Fear
Many characters in Dahl’s world are young, sensitive and utterly at risk to the most miserably psychopathy of the universe. There is little doubt that this recurring strain can be traced back to the exhaustively painful experiences of his own childhood at a British boys school typically populated by sadistic headmasters and their student toadies. “The Swan” is a story of such bullying that eventually puts its protagonist into a situation where he is completely at the mercy of whatever shred of benevolence may exist in his torturers:
“He was now trussed up like a chicken and completely helpless.”
The Most Important Thing in Writing
Not everything in this collection is fiction. A couple of selections deal in the realm of non-fiction and one isn’t even a story at all, but an essay. “Lucky Break” is Dahl’s advice to young writers gained over a lifetime of experience and doled in a way that equates autobiographical experience with special insight into creating fictional worlds. Ultimately, he is one of those writers who has identified plot as the key element:
“A good plot is like a dream. If you don’t write down your dream on paper the moment you wake up, the chances are you’ll forget it, and it’ll be gone forever.”
The Day David Disappeared
“The Boy Who Talked with Animals” is named David and on a beach in Jamaica his life intersects with that of the biggest turtle any of the locals had ever seen. David is maniacally hysterical that the turtle is slated to be slaughtered for meat. The next day the whole village is in a tizzy because David is missing. The idea that something terrible has happened is juxtaposed against the metaphor-rich description of the day by the story’s narrator:
“The morning was beautiful. The sky was smoke blue, faintly glazed with yellow. The sun was up and making diamonds all over the smooth sea.”
Piece of Cake
The closing story in the collection is titled “A Piece of Cake.” The phrase is a metaphor that means something along the lines of “like taking candy from a baby.” It is something expected to be so easy to accomplish that actually eating a slice of cake would match its level of difficulty. The phrase is expressed within the body of the narrative in reference to a flight in North Africa during World War II which—in real life—ended in a horrific fiery crash.
Cars
Funny thing about automobiles. They have been around for more than a century and for more than half of that they have been the epitome of western culture status symbols. There are some people—mostly men—who treat their cars better than they treat other human beings. They have been the stars of fiction, movies, television, amusement parks, videos and even—probably—the stage. And yet, despite all this, when it comes to figurative imagery to describe them, the very same metaphor used a hundred years ago was still being used during Dahl’s day and is still used today:
“The powerful engine growled and grunted impatiently at slow speeds, but at sixty miles an hour the growling stopped and the motor began to purr with pleasure.”
