Friday, March 21, 2008

James and the Giant Peach Analysis







Roald Dahl is famous for his portrayl of fantasy through nonsense and humor. However, I found the author's references to his other stories and his religious implications most fascinating.

The nonsense and humor element is most apparant in the novel. Talking insects, magical green jumping beans, and an enormous peach are not exactly realistic. I would imagine that Roald Dahl knew the mind and the sense of humor of a young child and knew that his combinations mentioned previously in the tale would undoubtedly call for laughter from a child.

There is a main reference to Dahl's other famous tale, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, found at the start of the story. Just as the insects formulate a plan for the centipede to bite the stem attached to the peach tree to allow the giant peach to be free of its enormous tree, the first place the peach rolls is by a large chocolate factory containing a long river of chocolate. This was a trait common to the Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The reader is forced to analyze Dahl's text and discover that the clever author is apparantly attempting to combine the ideas from the two tales to appeal to the child's taste buds. This is obviously a ploy to capture his young audiences. A young child's mouth will salvate when they read of a juicy sweet peach rolling through a river of rich chocolate. (Chocolate covered peaches anyone?) The reader must also wonder if Dahl is partial to the ideas in the tale of Wonka and his chocolate factory.

Finally, Dahl's religious references simply cannot be ignored. James's journey with his insect friends across the Atlantic Ocean in the peach and his travels in the clouds deal with underlying religious ideas. The giant peach can be viewed as a ship that perhaps is linked with Noah's ark. Even though there are not animals within the ship organized in pairs, there are nonetheless still animals with James on his journey. James may be perceived as Noah, the builder of the greatest ship in history. Afterall, James is responsible for their giant "ship" in the first place. Remember, it was he who spilled the magic beans under the peach tree, and therefore constructed the floating device. Next, James's experience's above the clouds truly confuses the reader. Why is Dahl so adament about not crediting God for creating the weather conditions. Instead, Dahl claims in his tale that the cloudmen, men made of clouds who reside in the sky, create the weather for Earth with huge devices in the sky. I believe that Dahl is confident that his young readers have not fully grasped the concept of Christ and religion, and therefore chooses to create fun images instead of such powerful supernatural beings.


Below there is the official Roald Dahl website that includes an interesting biography of the author's life, information on his published stories, and fun games.

http://www.roalddahl.com/

8 comments:

Unknown said...

The peach also jumps over a church in the opening scene when the peach is cut free as far as your religion references go. I feel like you missed some key metaphors but tried to make the one's you found appear obvious.. I do not agree with the Noah's ark reference i think you should look over Genesis again...

nectarine said...

Interesting insight you have, the Noah's Ark reference may be a bit of a stretch however. It seems as though this rather clever tale demonstrates the importance of freedom and imagination. Ascend and use the God given mind you were given. "Work, work, work" Aunties like to say, they don't want him day dreaming, they don't want him to transcend and make his dreams come true. He's held prisoner, a rather productive prisoner. Metaphorically, James's situation could relate to a lot of people during his day in age. Be a productive member of society, believe what you hear, and don't question the law. When the Machine tries to destroy the peach, it was trying to destroy freedom, and the dream. We're not as free as we think we are.

There is no spoon.

Unknown said...

I feel you are overanalyzing an imaginative writing. Roald Dahl was not a religious person or author. Yes, he had an imagination, and that is what gave him his fame. These religious references are far fetched especially "Noah's Ark." Roald Dahl questioned god's existence when he served in the military, and he wrote this book his service.

PJDC Creative Writing 6 said...
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PJDC Creative Writing 6 said...

I think the whole story is about the journey of a boy who is maturing from boyhood to manhood. It covers quite a comprehensive set of elements of what adults seriously face as opposed to children who are often 'protected' or 'oblivious' from, like religious, social moral and ethics, personal and familial responsibility, as well as sexual issues.

Note that in many literature, the peach is a symbol of femininity while the apple is a symbol of masculinity and - please pardon me - very often than not, sexual. I feel that it is also significant to me that "The Peach" ends up in "The Big Apple" what's more on the empire state building - giving a sexual connotation.

Note that James experiences all these once his auntie passed away as he is forced to mature and fend off for himself.

HOWEVER, this is just my personal view of it. I do not consider it as a literary criticism as I did not make any academic effort to support it.

On the note that we have different ideas on the meaning, I think it is quite inaccurate to say that one is looking at the story in details too much or one is being too ignorant about it. The Reader's Response Critic (RRC) states that just because it is not intended by the author, it does mean that what an individual reader understands from it is wrong.

I quite like the religious view! I never thought of it! But yes, I do agree that some people would like to interpret the text just as it is, without overt analysis on anything. After all, it is children's lit!

... But then again, children's literature is always laid out under the outline of didactic-ism.. After all adults are the ones who write them...

Haha. I'm being ambiguous and ambivalent here. *_*

Pardon, me... I'm just rambling here.. Something that has been brewing in my mind! Cheers!

Unknown said...

There could be several different interpretations of it, it all depends on the point of view. Thats the whole point of movies, to let our minds wonder. I think Dahl wanted to show this changing time in James life as a turning point where he grew up a little, saw the world from a different perspective. the perspective of a peach. Which honestly, is a beautiful gift.

Unknown said...

When you become one with nature and your surroundings, you can can lead your own life. Where there is a will, there's a way. James didn't need to rely on his aunts anymore when he saw the world from the perspective of a peach.

Sean Kerr said...
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