The Great Automatic Grammatizator

Revenge is often seen as a path to justice, a means of reclaiming power after being wronged. But in The Great Automatic Grammatizator’s stories, Roald Dahl complicates this idea, revealing how acts of revenge can be as misguided, hollow, or self-destructive as the injustices that provoke them. In “Katina,” set during World War II, revenge is depicted as deeply personal and perhaps futile. The young Greek girl Katina, having lost her family to German forces, channels her grief into raw defiance, shaking her fists at enemy planes in a symbolic act of resistance. Though she has no means of enacting true vengeance, her fury inspires the Royal Air Force squadron that adopts her, reminding them of who and what they are fighting for. However, Katina’s desperate need to make the enemy see her rage tragically leads to her death. The RAF narrator’s final vision of an angelic Katina in the flames of his wrecked plane hints at a broader justice beyond personal retribution—her death does not avenge her family, but the fire within her mirrors the Greek resistance that will ultimately drive the Germans out of Greece. Justice, in this case, is not won by individual acts of revenge, but by something far more collective and unified.

Dahl also explores how revenge can stem from class resentment and economic desperation. In “The Butler,” Tibbs punishes his social-climbing employer, Mr. Cleaver, by secretly sabotaging his dinner parties and exposing his lack of refinement to the wealthy guests whose approval Cleaver desperately seeks. Tibbs, though a servant, asserts control by making Cleaver look foolish, suggesting that revenge does not always require financial or material power—only cunning. Meanwhile, “Vengeance is Mine Inc.” presents revenge as a profitable business venture, where Claude and George cater to wealthy clients seeking retaliation against gossip columnists. The only person in the story who truly suffers is Lionel Pantaloon, the columnist they assault, while the true villains—the businessmen and their customers—emerge unscathed. Across these stories, Dahl portrays revenge as morally ambiguous: sometimes satisfying, sometimes empty, but rarely a true solution to injustice. Rather than resolving deeper wounds, it often exposes the limits of retribution itself—even Tibbs in “The Butler,” who successfully enacts his revenge, still ultimately loses his employment in the process.