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.
