Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Vice and Virtue
Parenting
Poverty and Wealth
Fun, Absurdity, and Wonder
Prejudice and Bigotry
Summary
Analysis
Mr. Wonka remarks that children are disappearing “like rabbits” and assures the remaining people in the group that “They’ll all come out in the wash!” Mike Teavee says that he’s getting tired and wants to watch TV, so Mr. Wonka suggests they take the elevator. Some huge double doors slide open and the Teavees, Charlie, and Grandpa Joe follow Mr. Wonka into the elevator. Mr. Wonka asks what button they should press first. Charlie is shocked: every surface of the elevator is covered in buttons. Mr. Wonka explains that this elevator goes up and down, but also sideways and any way you can think of.
Once again, Mr. Wonka seems to expect that kids will disappear during the tour, which calls his motives into question. Like everything else in Mr. Wonka’s factory, the elevator defies all expectations since it can go in every direction and is covered in buttons. Since Mike is so tired, it’s questionable whether he can actually enjoy the elevator for the amazing thing it is—or whether he’s too focused on TV to care.
Themes
Grandpa Joe murmurs that this is “fantastic,” and Mr. Wonka explains that the elevator is made of clear glass. Mike whines that he can’t see anything, but Mr. Wonka tells Mike and Charlie to each pick a button and press it. Charlie scans the buttons, which are for rooms for Cavity-Filling Caramels, Candy-Coated Pencils for Sucking, and Exploding Candy for Your Enemies. Mike asks if there’s a television room, and Mr. Wonka points to a button labeled Television Chocolate. Mike whoops and presses the button.
Mike seems to be expecting to be able to see out the elevator, but it seems more likely that the elevator itself—with all its buttons—is what he should be looking at. Put another way, Mike is unwilling to notice and enjoy the amazing things that are right in front of him because he's so caught up in trying to see what he thinks he should be seeing. Charlie, on the other hand, is the one who notices all the interesting buttons and relates them to the reader.
Themes
The elevator leaps sideways. Mr. Wonka is the only person holding a strap on the ceiling, so everyone else falls over. Mr. Wonka laughs as the elevator swerves, and he pulls Mrs. Teavee to her feet. Eventually, Grandpa Joe grabs a strap, and Charlie clings to his legs. Grandpa Joe whoops with glee, while Mrs. Teavee screams that they’re going to crash. Charlie feels like he’s on a roller coaster. As they travel, Charlie catches glimpses of other rooms. Mrs. Teavee is afraid she’ll be sick and asks Mr. Wonka to make it stop, but he can’t. He says that he just hopes nobody is in the other elevator, which goes the opposite way on the same track. He’s been lucky so far. Just then, the elevator comes to a sudden stop. Mr. Wonka warns everyone to be careful—this room is dangerous.
Mr. Wonka, Grandpa Joe, and Charlie seem to be having fun, while Mike and Mrs. Teavee aren’t. Mr. Wonka, Grandpa Joe, and Charlie all look at this tour and the factory as one grand adventure—while Mrs. Teavee wants to be more secure in the knowledge that she’s not going to die. Mr. Wonka’s glib aside that he hopes there’s nobody in the other elevator is absurd and funny, but it also reminds readers that there’s real danger lurking in this seemingly magical factory. He reinforces this when he says outright that their next stop is dangerous.
Themes
