Analyze how the names of each of the characters in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (Charlie Bucket, Augustus Gloop, Mike Teavee, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregard, Willy Wonka, and so forth) reflect the characters' roles in the movie. Explore the way in which the names hint at each of the characters' defining characteristics, how the names directly relate to the themes present in the story, what ultimately happens to each character.
This topic makes me so happy. Besides the obvious (Mike TEAVEE, Willy WONKa), I found the name Veruca Salt absolutely fascinating. Although all I know of Verruca is that it's a wart on the sole of the foot (just like Willy Wonka said, actually), I've wondered if Dahl just wanted to name a character something unpleasant, or if there's another significance. Salt, however, has always reminded me of the Indian Salt Tax. It was a very very expensive commodity at one point (this is what led to the Salt March in India), and could that be a reference to how rich the Salts were?
Gloop phonetically is a very obvious reference to gluttony, and Violet literally violet at the end, but I haven't been able to come up with much else for the other characters. It should be interesting to see what the comments here throw up! – JayBird8 years ago
There are some scholars and linguists who have wrote papers on Dahl’s neologisms and wordplays. Besides the names of the kids who won the golden tickets, the names of Wonka’s rivals are also very meaningful. – T. Palomino2 years ago
