Television by Roald Dahl: Context and Summary

Television by Roald Dahl: Context and Summary

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Context

Roald Dahl was born in September 1916 in Wales to Norwegian parents. He was a poet, short story writer, novelist and screenwriter. He also served as a fighter pilot during the Second World War. Roald Dahl is best remembered as a children's author, though he has also written for adults.

His most well-known works include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox and The BFG. Dahl typically wrote from a child's perspective, using humorous plots, silly character names, nonsense words, personification and exaggeration to craft engaging narratives.

Television is an excerpt from Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the book, it is a song sung by the characters called Oompa-Loompas. Dahl wrote the poem during a period when television sets were becoming commonplace in people's homes. The poem, which is addressed to parents, builds a strong case against television in a very humorous manner. It warns parents to keep their children away from the idiot box and highlights the importance of books in children's lives. The poem continues to be relevant even today when addiction to television, computers and mobile devices is on the rise.

Summary

Here is a summary of the poem Television by Roald Dahl.

The poet comes straight to the point at the beginning of the poem. He declares that children should not be allowed anywhere near a television. In fact, he feels, one should not even have the idiotic thing' in the house. He observes that in almost every house, children can be seen lazing around, staring continuously at the screen. So glued are they to the television, that their eyes seem to pop out. Television hypnotizes children and fills their mind with junk.

The poet admits that television does make it easier for adults to complete their daily chores without any interruptions. However, he asks the adults if they ever stopped to consider the impact of television on children's minds. He emphatically exclaims that television ends up killing a child's sense of wonder and imagination. It fills their mind with worthless things, making them dull and dim-witted. It robs them of their ability to think and be creative.

The poet then empathises with the parents and predicts what they might ask on hearing this. Parents, he says, might ask how they should keep their children occupied. He reminds parents that there used to be a time when television never existed. Even then children managed to keep themselves entertained for hours. And how? By reading constantly. Children spent half their lives reading. Every nook and corner in their rooms had books that would fill their minds with an endless sense of wonder and imagination. The poet reminisces about famous children's authors like Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling and Kenneth Grahame whose works enthralled children before television came along.

The poet then begs parents to get rid of the television set and instead replace it with a nice bookshelf lined with good books. The children might rebel against the change initially. But, in some time, they will be drawn to books. Once they discover the joy of reading, they will wonder why they were fascinated by something as ridiculous and disgusting as a television. The poet has no doubt that they will eventually understand the worth of books and love their parents for throwing away the television set.

Television by Roald Dahl :-

1. Question and Answers RTCs: http://novakidhs.blogspot.com/2022/03/television-by-roald-dahl-question-and.html

2. Context and Summary: http://novakidhs.blogspot.com/2022/03/television-by-roald-dahl-context-and.html

3. Themes, Setting, Form and Structure: http://novakidhs.blogspot.com/2022/03/television-key-themes-roald-dahl.html

4. Literary Devices and Literary Style (Figures of Speech): http://novakidhs.blogspot.com/2022/03/television-by-roald-dahl-figures-of.html