Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Chapter 19 : The Inventing Room—Everlasting Gobstoppers and Hair Toffee | Summary

Summary

The sign on the red door reads "Inventing Room." Mr. Wonka explains it's the most important room in the whole factory. Until now he's the only person who's ever been inside it.

Charlie thinks the place looks like a witch's kitchen, but it's clear this is Mr. Wonka's favorite room. He skitters around lifting pot lids and turning knobs. Then he rushes over to the Everlasting Gobstopper machine, which makes candy that never grows smaller no matter how long it's sucked. Next he shows the group a saucepan filled with bubbling purple stuff—Hair Toffee, says Mr. Wonka.

And now, if they'll all follow him, Mr. Wonka has something new to show them—something he's very proud of.

Analysis

In his autobiography, Boy, Dahl describes his childhood dream of being in a candy factory's "inventing room." He imagined it being like a laboratory, with "pots of chocolate and fudge and all sorts of other delicious fillings bubbling away on the stove." In this chapter he brings that dream to life.

It's clear Dahl has lavished attention on this chapter, unlike the rather skimpy previous one. The chapter is packed with sensory words. Pots and pans boil, bubble, hiss, and sizzle; strange machines clink and clank, and "delicious rich smells" are everywhere. Everlasting Gobstoppers (jawbreakers) make a "phut" sound as they fall into a basket. The Hair Toffee mixture is "thick gooey purplish treacle, boiling and bubbling."