The BFG – Roald Dahl (1982)

The BFG by Roald Dahl, published in 1982, is a beloved children’s fantasy novel illustrated by Quentin Blake. In this imaginative and whimsical tale, Dahl introduces readers to a world where dreams are caught in jars, snozzcumbers are a staple food, and not all giants are terrifying. The novel blends wonder with wit, horror with humor, and centers around an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a giant with a heart as big as his ears.

Plot Summary

In the middle of the night, when the world was still and every child was tucked in tight, a small girl named Sophie lay awake in her orphanage bed. Moonlight poured through the curtains, slicing across her pillow like a silver blade. It was the witching hour – that mysterious time when all is silent and strange things move unseen. Sophie, curious and unable to sleep, crept to the window and peeked out into the sleepy village street.

What she saw froze her blood. A towering shadow drifted along the pavement, pausing before houses and peering into the upstairs windows. It was a giant – long-legged, cloaked, and impossibly tall. Sophie watched in trembling wonder as he pulled out a trumpet-like instrument and a jar, inserted the trumpet into a child’s window, and blew. Then, quite suddenly, he turned and spotted her.

The next moment, a colossal hand reached through the window, plucked Sophie from her bed, and whisked her away into the night. Wrapped in her blanket like a parcel, Sophie bounced against the giant’s side as he ran, leapt, and galloped over fields, rivers, and forests, faster than the wind. Eventually, he reached a faraway wasteland, hidden from human eyes, and rolled aside a boulder to reveal the entrance to a cave.

Inside, Sophie was set gently on a table the size of a house. To her surprise, the giant who had kidnapped her was not fearsome at all. He was kind-eyed, large-eared, and had a thunderous yet bumbling way of speaking. He explained that he had to take her because she had seen him, and no human could be allowed to know giants existed. But unlike the others of his kind, he did not eat humans. He was the BFG – the Big Friendly Giant.

The BFG spent his days collecting dreams and bottling them like fireflies. He used his trumpet to blow these dreams into the bedrooms of sleeping children. He showed Sophie his cave filled with shelves of dream jars, his comically foul vegetable called a snozzcumber, and introduced her to frobscottle – a fizzy green drink whose bubbles go down instead of up, leading not to burps but tremendous whizzpoppers.

Sophie quickly learned that not all giants were friendly. Beyond the cave roamed nine monstrous brutes like the Fleshlumpeater, the Bloodbottler, the Childchewer, and the Bonecruncher – all twice the size of the BFG and ten times as wicked. Each night they galloped across the world to snatch people from their beds and gobble them up, leaving no trace behind. The BFG, though disgusted by their cruelty, was too small and timid to stop them.

The worst of these was the Bloodbottler. One day, the earth trembled as he stormed into the BFG’s cave, demanding to know who the BFG was talking to. Sophie hid behind a half-eaten snozzcumber, then burrowed inside it to avoid being seen. To her horror, the Bloodbottler picked it up and took a massive bite. For a dreadful moment she was inside his mouth, surrounded by rotten breath and giant teeth. But the snozzcumber’s taste was so vile that he spat it out – along with Sophie – and stormed off, leaving the cave in a rage of snozzcumber slime.

Shaken but safe, Sophie realized that the horror must end. Every night, people disappeared from their homes – children, parents, entire families – swallowed by giants in silence. She proposed a plan: they would go to the Queen of England. The BFG, though nervous, agreed. He mixed a special dream that would show the Queen what the giants were doing, filled it with sounds and visions of their nightly hunts, and added Sophie herself into the dream, so the Queen would believe it.

Just before dawn, the BFG tiptoed through the streets of London, climbed to Buckingham Palace, and blew the dream through the Queen’s window. Then he and Sophie waited. The Queen woke, startled and shaken. When she found Sophie on her windowsill and listened to her story, she summoned her maid, her butler, and the heads of the army and air force. At breakfast, the BFG told them of the giants, their names, and the countries they visited to feast. Though baffled by his gobblefunk language, the Queen believed him.

With helicopters, nets, and dreams, the operation began. The BFG led the soldiers to Giant Country while the others slept. As dawn broke over the wasteland, the soldiers swooped down. One by one, the man-eating giants were captured, bound in chains, and hauled back to England. A massive pit was dug for them, deep enough that they could never climb out, and they were fed only snozzcumbers for the rest of their days – a punishment they found worse than prison.

The BFG, once a lonely outcast in a land of savages, found himself honored in England. A great house was built for him beside Sophie’s cottage, with a garden full of vegetables and a library where he could learn proper human words – though he still liked his own better. Sophie, no longer an orphan in a dreary dormitory, lived happily by his side, reading, dreaming, and walking with her giant friend under the stars.

And so the quiet girl and the big-eared giant, who once only watched the world from the shadows, became the ones who saved it. Not with weapons or armies, but with dreams, courage, and the strange and wonderful power of friendship.

Main Characters

• Sophie: A brave and curious orphan girl, Sophie is the protagonist who stumbles upon the BFG during the “witching hour.” Despite her initial fear, she quickly proves to be intelligent, compassionate, and courageous. Her desire to stop the man-eating giants becomes the driving force of the story.

• The BFG (Big Friendly Giant): Towering and gentle, the BFG is unlike the other giants in Giant Country. He refuses to eat humans and instead dedicates his life to catching and distributing dreams. His quirky speech and kind heart make him an unforgettable and endearing character.

• The Queen of England: Regal, clever, and resourceful, the Queen plays a pivotal role when Sophie and the BFG come to her for help. Her authority and wisdom are crucial in mobilizing the resources needed to stop the giants.

• The Bloodbottler: One of the nine horrid, human-eating giants, the Bloodbottler is brutish and menacing. His suspicion of the BFG hiding a human adds tension and danger to Sophie’s stay in the cave.

• The Fleshlumpeater: The most fearsome and dominant of the man-eating giants, he leads the others in nightly hunts across the world. He symbolizes the unchecked brutality and cruelty of the giants.

Theme

• Friendship and Loyalty: The heart of the novel lies in the deepening bond between Sophie and the BFG. Their mutual trust and support demonstrate how friendship can overcome fear, isolation, and even danger.

• Courage and Heroism: Sophie and the BFG, both underdogs in their own worlds, exhibit immense bravery. They challenge creatures far stronger than themselves, driven by a desire to protect others from harm.

• Imagination and Dreams: Dreams are not just literal in the story – they symbolize hope, wonder, and the unexplored beauty of the subconscious. The BFG’s dream-catching and mixing reflects Dahl’s celebration of creativity.

• Language and Wordplay: The novel is filled with playful, invented words and linguistic twists. This “gobblefunk” language not only adds humor but also emphasizes the uniqueness of the BFG and the magic of storytelling.

• Good vs. Evil: A classic theme rendered in Dahl’s signature style, where the kind-hearted BFG and innocent Sophie take on the grotesque, cannibalistic giants. It’s a tale of light triumphing over darkness, no matter how daunting the odds.

Writing Style and Tone

Roald Dahl’s writing style in The BFG is unmistakably distinctive – playful, rhythmic, and richly imaginative. He combines direct, child-friendly prose with inventive wordplay that delights both young readers and adults. The “gobblefunk” dialect spoken by the BFG adds a whimsical layer, serving as both comedic relief and character development. Dahl’s narrative voice is often conspiratorial, making the reader feel like a trusted participant in a fantastical adventure. His skill in balancing tension with humor ensures that even the darkest moments remain accessible and engaging.

The tone of the novel oscillates between suspenseful and lighthearted. Dahl masterfully evokes fear during the witching hour or the threat of the Bloodbottler, then swiftly alleviates it with warmth, wit, or absurdity. His empathetic portrayal of Sophie and the BFG fosters an emotional connection, while the exaggerated villainy of the other giants serves to accentuate the moral clarity of the heroes. Ultimately, the tone champions kindness, wonder, and the power of small acts to achieve great change.