History Literature / CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator

* KarmaHoudini: In the Oompa-Loompa's song, Goldie Pinklesweet's grandmother faces no apparent repercussions for sneaking out for a double gin and leaving Goldie to her own devices.

* AllIsWellThatEndsWell: For the Bucket family members besides Charlie and Grandpa Joe (who are cases of AngstWhatAngst throughout both books). They are effectively ''[[TheKindnapper kidnapped]]'' by Willy Wonka, Charlie, and Grandpa Joe to get everyone back to the factory after the elevator's landing destroyed their shack. Thanks to Grandma Josephine's panicking, everyone winds up in space, encountering human-eating aliens. Once back at the factory the reluctant grandparents overdose on FountainOfYouth pills and Mr. and Mrs. Bucket face the AdultFear of their parents turning into babies or ''vanishing'', and then the vanished one reappears as a centuries-old crone. When Mr. Wonka restores everyone to their original ages, the parents are happy; when the news comes that everyone's been invited to the White House and a helicopter is waiting for them, the grousing grandparents are so overjoyed by the prospect that they voluntarily get out of bed for the first time in decades, and all is forgiven.

%%* ArtificialGravity: In the Space Hotel.

"You'll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that."

--Willy Wonka

* YouDoNOTWantToKnow: Willy Wonka, recounting the story of how he invented and perfected Wonka-Vite, lets on that he tested the prototype versions of the pill on 131 Oompa-Loompas, one at a time. It's clear that ''something'' went wrong every time until it was perfected and worked splendidly on the 132nd, but when pressed by the Buckets, he won't say what that was. After Grandma Georgina overdoses on the pills and is de-aged into Minusland, Mr. Wonka finally explains to Charlie that the 131 Oompa-Loompas went through the same experience she did (as the pills were too powerful at that point). Mr. Wonka rescued them all by creating Vita-Wonk and journeying down to Minusland to bring them back, a terribly long and risky process and thus one he didn't want to discuss in the present.

* DeathByDeaging: Not exactly death, but similar-if someone takes more [[FountainOfYouth Wonka-Lite Pills]] than their age, they're reduced to strange negative ghosts in [[EldritchLocation Minusland]] who are hunted by the Gnoolies.

* AdultsAreUseless: Or in this case the U.S. government.
* AnAesop The Oompa-Loompas deliver a song about not "help[ing] yourself/To medicine from the medicine shelf" in the wake of the grandparents' de-aging themselves with too much Wonka-Vite. Also counts as a SpaceWhaleAesop where taking forbidden medicine and/or too much of it will either de-age you out of this plane of existence ''or'' confine you to the toilet for most of your waking hours for the rest of your life.
* AllIsWellThatEndsWell: For the Bucket family members besides Charlie and Grandpa Joe (who are cases of AngstWhatAngst throughout both books). They are effectively ''[[TheKindnapper kidnapped]]'' by Willy Wonka, Charlie, and Grandpa Joe to get everyone back to the factory after the elevator's landing destroyed their shack. Thanks to Grandma Josephine's panicking, everyone winds up in space, encountering human-eating aliens. Once back at the factory the reluctant grandparents overdose on FountainOfYouth pills and Mr. and Mrs. Bucket face the AdultFear of their parents turning into babies or ''vanishing'', and then the vanished one reappears as a centuries-old crone. When Mr. Wonka restores everyone to their original ages, the parents are happy; when the news comes that everyone's been invited to the White House and a helicopter is waiting for them, the grousing grandparents are so overjoyed by the prospect that they voluntarily get out of bed for the first time in decades, and all is forgiven.

* EldritchLocation: Minusland, a place of negative existence, where anyone that overdoses on Wonka-Vite ends up, and which the Great Glass Elevator can visit - but it's extremely dangerous for ordinary humans (see below).

* InWhichATropeIsDescribed: As with its predecessor, many chapter titles spoil the events of said chapters, especially in the second half ("Good-bye Grandma Georgina", "Rescue in Minusland", etc.).

* MistakenForAliens '''and''' MistakenForSpies: The elevator's passengers are first regarded as the second trope by the rest of the world and the bed is believed to be a ''bomb''. Then Willy Wonka decides to invoke the first trope when he is told to identify himself and his companions at the Space Hotel (there are no cameras in there, so he assumes a funny voice and basically ''trolls Earth''). Ultimately, after he and the others help save the Space Hotel crew and guests from the actual aliens that turn out to be in the hotel, they are regarded as heroic astronauts rather than spies, with no one the wiser about the prank he pulled.

* ArtisticLicenceSpace:

* SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay:
** In the beginning, the elevator goes straight up into space, and then right into orbit, despite no forces parallel to the earth's surface being applied to the elevator during this time, which a rocket would need in order to orbit the earth. In reality, the elevator would have been pulled right back to Earth by the planet's gravity.
** At one point, Mr. Wonka states that while in orbit, you can't just turn around and go the other way. This is actually possible; just turn your rocket 90 degrees to the direction it's currently going in, then fire the rockets and your orbit route will change accordingly.

* {{Hellevator}}: The Great Glass Elevator is able to travel to a subterranean land that's effectively "Hell without heat" to facilitate an OrpheanRescue.

* RealityEnsues: Fanciful as most of it is, the book's events effectively start thanks to this trope -- the bedridden grandparents, having just been uprooted from their home and en route to a new one, are anxious and suspicious of Mr. Wonka and his wacky ways, culminating in Grandma Josephine's panic.

%%* MinusWorld: Minusland is a dreary example of this.

%%* OrpheanRescue: For Grandma Georgina.

* AlliterativeName: Aside from Willie Wonka himself, there's actress Helen Highwater, only mentioned in passing, and Space Hotel employee Walter Wall. The rocket that brings people from Earth to the hotel is the Commuter Capsule.

* ArtificialGravity: In the Space Hotel.

* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: The Premier of China and his assistant.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The President's fly-killing device (see KansasCityShuffle below).

* BlobMonster: The Vermicious Knids.

* CuteKitten: The president has one called Mrs Taubsypuss.

* EldritchAbomination: Our heroes encounter ''two'' of them:

* EurekaMoment: Grandma Josephine wailing "Why can't we all go home?" triggers this for Willy Wonka when he can't figure out how to escape the chain of Vermicious Knids (see RememberedICouldFly below).

* {{Handwave}}: Mr. Wonka claims that Wonka-Vite is too valuable to waste on himself, which is why he needs an heir. That doesn't stop him from wasting a great deal on Charlie's grandparents!
** Also, Mr. Wonka explains that the elevator can fly because of "skyhooks". When someone asks what the skyhooks are ''attached'' to, he brushes off the question.

* MinusWorld: Minusland is a dreary example of this.

* OrpheanRescue: For Grandma Georgina.

* PunnyName: Besides Helen Highwater (and her millionaire fiancé, Orson Cart) there's a Soviet premier named Yugetoff. There are also Chinese officials named "Chu on-Dat" and "How Yubin".
** The President also accidentally dials a grocer in Shanghai and a stationmaster in Chongqing. The Postmaster General explains that calling China is difficult as [[InsaneTrollLogic the country is so full of Wings and Wongs that every time you wing you get the wong number]].

* UrbanFantasy: As per its predecessor.

* AlliterativeName: The Commuter Capsule.

* AlliterativeName: Actress Helen Highwater, only mentioned in passing, and Space Hotel employee Walter Wall.

* MiningForCookies: At one point, Charlie and Wonka past a chocolate mine and, indeed, strike chocolate.

* OutOfFocus: Grandpa Joe -- the secondary adult lead of the previous book -- doesn't get much to do as the spotlight shifts to the other grandparents, effectively becoming DemotedToExtra. Charlie only avoids becoming this by becoming TheWatson / a KidSidekick to Mr. Wonka.

* ShaggyDogStory: The entire Wonka-Vite story arc ends up being this, as all four grandparents are ultimately returned to their original ages. Note that making just ''one'' pill takes 27 days and requires a long list of [[EyeOfNewt weird]], exotic and often downright [[InsubstantialIngredients bizarre]] ingredients, which was why Mr. Wonka didn't want to use any himself; he felt it was too valuable. By the end, a total of 26 of them have essentially gone to waste.

* PunnyName: Besides Helen Highwater there's a Soviet premier named Yugetoff. There are also Chinese officials named "Chu on-Dat" and "How Yubin".

* ComicFantasy: Though it shades more into science fiction than the first book did, especially in the first half.
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Grandma Georgina is the grouchiest and most vocal of the protagonists, and is never right about anything. [[TheChewToy And suffers more abuse than any of the other characters.]]
* ContinuityNod: As the elevator heads down to Minusland, Mr. Wonka notes that he hopes the ''other'' elevator that runs on the same track isn't headed in their direction. ("I've always been lucky before.") Much the same dialogue appeared in the first book when the tour group first rode the elevator.
** Also, when Mr. Wonka trots out Wonka-Vite to get the other grandparents out of bed, Charlie is nervous about letting them anywhere near the stuff, remembering what happened with the ''last'' miracle invention Mr. Wonka showed off -- namely the imperfect three-course-meal gum that turned Violet into a blueberry. Wonka points out that Violet actually snatched the gum against his wishes and ignored him when he told her not to chew it, whereas this time he's actually handing the Wonka-Vite out himself. The pills do work as they're supposed to, but the grandparents foolishly overdose on them, and the chapter title "Good-bye Grandma Georgina" even calls back to the first book's "Good-by Violet"!
* CoolStarship: The Great Glass Elevator. Sure, it doesn't ''look'' like what most people think of when they hear the term "cool starship"...arguably that actually makes it ''cooler''!

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar
** There's a fleeting mention of a movie star named "Helen Highwater".
** Not to mention a ''literal'' example: Granny Pinklesweet's chocolate-brown anti-constipation pills.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience:
** Colours of the buttons in the Elevator are often mentioned: brown, green, black, white, silver, golden, yellow, pale blue.
** On the President's desk, a bright red telephone links to Soviet Russia, and a porcelain telephone links to China.

* MiningForCookies: At one point, Charlie and Wokna past a chocolate mine and, indeed, strike chocolate.

* Spoonerism: Grandma Georgina tells Mr Wonka that he has got them into enough tubbles and trumbles for one day.