Roald Dahl

13 September 1916 – 23 November

1990) was a British novelist, short
story writer, fighter pilot and
screenwriter.

He served in the Royal Air Force

during the Second World War, in
which he became a flying ace and
intelligence agent. Dahl rose to
prominence in the 1940s with
works for both children and adults,
and became one of the world's
bestselling authors. He has been
referred to as "one of the greatest
storytellers for children of the 20th
century". His short stories are
known for their unexpected
endings, and his children's books
for their unsentimental, often very
dark humour.

Some of his notable works include

James and the Giant Peach, Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory,
Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The
Witches, and The Big Friendly
Giant.

In his poetry, Dahl gives a

humorous re-interpretation of
well-known nursery rhymes and
fairy tales, providing surprise
endings in place of the traditional
happily-ever-after. Dahl's collection
of poems Revolting Rhymes is
recorded in audio book form, and
narrated by actor Alan Cumming.

In every piece of his work, Roald

Dahl actually uses different styles
to attract the reader’s attention.

One obvious trait in Roald Dahl’s

works is the use of devilish twists
and turns. This can be seen in the
story “Man From the South[1]"
where the climax when the little
boy managed to light up the lighter
for 8 times. However, instead of
telling his readers what the result
of the bet was, Roald Dahl made
use of an anticlimax by introducing
another important character in the
story, which is none other than the
man's wife. This character finally
explains what was happening at
the point of time and the detailed
consequences that has further
resulted from the long-term
problem itself. [In the case of the
"Man from the South" the man
who seemed a perfectly normal
and sane, actually suffered from a
mental problem. He has lost 11
cars and won back 47 fingers in the
process of betting.] This twist
brought into the story actually
grabbed the reader's attention and
urged them to continue reading on.

In Roald Dahl's works for the

adults, Dahl actually writes mostly
as a third person, so as to get a
bird's eye view of the situation.
However, Dahl mostly concentrates
on one single perspective or view,
so as to bring about the twist in the
next part of the story. Writing as a
third person enables him to
describe the physical appearances
of the characters and give specific
details about them. This particular
character is normally exaggerated
so as to allow the reader to
become biased towards him/her.

Roald Dahl makes use of many

adjectives to give details about the
character and the situation. In "The
Umbrella Man" we located some
sentences which uses much
adjectives to describe a man’s
appearance, instead of using vague
phrases. This adjectives used
causes the reader to imagine and
infer the characteristics of the
character, instead of directly telling
the readers what his/her
characters. For example, Roald
Dahl used this sentence: "He had a
fine white moustache and bushy
white eyebrows and a wrinkly pink
face" to show that the man was old
and healthy. Another phrase
"raised his hat politely" is used to
show that he is a titled gentleman,
which is totally untrue as this man
is actually a trickster and a thief.

Some of the adjectives used are

mainly to describe the sense of
touch so as bring about the
emotional state of the character.
This usage of describing physical
appearance so as to show the exact
emotional of the character at the
state of mind is often attention
grabbing as it allows the reader to
imagine, instead of telling them
what happens directly.

Children:

Roald Dahl's has a creative and

humorous style when it comes to
writing children's books such as
James and the giant peach or The
Twits. With lots of sound words,
interesting adjectives and
humorous poems, it makes his
books an interesting and enjoyable
experience for young readers.
He uses specific names and figures
of speech which compliments the
different character in their
personality and features. Such as
Augustus Gloop to name a fat and
greedy boy in the story Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory. These
exaggerate the characters traits as
such making them seem either
more evil or a better hero.

He also loves to twist words and

play around with the sentence
structure such as using "Vitches" in
dialogs instead of witches to
portray the high pitch, screeching
voice of the witches. His humorous
poems, which sound sadistic at
times, are mostly found in
children’s books. This adds a touch
of wackiness to the stories. Such
can be found in Charlie and the
chocolate factory when he uses
them to make fun of the characters
when they meet with different
accidents.

Personification is often used in his

works so as to transform those
characters, mainly animals, into
human-like, where they have a
mind of their own and can speak
like a real human. The use of
animals is used to bring closer the
gap of the characters and the
young readers themselves.