Essay Questions

“The Tortoise and the Hare” is an example of Dahl’s altering existing stories for a modern update. What new character does Dahl add which considerably alters the original moral of Aesop’s fable?

The original intent of Aesop with this fable was to convey the lesson which has been variously characterized as “slow and steady wins the race.” Faced with the reality that there are only so many ways to subvert this moral so that the hare becomes the victor, Dahl completely jettisons the thematic conflict of Aesop by introducing a new character who is a rat both literally and figuratively. The natural inclination when updating this particular story would be to simply reverse the outcome, but instead Dahl exploits the fundamental premise of competition to make a startlingly forthright critique of capitalism:

“So just remember if you can

Don’t tangle with a business man.

It doesn’t matter who you choose,

They always win, we always lose.”

In what way does the ending of Dahl’s version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” digress grotesquely far from that of its inspiration?

The inspiration for this entry in Dahl’s book is, of course, the Hans Christian Andersen tale which goes by the same title. In the original version, the emperor is corrupt on the subject of spending lavishly on clothing at the expense of the needs of his subjects, but he is not nearly as malevolent and cruel as the king in Dahl’s update. It is the emperor’s love of fashion and obsession with owning clothes that ultimately makes him really a victim in the story more than a villain. He is targeted by two swindlers recognizing the opportunity to exploit his love fashion sense. In the end, the emperor is simply made to look foolish twice over, but doesn’t receive any comeuppance or punishment.

By contrast, Dahl’s king is basically just evil and it is his cruelty which stems from his wardrobe obsession stimulates a conspiracy among the citizens to sell him on the idea of believing in a clothing pronounced to be “invisible to fools / An nincompoops and other ghouls.” Where the story really pushes the envelope in subverting Andersen’s conception is that the king is not just made to look foolish, but that his foolishness will be the mechanism by which he can be eliminated. In other words, the conspiracy hatched to convince him of the existence of invisible cloth is really an assassination plot.

An image on the book’s cover warns that the contents may be “Unsuitable for small readers.” Which poems in particular might this warning be referencing?

Many of the poems in this collection would not be considered too racy or offensive for most children. That said, there are a few that are distinctly more adult in tone and topic than is usually found in a Dahl book featuring cartoon illustrations. “A Hand in the Bird” is, for example, essentially the story of a minister molesting a middle-aged woman at a church bazaar. Likewise, “Physical Training” is about a female gym teacher introducing an eager male student to the joy of sex. “The Emperor’s New Clothes” does feature an illustration of the king nude from behind, but it is tasteful and the story is not offensive. “Hot and Cold” is particularly troublesome due to the accompanying illustration. It is a short work of verse narrated by a young boy about a friend of his mother who come into his room and proceeds to take off her clothes. The age of the boy is indeterminate in the text, but the illustration reveals him to be somewhere between 10 and 13, perhaps.