Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

The rest of the group exit the Invention Room via a secret door and proceed down a series of passageways. They pass doorways to intriguing rooms such as “Likable Wallpaper for Nurseries,” “Fizzy Lifting Drinks,” and “Cows that Give Chocolate Milk.” Mr. Wonka hurries the group along despite their obvious desire to explore some of the rooms, insisting they have no time. Finally, he stops at the “Square Candies that Look Round” room and suggests that they look inside.

The group have an argument, with Veruca and Mike insisting that the featured candies are square, not round. Mr. Wonka insists that the square candies do “look round.” To demonstrate, he opens some doors and the small faces on the candies turn around to look at him. The group leave the room and continue rushing down endless corridors. Mr. Wonka and the three remaining children’s families slide down a banister. Mrs. Salt is out of breath and asks to slow down, but Mr. Wonka insists that there is no time.

The group look into the “Nut Room” through a window. Dozens of squirrels sort walnuts into bad walnuts (which they throw into a hole in the floor) and good walnuts (which they crack and further sort into piles). Veruca yells that she wants a squirrel; Mr. Salt asks Mr. Wonka how much his squirrels cost, and the latter insists that they are not for sale. Ignoring Mr. Wonka’s cries of protest, Veruca angrily runs into the Nut Room.

Dozens of squirrels run to Veruca and pin her down, while one squirrel taps on her head thoughtfully (in the same manner they do the walnuts). The squirrel deems her a “bad nut,” and the rest throw her into the hole. Veruca’s panicked parents are told by a calm Mr. Wonka that the hole leads to an incinerator. Mr. and Mrs. Salt run to the hole and call out to Veruca. The squirrels take advantage of their precarious position and push them too. The Oompa-Loompas sing a song condemning Veruca’s Rudeness and her overindulgent parents.

Mr. Wonka leads the remaining members of the group—Charlie and Grandpa Joe, and Mike Teavee and his parents—to a glass elevator. The elevator is filled with hundreds of labeled buttons, which cover the walls and roof. Mr. Wonka explains that the elevator can travel in every direction and take them to any room in the factory. He allows Mike and Charlie to each choose a button; Mike selects the “Television-Chocolate Room.” The elevator moves wildly, throwing everyone but Mr. Wonka to the ground. Mrs. Teavee says she is going to be sick. Eventually, the elevator slows down and stops, and the doors open. Mr. Wonka cautions the group to be careful and to not touch anything in the room.

Mr. Wonka distributes sunglasses to the group, so they can withstand the bright whiteness of the Television-Chocolate Room. Charlie feels a sense of impending danger, noticing the uncharacteristic quiet of the Oompa-Loompas. Mr. Wonka explains his ambitious plan to develop technology which will allow chocolate bars to be sent via television. Six Oompa-Loompas arrive carrying a mattress-sized chocolate bar. Mr. Wonka explains that things get smaller when they are sent via television. The Oompa-Loompas pull a large switch, and the chocolate bar disappears. It reappears in front of the group via a television screen; Mr. Wonka urges Charlie to pull the chocolate bar (having shrunk to normal) out of the television, and the latter is shocked when he is able to do so.

Mike excitedly asks Mr. Wonka if a person could be sent via television. When Mr. Wonka says he supposes it could work, Mike runs across the room toward the switch, yelling “Look at me! I’m going to be the first person in the world to be sent by television!” (130). Mr. Wonka and Mike’s parents yell at him to stop, but he ignores them, pulls the switch, and jumps in front of the lens; Mike disappears. The group wait with concern, watching the television screen. Mr. Wonka says, nonchalantly, that sometimes parts of chocolate bars are lost during the process, and Mrs. Teavee becomes hysterical.

Mike eventually materializes on the screen, and his mother reaches into the television to pull the tiny boy out (as he shrunk in the process). Mr. Wonka suggests that they stretch the boy out using a machine he developed for testing chewing gum stretchiness, and then fatten him up with vitamins. Oompa-Loompas arrive and escort the Teavees out. They sing a song condemning Mike’s television addiction and his parents’ laxness in allowing him to constantly, mindlessly watch it.

Mr. Wonka happily explains to Charlie that, seeing as he’s the last child left, he has “won.” He, Charlie, and Grandpa Joe reenter the glass elevator; Mr. Wonka presses a button labeled “Up and Out.” The elevator immediately begins to hurtle upward, bursting through the roof of the factory. Mr. Wonka presses a button to slow the elevator’s progress, and the three float, suspended hundreds of feet in the air. Charlie is amazed at the sight of the tiny town below, through the glass floor. Mr. Wonka points out the other four children leaving the factory.

Mr. Wonka presses a button to bring the elevator lower, and the three watch the four children and their families leave. Augustus is now thin after having been squeezed through a pipe. Violet has been juiced and is back to her normal size; however, she is still purple in the face. The Salt family is covered in garbage. Mike is 10-feet tall and very thin; Mr. Wonka concludes that he was overstretched in the gum machine. Mr. Wonka takes the elevator back up into the sky.

Mr. Wonka explains that he plans to give his factory to Charlie; the Golden Tickets were a strategy to find a “good sensible loving child” to be his heir (151). Charlie and Grandpa Joe are shocked. Mr. Wonka explains that Charlie’s family can move into the factory and steers the elevator to Charlie’s house to collect them. The elevator smashes through the roof, much to the Buckets’ alarm. Charlie and Grandpa Joe push the bed containing the shocked Grandma Josephine, Grandpa George, and Grandma Georgina into the elevator, and Mr. and Mrs. Bucket get in after them. Charlie happily assures them that they are going to the “most wonderful place in the world” (155).