Roald Dahl — An Anti-Semitic and Suicide Encouraging Jerk
All the reasons why I believe the man behind Matilda graduated from the J.K. Rowling school of problematics.
I don’t know about anyone else but if I sat down to write a children’s book I would make sure that it’s completely free of hateful themes, misrepresentation, and harmful stereotypes. And I’m sure most of you (all the normal people, I mean) would agree with me. Guess who wouldn’t though? Yeah, that’s right, Roald Dahl. The man is notorious for holding awful beliefs and being imposing on them too.
So read on to find out why it was deserved that his wife nicknamed him “Roald the Rotten”.
A Glimpse of Blatant Anti-Semitism
There exist two noted incidents of Dahl letting slip his hatred and annoyance for the Jews and belief in anti-Semitic theories. Out of these, one is an outrageous case of unapologetic admittance, and the other a horrifying realization of sub-conscious conditioning.
In an interview with The New Statesman in 1983, Roald Dahl justified the Nazi massacre by claiming that if the Jews are hated then it must be for a reason and that Hitler wouldn’t have just hated them just like that.
He then proceeded to victim blame and said that he believed there was something about the Jews that provoked negative feelings and animosity.
Later in the same year, his book “The Witches” got published and earned positive attention all over the world. For all those who haven’t read the book, it sports a group of women who hate children for no apparent reason (guys I think the man’s a misogynist too) and are dedicated to kidnapping and murdering them.
They can also print themselves as much money as they want. These women, more commonly referred to as “witches” in the book have suspiciously similar characteristics to the Jews depicted in the Blood Libel Slander (a defamatory conspiracy theory that claims that Jews annually disappear Christian children).
Recurring Racism and Misogyny
I believe it’s high time we start spreading awareness about how sneaking dark themes into children’s stories conditions kids into growing up into adults with controversial beliefs and opinions.
The fact that Dahl was a man of despicable character is bad enough. Pair that up with the fact that he wrote books for children and let his inner darkness seep into the stories, characters, and jokes and you get the ultimate recipe for negative childhood conditioning.
There are numerous instances in his books where he would refer to a certain group of people as their harmful stereotype and pass it off as a joke. One example is when he includes racist themes in his best-selling book “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” through the character of the Oompa-Loompas.
Oompa-Loompas are depicted as hard-working, dark-skinned dwarves who had been “imported” and spend their days happily slaving around the chocolate factory.
Willy Wonka also describes their place of origin “Loompaland” as a terrible country that’s infested by dangerous beasts. And get this, the Oompa-Loompas were originally supposed to be depicted as African pygmies. Honestly, I think it can’t get any clearer than this.
In case this was too vague of an example for you, allow me to quote another one of his controversial phrases.
In another of his book “Revolting Rhymes”, he refers to Cinderella as a “dirty slut” (in a children’s book too, imagine) and gives us a glimpse into his sick twisted brain hard-wired into thinking of women as their discriminating stereotypes.
Harmful Portrayal of Death
Now this one’s on the sneakier side of the spectrum and may take a few reads to fully grasp but Dahl might have portrayed death in a way that conditioned young minds into thinking that perhaps dying at will wasn’t too bad.
And even the experts agree with us! His book “The Witches” is narrated by the main character who is a boy younger than 12 that gets turned into a mouse by some witches.
Instead of showing the character fighting to turn back into his human self, Dahl depicts the boy to be happy in his mouse self. Which all in all isn’t as unhealthy an idea on its own as it is when paired with the reason behind the boy’s contentment at remaining a mouse.
Dahl shows that the boy fears outliving his grandmother and if he remained a mouse his short lifespan would allow him to die at about the same time as his grandmother and so he chooses to stay in mouse form and makes no effort to turn back into a human.
Horrifyingly, this is a clear encouragement of the idea that worldly grief and pains can be escaped through death. And that death at will is an easy option for when things get too hard. To include such an implication in a children’s book could have a catastrophic impact on numerous kids.
The Real Man Behind Famous Novels
Now it is vital to remember why Dahl is such a well-known name and why children enjoy his books all over the world; he knows how to tailor stories specifically to children’s liking.
With the villains being mean, disgusting, and easy to dislike and the protagonists being young children with heroic capabilities and extraordinary sense, it is clear why his books get all this recognition.
However, it is foolish to deny that there existed an underlying problem if even his editors and publishers thought he was too much of a prick and his wife Patricia Neal hated him for years and years of cheating on her with her best friend. Probably why his image of women often gets depicted in a stereotypical way in his books.
I do not ask you to abandon a precious copy of your favorite childhood storybook nor expect you to boycott Dahl forever. However, one must realize the gravity in the hidden implications of what one reads and ensures that one doesn’t let such implications affect their current mindset.
Haloo, my dearest reader. Want to follow up more from me and fellow writers on Medium?
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