Roald Dahl Rewritten Books

Sensitivity readers have identified chunks of text in Roald Dahl’s books that have later been rewritten to be more inclusive and sensitive. Thus, the books have been edited to remove words relating to gender, skin color, weight, and mental health. However, these edits have been criticized widely, stating that censorship of this kind is harmful to the history and culture that is encoded within the literature.

Edits in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Among the various edits in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ the most notable is that of Augustus Gloop, the character who was described as “enormously fat” by Roald Dahl. He is now described simply as “enormous” instead. Further, the Oompa Loompas are now gender-neutral. Instead of being referred to as “small men,” they are now referred to as “small people.” Notably, Roald Dahl himself edited ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ in the late 1960s to “de-Negro” the Oompa Loompas. He, therefore, changed the origin of the Oompa Loompas from being the African Pygmy tribe to the fictional Loompaland.

Quentin Blake’s illustrations have also been censored. Three sketches of Mike Teavee with 18 toy pistols hanging from various belts around his body have been entirely removed in the 2022 edition.

Edits in The Witches

‘The Witches’ has 59 edits made in total in the new edition by Puffin. The original has a line that mentions how the witches in the story are bald underneath their wigs. The line was followed by:

You can’t go round pulling the hair of every lady you meet, even if she is wearing gloves. Just you try it and see what happens.

However, this has now been removed, and a new line has now been added:

There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Roald Dahl’s original version has a sorceress hiding among humankind as “a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman.” This has now been changed, however, to “working as a top scientist or running a business.” The witches who were described as “old hags” by Roald Dahl are now described as “old crows.”

Other depictions of women have also been changed. For example, “Chambermaid” has been changed to “Cleaner.” while “Great flock of ladies” has turned into “Great group of ladies.” “You must be mad, woman!” is now “You must be out of your mind!”

A witch is always a woman. I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely. But the fact remains that all witches are women. There is no such thing as a male witch.”

These lines in the 2001 version have been changed to:

A witch is always a woman. There is no such thing as a male witch.

The phrase “Fat little brown mouse” has been censored to remove the word “fat,” and the lines: “Here’s your little boy,’ she said. ‘He needs to go on a diet” has now been simply changed to “Here’s your little boy.”

Another change has been made to this line:

“But what about the rest of the world?’ I cried. ‘What about ‘America and France and Holland and Germany? And what about Norway?’”. In the new edition, the second sentence containing the names of countries has been cut out.

Edits in The Twits

The horrible Mrs. Twit is described by Roald Dahl as “ugly and beastly.” However, the edited version has removed the word “ugly” altogether.

“A weird African language” in ‘The Twits’ is no longer described as “weird” in the Puffin edition.

Edits in Matilda

The word female has been replaced with the word women in ‘Matilda.’ For example, Miss Trunchbull is referred to as “most formidable woman” instead of “most formidable female,” as in the earlier editions. A mention of the author Rudyard Kipling (who is now recognized as a racist, colonialist, and misogynist) has now been changed to the author Jane Austen. The sentence, “I was her slave” in Matilda has been entirely removed. 

Miss Trunchbull, who was described with a “great horsey face” is no longer described the same way. “Eight nutty little idiots” has been changed to “Eight nutty little boys.” A character that turned “white,” now turns “quite pale” in another example.

Edits in James and the Giant Peach

‘James and the Giant Peach’ also has been edited to include gender-neutral terms. For example, the “Cloud-men” are now being referred to as “Cloud-people.” Further, words that describe weight have been censored to the point where entire verses of poems are re-written without these words. In a song by the Centipede, Aunt Sponge was described as being “terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” while Aunt Spiker was “thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier.” These verses have been removed entirely and replaced with:

Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit 

and, 

Aunt Spiker was much of the same / And deserves half of the blame.

Another line, “Aunt Sponge, the fat one, tripped over a box” is replaced by “Aunt Sponge tripped over a box”. 

Miss Spider’s head is no longer described as “black” and the Earthworm’s “lovely pink skin” has been changed to “lovely smooth skin.”

Edits in The BFG

References to skin color have been changed in ‘The BFG.’ For instance, “You’ve gone white as a sheet!” has been changed to “You’ve gone still as a statue!”

Edits in Fantastic Mr. Fox

The tractors in ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ were described as “murderous,” “brutal-looking,” and “black” by Dahl. In the Puffin edition, however, they are simply referred to as “murderous” and “brutal-looking.” All of the fox’s sons have been changed to daughters, while the farmer’s son has been changed to “little one.” Bunce is also no longer described as “the little pot-bellied dwarf.”

Reactions to the Rewritings

The rewritings introduced by Puffin, although done with the intention of being more sensitive and inclusive, have been condemned in large by not only the literary circles but also the Prime Minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, as well as the Queen of England.

I think it is important that works of literature and works of fiction are preserved and not airbrushed. We have always defended the right to free speech and expression.

 10 Downing Street spokesperson

Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America states:

If we start down the path of trying to correct for perceived slights instead of allowing readers to receive and react to books as written, we risk distorting the work of great authors and clouding the essential lens that literature offers on society. Those who might cheer specific edits of Dahl’s work should consider how the power to rewrite books might be used in the hands of those who do not share their values and sensibilities.

Some have defended these rewritings by harking back to Roald Dahl’s antisemitic comments.

Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we know and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations.

A statement made by the RDSC in 2020 

However, people who believe that the author’s comments must be separated from his works have criticized the above.

Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.

Author Salman Rushdie

Due to the immense backslash that Puffin received for its selective editing, Puffin later announced that they will be publishing Roald Dahl’s books in 2 sets: the original texts and the censored ones.

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