dilluns, 14 de maig del 2018

BOY. Tales of childhood de Roald Dahl





BOY. Tales of childhood de Roald Dahl



The boy. Tales of childhood is almost an autobiographical story. The author, Road Dahl, best known for being the writer of a book that became a curious film: Charlie and the chocolate factory, is a prestigious writer of books apparently aimed at teenagers, but in fact they were for all people.
Right at the beginning, Dahl says that he did not do an autobiography because he does not like to write about himself, but he was inspired by his childhood memories. The book is divided into four major chapters that belong to important periods of a child's life. First there were only the father and the mother, then the schools and finally the beginning of adolescence.
Road Dahl lost his father when he was only three years old and grew up with his mother and six brothers and sisters, two of them from the previous marriage. From six to seven he went to a kindergarten, but only remembers his tricycle careers.
From seven to nine, he went to a religious school to do a preparation. He remembers his friends and the sweet-shop where they bought different kinds of sweets. He explains how they put a dead mouse in a candy jar and the consequences of this mischief had when the owner of the confectionery demands responsibility from the school. Road and his friends had been punished bitted with a cane. At that time, the school gave physical punishment. Road's mother did not accept this type of punishment and decided to change Road to another school at the end of this course.
Road remembers his summers in Norway, the country of his mother's family, when he swam and fished. In this country, he had been operated of tonsils without anesthesia. This was a usual medical practice at that time.
From nine to thirteen, Road went to boarding school. Remember the letters of longing he wrote to his mother and the rigidity, punishments and control of the boarding school. Remember the masters like Captain Hardcastle with his big mustache and the matron, who controlled the rooms. During a Christmas vacation, Road had a car accident because of that he cut his nose and the doctor must sew again.
From thirteen to twenty, Road went to Repton. In this school, the old students, called boazers, had power over junior students. There was also a director with a cane to stick the students. Road was very surprised because at the end of his third year this director was appointed bishop and finally became archbishop of Canterbury.
After Repton, Road does not like to go to college and chose to go to work. He started working at a Shell company and traveled to different countries. In a final chapter, he describes his experiences on a boat during a trip and the different types of people he knows.
In my opinion, this book is interesting to read not only for the stories it tells but for the richness of the vocabulary. At first it seems easy to read, but finally the amount of new words that appear complicate its reading but enrich the reader. Reading this book shows us how much teaching and medicine have changed during the 20th century.



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