Roald Dahl’s Charlie Was Originally Written As A Black Character.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 last month, Roald Dahl’s widow, Liccy Dahl, revealed that the “…first Charlie that he wrote about was a little black boy. I don’t know (why it was changed). It’s a great pity.”

Dahl biographer, Donald Sturrock, told the Today Programme:

“I can tell you that it was his agent who thought it was a bad idea, when the book was first published, to have a black hero. She said people would ask: ‘Why?'”

Interestingly, Dahl has been accused of racism in the past through his portrayal of the ‘Oompa Loompas’ in the very same book. The original story portrays the Oompa Loompas as Pygmy people from Central Africa- not the orange-skinned-green-haired, little people one sees in the movies. There is surely no doubt that Roald Dahl was aware of the biggest producer of chocolate, the cacao plantation workers in Ivory Coast, had exploited and enslaved Africans?

Dahl most likely took inspiration from the history of the enslavement of the African people back in colonial times, and can certainly be accused of being insensitive about the issue. He may have been attempting to make a point about Willy Wonka’s not-so-squeaky-clean attitude towards other races, which may have made more of an impact if Dahl was allowed to keep his hero Charlie dark skinned. Perhaps there was a deeper moral we missed out on due to Roald Dahls’ agent forcing him to change Charlie Bucket’s skin colour?

Maybe the book would have taken a different turn if Dahl had has his way and Charlie had remained Black?

We would love to hear your thoughts on what could have been. Also, let us know how you feel about Dahl’s agent having the power to drastically alter the original book… Was this fair? Or should the book have been left as it was, despite the agent’s reservations?

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