The BFG by Dahl

Ref: Roald Dahl (1982). The BFG. NY: Puffin Books.

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Summary

  • A young girl named Sophie is taken from her orphanage bed in London by a giant she sees placing dreams in the heads of sleeping children with a trumpet. The BFG, Big Friendly Giant, carries her off to his cave of dreams where he protects her from his family of child eating giants. Sophie and the BFG team up and convince the Queen of England to dig a pit and capture the giants, to which Sophie and the BFG successfully lure and trap the giants forever.

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Terminology

  • The Witching Hour: A special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.

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Misc Quotes

  • “I thought all human beans is full of brains, but your head is emptier than a bundongle.”

  • “I cannot be right all the time. Quite often I is left is instead of right.”

  • “Is that right? Or is it left?”

  • “Whenever I is feeling a bit scrotty a few gollops of frobscottle is always making me hopscotchy again.”

  • “Even so, I think it’s rotten that those foul giants should go off every night to eat humans. Humans have never done them any harm.’ That is what the little-piggy-wig is saying every day, the BFG answered. ‘He is saying, “I has never done any harm to the human bean so why should he be eating me?’ Oh dear, sophie said. ‘The human beans is making rules to suit themselves,’ the BFG went on. ‘But the rules they is making do not suit the little piggy-wiggies. Am I right or left?’ ‘Right’- Sophie said. ‘Giants is also making rules. Their rules is not suiting the human beans. Everybody is making his own rules to suit himself.”

  • “Human beans is thinking they is very clever, but they is not. They is nearly all of them notmuchers and squeakpips.”

  • “Ingenuity, adaptability, versatility, dexterity, cunning, sophistication, sagacity, discretion, and a host of other talents that neither you nor I possess.”

  • “I is going to be bug as a snug in a rug up here.”

  • “The queen said ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.’ ‘And two rights don’t make a left!’ cried the BFG.”

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