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1-Page Summary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie is a poor young boy who lives with his family in a tiny wooden house on the edge of the city. He has four grandparents, Mr. Bucket, Mrs. Bucket, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine; and two parents: Charlie’s father works at a toothpaste factory screwing caps onto tubes of toothpaste while his mother stays home to take care of him and the rest of her extended family. The whole family is very hungry since they live near an enormous chocolate factory that makes all kinds of delicious sweets for people to eat but cannot afford any themselves because they are so poor.
Charlie Bucket listens to stories every night about Mr. Willy Wonka, the owner of a chocolate factory that nobody has ever seen inside.
One day, the newspaper reveals that a famous chocolate factory owner has decided to open his doors to five lucky children. He’s hidden Golden Tickets in five of his chocolate bars which he’s shipped all over the world and whoever finds one will get a lifetime supply of chocolate. Charlie is so desperate for a ticket that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to find one.
Four children are given golden tickets to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Augustus Gloop is a very overweight boy who eats constantly, Veruca Salt is a spoiled girl who asks her parents for things all the time, Violet Beauregarde chews gum compulsively and Mike Teavee watches TV all day long. Their parents indulge them in their bad behavior and do not punish or correct them. Charlie feels bad for these kids because he thinks they have it easy compared to him; however, he still wishes that he were in their position even though he knows that they’re terrible role models.
Two weeks later, Charlie finds a dollar on the street. He buys two Wonka bars because he is hungry and his family does not have much money for food. However, when he unwraps the second bar, it has gold foil inside of it—he found one of five Golden Tickets!
The next day, Charlie brings his grandfather to the factory. The old man is very excited and impressed with Mr. Wonka’s factory.
The factory is a place where the workers are strange creatures called Oompa-Loompas. Wonka brought them to England from Loompaland, which was too dangerous for them to stay in. The first room of the factory contains edible grass and plants, as well as a chocolate river that flows down from a waterfall.
Augustus Gloop grabs handfuls of chocolate and doesn’t stop when Mr. Wonka asks him to, so he falls into the river of chocolate and gets sucked up one of the tubes that carries it away. He is rescued by two Oompa-Loompas who escort his parents up to the Fudge Room. The Oompa-Loompas sing a song about how gluttony can be dangerous like what happened to Augustus.
The group goes on a boat ride down the chocolate river, where they see Wonka’s new invention—gum that tastes like a full meal. Violet Beauregarde wants to try it because she likes gum and is not afraid of trying something new. When she chews the gum, her skin turns blue and she blows up like a balloon. The Oompa-Loompas take her away to be squeezed so that they can get all of the juice out of her body; meanwhile, they sing about how bad chewing gum all day long is for you.
Next, we see the Nut Room, where hundreds of squirrels are working to get walnuts out of their shells. Veruca wants one like this for herself and tries to grab one. The squirrels retaliate against her before she can take it away from them. They pin her down and tap on her head to determine whether or not she’s a bad nut. They find that she is, so they throw her in the garbage chute along with her parents.
