. This is a nod to one of Dahl's later stories ''Literature/TheBFG''.
95	* EatTheEvidence: In "Lamb to the Slaughter", a housewife murders her callous husband by hitting him with a leg of lamb, then cooks it and serves it ''to the police'' who investigate the death.
96	* FaintInShock: The Poem "The Tummy Beast", from ''[[Literature/DirtyBeasts Dirty Beasts]]'', ends with the eponymous beast speaking, then the protagonist saying, "Now do you believe me, mummy?", only to find his mother unconscious on the floor.
97	* FantasyHelmetEnforcement: Defied in his autobiography ''Boy''. He describes riding his tricycle to kindergarten, in the middle of the road, with no adult present, taking corners on two wheels; certainly no helmets are mentioned. He adds that this was at a time when motor cars were rare. He also describes a significant memory of seeing and envying an older boy riding a bicycle, with his school cap (note: not a helmet) sitting jauntily on his head, and the boy's arms folded casually across his chest, instead of on the handlebars.
98	* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: In the autobiographical ''Going Solo'', Roald Dahl recounts falling in love with a nurse who assisted him through a period of blindness after a plane crash in the North African desert during World War II. His infatuation ended once the bandages came off and he found that she was not quite as beautiful as he had imagined her to be.
99	* FoodPorn: Nobody could describe food, especially sweets, in such a tasty way that makes your mouth water when you read it as Dahl.
100	* ForcedToWatch: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl recalls how when he and his friends pranked the horrible sweetshop owner Mrs Pratchett by putting a dead mouse in a sweet jar, he and his friends were caned in turn by the headmaster, with Mrs Pratchett gleefully cheering him on. Dahl recalls the horror of being made to watch this, especially as he himself was last in the line, the prank had been his idea, and he had carried it out himself.
101	* FracturedFairyTale:
102	** ''Literature/RevoltingRhymes'', where he transforms ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'', ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'', ''Literature/{{Goldilocks}}'', ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'', ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', ''Literature/SnowWhite''
103	** And ''Rhyme Stew'', where he sends up ''Literature/DickWhittington'', ''Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare'', ''Literature/TheEmperorsNewClothes'', ''Literature/AliBaba'', ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'' and ''Literature/{{Aladdin}}''.
104	* FunWithHomophones: In his autobiography Boy, Dahl describes an imaginary scene to show how the headmaster subtly censored the boys' letters home, by pointing out their mistakes, but never allowing them to correct them in the letter.
105	--> '''Headmaster:''' (Seeing "Tuesday knight" written) Don't you know how to spell "night"?
106	--> '''Boy:''' Yes sir, k-n-i-g-h-t.
107	--> '''Headmaster:''' That's the other kind of knight, you idiot!
108	--> '''Boy:''' Which kind, sir? I don't understand.
109	--> '''Headmaster:''' The one in shining armour! The man on horseback! How do you spell Tuesday night?
110	--> '''Boy:''' I'm not sure, sir.
111	--> '''Headmaster:''' It's n-i-g-h-t. Stay in and write it out fifty times this afternoon. No, no! Don't change it in the letter! You don't want to make it any messier than it already is! It must go as you wrote it!
112	* {{Gaslighting}}: ''Literature/TheTwits'' is all about this -- the titular dysfunctional couple do it to each other to begin with (for example, adding a small segment to the bottom of a walking stick every day to make the wife think she's shrinking), and have it spectacularly turned on them at the end [[spoiler: (they're tricked into gluing themselves to the floor, and end up shrinking down into nothing in their efforts to get themselves unstuck).]]
113	* GenreAnthology: ''Series/TalesOfTheUnexpected'', a 1979 ITV series, started out exclusively adapting his short fiction, although it later widened its scope to include other authors' works.
114	* GentleGiant: ''Literature/TheBFG'' is about a giant who calls himself the "Big Friendly Giant", because he is the only giant who doesn't eat children.
115	* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: His book ''Literature/TheMagicFinger'' is about a girl who points people who had enraged her with her finger and converts the pointed person into an animal.
116	* GoodBehaviorPoints: In his autobiography ''Boy'', he describes the system of stars and stripes that was used at his school. Good work was rewarded with a "quarter-star", and bad work or behavior was sanctioned with a "stripe", which automatically meant a [[CorporalPunishment thrashing]] from the headmaster. Boys who received a star or stripe had to declare it in front of the whole school.
117	* GoodParents: With the prominent exception of ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'', all of his characters are shown to have very loving and supportive parents or guardians. Either these parents die before the story starts or cannot provide for their children, or the child eventually finds loving guardians to take care of them.
118	* GripingAboutGremlins: His 1943 book ''The Gremlins'' was the first book about these creatures, though the urban legend had been around for many years already.
119	* HarmfulToMinors: His works can be considered this by some, featuring very bleak situations that put children at the mercy of cruel and selfish adults as well as other violent or dark content (such as cannibalistic giants)--all aimed at kids (even if they usually escape this by the end). This is likely inspired by his own childhood, exposed to abusive violence at his school.
120	* HateSink: Dahl had a rather cynical way of portraying his villains. Characters like Mrs. Trunchbull, Matilda's parents (''Literature/{{Matilda}}''), the parents and children whom Charlie and his grandfather have to compete with (''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''), Henry Sugar (''The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar''), James's aunts (''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach''), Captain Lancaster (''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld''), Mr. and Mrs. Twit (''Literature/TheTwits''), George's grandmother (''Literature/GeorgesMarvellousMedicine''), the giants (''Literature/TheBFG''), the witches (''Literature/TheWitches''), ... are all despicable buffoonish beings who love to torment other people. In contrast, the good characters are almost all flawless and pure.
121	* HeAlsoDid : In addition to his well-known children's books, he also did plenty of material like ''Literature/MyUncleOswald'', which can only be described as NotSafeForWork.
122	* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Children get tortured, humiliated, beaten, but seldom die.
123	* InjuredSelfDrag: In his autobiography ''Going Solo'', Roald Dahl describes how he crashed his fighter plane and ended up with his face completely smashed in so he could not see, and had to free himself from the wreckage, as the plane went up in flames around him. He describes how his world was in two halves: both were pitch black, but one was burning hot, and one was not, and all his efforts were to get himself out of the burning plane.
124	* InspirationNod: The story "Pig" is clearly written as an homage to Literature/{{Candide}}, including a [[ThePollyanna ridiculously idealistic]] protagonist and a bitingly satirical tone. As a reference to this, the hero's aunt, who raised him, is named Glosspan- a SignificantAnagram for Voltaire's Pangloss.
125	* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Used this ending twice in ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' and ''Literature/TheBFG''.
126	* LiteralTransformativeExperience: In ''Literature/TheMagicFinger,'' a family of hunting enthusiasts sprout wings, shrink to the size of small birds and are forced to live in a tree in their garden, while a family of anthropomorphic ducks move into their house. The ducks eventually threaten the hunters with their own guns, but the hunters get the ducks to back down by swearing to renounce their hunting lifestyle and become vegetarian, at which point the ducks allow them back into the house and the transformation wears off. After this, the father is seen smashing the family's guns with a hammer while the mother lays flowers on a makeshift grave for the many victims of past hunts and the children scatter birdseed for a huge flock of birds.
127	* NasalTrauma: In ''Boy'', he tells of how his nose was sliced almost completely off as he shot through the windscreen in a car accident. In ''Going Solo'', after crashing his fighter plane, he mentions how a surgeon told him he would give Dahl a lovely new nose.
128	* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: As he relates in ''Boy'', Dahl never got a chance to say goodbye to his mother before her death. He spoke with her on the phone the day before she died, but as her son was about to have spinal surgery, she revealed nothing about her condition, though she knew she was gravely ill.
129	* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Dahl earned his title "Master of the Macabre" thanks to a series of mysterious, unpredictable and often bone chilling short stories for adults collected in ''Series/TalesOfTheUnexpected''. His children's novels are also notorious for disturbing and scary scenes. Let's just say there is a good reason [[NightmareFuel/RoaldDahl why he has his own Nightmare Fuel page.]]
130	* NoNameGiven: In two of the children's books told from a first-person view, the main character is not named: the boy in ''Literature/TheWitches'', and the girl in ''Literature/TheMagicFinger''. Interestingly, in many of the books, an extremely minor character is named in full: for example, in ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', the rolling peach takes the skin off the nose of a young woman called Daisy Entwistle.
131	* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou: He reportedly approved of Creator/AnjelicaHuston being cast as the Grand High Witch in the film adaptation of ''Literature/TheWitches''. This was about the only thing he ''did'' approve of.
132	* OpenRelationshipFailure: In "The Great Switcheroo" ,the narrator, Vic, persuades his neighbor Jerry to pull a BedTrick on their respective wives. They compare notes on their respective lovemaking techniques, with Jerry disparaging Vic's. After the deed is done, Vic is less than happy to learn that his wife never enjoyed sex with him up until last night.
133	* PerfectlyCromulentWord: He has an entire language (Gobblefunk) dedicated to his cromulency! (The giants in ''The BFG'' actually do speak it.)
134	* PlayingSick: In ''Boy'', Dahl recalls being so homesick during his first term at boarding school that he tried faking appendicitis just to be able to go home for a few days. Although the school doctor sent him home, the examining doctor in his home town was not fooled (the lack of physical symptoms, despite the boy's LargeHam performance in screaming with pain, was a dead giveaway), but agreed to keep Dahl's secret.
135	* PoliceLineUp: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl recalls how when he and his friends pranked the sweetshop owner Mrs Pratchett by putting a dead mouse in a sweet jar, the entire school was made to line up around the playground, so that Mrs Pratchett could identify the culprits, all the while muttering nasty comments about boys in general under her breath.
136	* PopCulturalOsmosis: Dahl started his career as a writer for adults, but is nowadays much better known as a children's author, a demographic he only started writing for when he was already in his 50s.
137	* ReadingTheEnemysMail: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl and his fellow pupils believed that the headmaster of his BoardingSchoolOfHorrors covertly censored their letters home, by peering over their shoulders to read what they wrote, and to point out their mistakes; this belief was reinforced by the headmaster never allowing them to make corrections to the letter, after they had written it. As a result, the boys never dared to say anything negative about the school.
138	* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
139	** "Boy" and "Going Solo" are autobiographies, kind of. In his foreword Dahl explains that he skipped huge parts of his life story, because he felt that most autobiographies often had huge parts that were just boring details. That's why he chose to only write about the anecdotes from his life he never was able to forget. Granted, both books are also aimed a young reader audience, so it's possible he just wanted to give them the thrilling bits.
140	** Captain Lancaster from ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'' was based on Captain Hardcastle, a [[SadistTeacher teacher]] Dahl of whom he had memories and wrote about in "Boy".
141	** The grandmother in ''Literature/TheWitches'' is of Norwegian origin, an obvious wink to Dahl's own Norwegian roots. The Norwegian summer holidays which they never take are described in detail.
142	** In "Going Solo", Dahl writes about the peculiar behaviour of his fellow passengers on the ship taking him to Africa: Miss Trefuiss who had a horror of fingers, toes and bare feet, and his cabin-mate U.N. Savory, who went to great lengths to hide his baldness, with wigs of different lengths, and sprinkling Epsom Salts on his shoulders to look like dandruff. These might have inspired the bald heads, clawed hands and toeless feet of "The Witches".
143	* SadistTeacher: And how. Dahl never forgot the strict and repressive rules at his old schools and describes being beaten in his autobiographical novel "Boy". One scene from this book was almost re-used line-by-line in his novel ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', with the appearance, behaviour and name of the teacher [[RecycledScript almost literally the same]]. Another book about sadist teachers is ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'', where principal Mrs. Trunchbull leads an even more grotesque reign of terror. Captain Hardcastle in ''Boy'' is a real-life example. So much that after he falsely accused young Dahl of cheating on a homework assignment and had the boy sent to the headmaster's office to be caned, he apparently ''left the door to the teacher's lounge open'' so he could hear -- and enjoy -- the beating in progress. Dahl theorizes part of the reason for his brutality may have been that Hardcastle was a ShellShockedVeteran of World War I.
144	* ShellShockedVeteran: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl discusses his SadistTeacher Captain Hardcastle, who had been a captain in the war. As Captain Hardcastle was never still, rumour had it that this was due to "shell shock", which the pupils took to mean that something had gone off with an enormous bang next to him, and he hadn't stopped jumping since.
145	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Shotguns for killing animals feature prominently in several of Roald Dahl's children's stories: ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', ''Literature/TheTwits'', ''Literature/FantasticMrFox'', ''Literature/TheMagicFinger''.
146	* SignatureLine: Some of the books for children have a very memorable opening line, to make the reader want to read on.
147	** "''What'' a lot of hairy-faced men there are nowadays." (''Literature/TheTwits'')
148	** "In fairy tales, witches always wear silly black hats and cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale: this is about REAL witches." (''Literature/TheWitches'')
149	** "It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their son or daughter is the most disgusting little blister you can imagine, they still think he or she is wonderful." (''Literature/{{Matilda}}'')
150	** "Ernie had been given a .22 rifle for his birthday." (''The Swan'', from ''Literature/TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugar'')
151	** "I guess you think you know this story. You don't: the real one's much more gory." (''Cinderella'' in ''Literature/RevoltingRhymes'').
152	* SomeDexterityRequired: "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" has an inventor build a (kind of) computer which can write stories. At first, you set the general parameters, like {{Settings}}, {{Genre}} and the main characters, during the writing process (which takes about fifteen minutes), you can pull registers for details, and have two foot pedals to add passion. The narrator compares using the machine to driving a car or flying plane and playing an organ at the same time.
153	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: There is surprisingly a strong amount of both. Some stories could have mean-spirited world and horrible adults as well as a lot of dark content for a children's novel, but the kids, the good people, and the sense of warmth and whimsy created a fair balance of pure optimism with harsh cynicism.
154	* SlippingAMickey: In Dahl's autobiography ''Boy'', he writes that his childhood friend Thwaites declared, with great authority, that sweets contained sedatives often fed to rowdy prisoners, saying that it was a grown-up plot to keep children quiet.
155	* StoryWithinAStory: A good example would be ''Literature/TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugar'' in which Dahl tells how Henry reads an account of a doctor about a man in India who can see with his mind and at one point asks this Indian man to read him a passage from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' without using his eyes and only touching the pages. So this particular moment would be a story-within-a story- within-a story-within-a story.
156	* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: In ''Boy'', Dahl describes how in his childhood, small surgeries were carried out without an anaesthetic, or even painkillers: he himself had his adenoids removed, and witnessed a seven-year-old boy at school having a boil lanced, by the doctor throwing a towel in the boy's face, and jumping on him with a scalpel. He also describes that although they were put to sleep for this, other operations were carried out not in a hospital, but on an ordinary table at home.
157	* SymbolicWeaponDiscarding: In ''Literature/TheMagicFinger'', the Gregg family [[LiteralTransformativeExperience are forced to live as ducks for a day]], as revenge for hunting and killing them. Afterwards, the family vows to live as vegetarians, and Mr. Gregg smashes the family's guns into pieces with a huge hammer.
158	* TheresNoPlaceLikeHome: In the autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl writes about how he was so devastatingly homesick during his first term at boarding school, that he faked appendicitis to get himself sent home. This worked for a short time; the doctor who examined him at home was not fooled, but expressed some sympathy, and made him promise never to try a trick like that again. Interestingly, as soon as he left school, he longed to work in faraway places, and his first job took him to Africa for three years, with no trips home, but this did not worry him at all.
159	--> Homesickness is a bit like seasickness. You don't know how awful it is until you get it, and when you do, it hits you right in the stomach and you want to die.
160	* ThreatenAllToFindOne: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl describes an incident at school when a boy sprinkles sugar all over the dormitory corridor floor, to make the Matron's footsteps crunch as she patrols the corridor. The boys know who did it, but out of solidarity, they all keep quiet. The entire school is herded into the corridor, and when nobody owns up, all the boys are made to hand in the keys to their tuck boxes [[note]]where they keep their food and personal possessions[[/note]] until the end of term.
161	* TitleDropAnthology:
162	** ''[[Literature/AhSweetMysteryOfLifeTheCountryStoriesOfRoaldDahl Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl]]'': This collection of seven stories includes "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life".
163	** ''Literature/TheGreatAutomaticGrammatizerAndOtherStories'': This collection includes thirteen stories, the first of which is "The Great Automatic Grammatizer". It has also been reprinted as ''The Umbrella Man and Other Stories'', and "The Umbrella Man" is one of the other thirteen.
164	** ''Literature/SkinAndOtherStories'': A collection of eleven stories, with "Skin" as the first story in the book.
165	** ''Literature/SwitchBitch'': The title is a combination of two stories, "Literature/TheGreatSwitcheroo" and "Bitch", out of a total of four stories.
166	** ''Literature/TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugarAndSixMore'', a collection of three non-fiction pieces and four stories, one of which is "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar".
167	* ToiletHumour: Dahl thanks a lot of his popularity among children for this. The most well known example is the BFG ''whizzpopping''[[note]]breaking wind -- so strongly that the twenty-foot giant is actually propelled into the air![[/note]] after having drank his favorite drink.
168	* TheTonsillitisEpisode: In his autobiography ''Boy'', Dahl describes having had his adenoids removed in 1924, without an anaesthetic, as was common practice at the time, as happened with tonsil removal as well.
169	* WickedStepmother: James in ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' is an orphan who is forced to live with his aunts, who treat him very badly.
170	* WouldHurtAChild: His books often feature adults who make it their jobs to sadistically abuse and taunt children. Even his autobiography about his childhood involves physically violent school teachers. His more fantastical works often feature monsters who either don't care about hurting children, or as with the [[Literature/TheWitches witches]] and the [[Literature/TheBFG giants]] go out of their way to target them specifically.

Context Creator / RoaldDahl