Roald Dahl: Imagination Through Writing
Roald Dahl was a famous British author who wrote many world renowned children’s stories in the twentieth century. Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, South Wales, United Kingdom on September 13, 1916. Roald Dahl was raised in a mansion in a small village in Wales where everybody spoke English. He was a young troublemaker who was full of energy and proved himself in skills of getting in trouble. Although he was not good at spelling while was in school, he still enjoyed writing in his secret diary at home when he was eight years old. As an adult, he had a chance to play poker with Harry S. Truman before Truman became President in 1945. His imagination was more than writing, as he used it in a way to invent something to help heal his hurt son with his head injury. His inventions were collaborative, as he worked with a doctor to create a tool in order to get thousands of children better.
At the end of his boarding school days as a child, he had an offer to attend Oxford or Cambridge University, but he declined both offers. He wanted to go directly into the real world to work. He got a job in the oil business, Shell Oil Company, while having dreams to travel to foreign countries in order to advance companies in offices. However, shortly after he started working, he went to the military. While he was in the military, he was nicknamed “Lofty” because he could barely fit in his cockpit due to his height of 6’6”. After six months of training in Hawker Harts, he earned his rank as a Pilot Officer. Roald Dahl crashed into a boulder at night. It was so hard that he fractured his skull and lost some of his sight, but then got rescued and receive medical attention. He finished his military service ranked as a Wing Commander that had 5 aerial victories. This was verified according to his post-war research. At the end of his Dillon Dean Professor Howze English 12 October 10 2018 military service, he was transferred over to Washington DC in the United States and stated as an Assistant Air Attache. He published an article called “A Piece of Cake” which was a dramatic fact where he wasn’t shot down. He married a film actress, Patricia Neal, who won an Academy Award during the year of 1961.
Before writing for children, he began his writing career with publish short stories, which several of them were magazines. He published his first book in 1961, which was “James and the Giant Peach”, but it met wide critical and commercial acclaim. “James and the Giant Peach” was the first novel that Dahl wrote for children, but he had been writing novels for primarily adults before that. James lived with his two mean aunts and had no friends until he met the grasshopper and they went on the magical peach. “The Big Friendly Giant” was one of his favorite books that he wrote. In 1982 it won the Federation of Child’s books group. His imagination was funny and he invented words like Buzzwangle, zipfizzing, and Frobscottle and a set of creatures like Oompa-Loompas and Snozzwangers. He also had many issues revolving critics.
His critics, which were mostly young adults, did not like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” because they thought it was rude and unpleasant it was for children. Despite his critics, Roald Dahl made a lot of money from his book and received letters from his fans. He once said in an interview, ”I am more pleased with my children’s books rather than my adult short stories. ” He felt like he was doing okay if he could keep the attention of a child. When his books were made into movies, he had to submit everything through the approval of Walt Disney in order to not have copyright issues. Out of all his stories that he wrote, The BFG is his personal favorite that he wrote for his younger audience. The story of the BFG is about Dillon Dean Professor Howze English 12 October 10 2018 a giant that captures dream and keeps them in bottles so that the children can enjoy them later while they are sleeping. Three years after his first book, he published “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in 1964. This book was a winner. The original book of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” sold over 20 million copies all over the world and is available in 55 different languages. “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is one of Roald Dahl’s most known stories which became a movie called “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” in 1971.
“Matilda” was his last long story before his adventures of a five year period which was full of intelligence. Matilda has powers which helped her beloved teacher in order to deceive the bitter headmistress. “Matilda” was also produced as a movie and he was involved in it as a director. At first, “Matilda” was a struggle for him to write and he continually changed the character of Matilda trying to delight the audience.
After all of his success with children’s stories, he died of a rare blood disease on November 23, 1990. His charitable contributions in the fields of neurology and hematology were kept alive by his widow after his death. His books are still selling even after his death in 2004. He has sold 10 million copies of his books all over the whole world. There is even a museum dedicated to him and his works of literature. It celebrates what he has done and continues to promote his work even more. In a survey done in 2000, Roald Dahl was named the British readers favorite author. Roald Dahl has also inspired a children’s gallery that opened at Buckinghamshire County Museum in Aylesbury. Roald Dahl’s famous children’s stories from the twentieth century are still famous with today’s youth and have a lasting impression.
