From the Cadbury Family’s Ideal City to Roald Dahl’s Imagination

Real Worlds, Dream Worlds

From the Cadbury Family’s Ideal City to Roald Dahl’s Imagination

A Real Dream : Bournville

In the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, factory workers in England often lived in poor and unhealthy conditions. The Cadbury family, a British chocolate-making family near Birmingham, wanted something different. They created a model village called Bournville.

It included:• Clean houses• Gardens• Parks• Schools• Sports fields• No alcohol (the family were Quakers)

Why would a factory owner build beautiful houses for workers?

It can be:• Kindness• Religion• Better workers • Good reputation

So Bournville was a real attempt to create a better society. A real utopia.

Is it really a utopia ?

Were Bournville's factory workers completely free?

It can be:• Workers still depended on the company.• The family made rules.• No pubs/bars/alcohol • The company had power. Is it still a utopia if someone controls it?

A Dream World in Literature : Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl was a British author who has written multiple books, including Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. He loves mixing cruel reality, magic, humor & moral lessons in his writing. As for Charlie & The Chocolate factory, there are normal elements in the story, like the poor family, greedy children, parents, school, etc. Now, what is magical ? Chocolate river, Oompa Loompas, Glass elevator, inventing room, among other things.

Extract from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Charlie’s eyes were stretched wide with wonder. The whole room was a marvelous sight. There was a great brown river rushing along through the middle of the room. The river was chocolate! On the far side of the river were green meadows and trees and bushes. But the trees and bushes were all made of something different — they were made of candy. “This is all edible,” cried Mr. Wonka. “Everything you see is eatable!” The children gasped. “Even I am edible!” shouted Mr. Wonka, and he gave a small wave and a smile. Augustus Gloop had already started wading into the chocolate river. “No, no, no!” cried Mr. Wonka. “Please don’t do that! My chocolate must be untouched by human hands!”

Is it really a utopia ?

The factory is like a dream world. But is it really perfect? What happens to the bad children? -> They are punished And, same as Bournville, someone is in control of the factory. So Roald Dahl creates a dream world, but it tests people. It exaggerates reality to teach a lesson.

Roald Dahl's inspiration

Dahl once wrote how when he was boarding at Repton private school, he visited Cadbury in Bournville to taste and rate new products before they went to market. He would dream of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr Cadbury himself.He also wrote: "It was then I realised that inside this great Cadbury's chocolate factory there must be an inventing room, a secret place where fully grown men and women in white overalls spent all their time playing around with sticky boiling messes, sugar and chocs, and mixing them up and trying to invent something new and fantastic."

Comparing Real & Dream Worlds

To conclude

The cadbury quaker family tried to build a utopia and improve society in real life. Roald Dahl was inspired by that and tried to do the same through his imagination, with his writing.Both imagined better worlds. But neither world was perfect. Do you think a utopia can actually exist ?