Maturity In Charlie's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

What does it mean to be mature? Maturity can be classified in a variety of sections such as emotional, physical, and intellectual. Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, excels in emotional maturity. “Emotional maturity is defined as the strength and courage to actualize individual abilities within the frame of social demands” (Landau and Weissler, 100). From the beginning of the novel, Charlie bears more emotionally mature traits than the adults and the higher classed children showcase in the narrative. Charlie’s individual abilities that prevail even through the social demands of capitalism are his virtues. These traits include selflessness, restraint, and lack of material desire. Through the other characters’ lack of maturity, Charlie’s …show more content…
This again was due to the financial state of his family. His house is described as “There were only two rooms in the place altogether, and there was only one bed” (4). Because his family was so poor, he had to focus on the necessities of life, such as food, so he had little time to care about material objects. A critic of Dahl, Rees, states, “"Bliss" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is equated with being perpetually shut up in a sort of Disneyland” (144), but that does not seem to be the intention. The factory is not an imprisonment from the rest of the world, it represents the freedom of not having to worry about being hungry or cold ever again. Although people might associate this more with childhood, in Charlie’s case it means growing up to support his family. Willy Wonka is not a “face of capitalism” (Rees, 145) because he creates candy that lasts forever or fills you up (Dahl, 88, 95). The factory is not about making more money; it is about bettering society which shows a great amount of emotional maturity. Mike Teavee, on the other hand, can be considered as the face of capitalism. He seems to be molded by his material objects such as his television. Evidence that suggests this is true is when he wants the interviewers to stop interrupting his show (33). This is evidence material objects controlling his life because he values the television show more than the extraordinary event that happened to …show more content…
Because he possesses these traits, he was able to skyrocket to maturity and have the responsibility of running a chocolate factory no problem. Charlie is not viewed as losing his childhood; in fact, through this new responsibility he can fulfil his every childhood wish. Willy Wonka states, “I had a hunch… that it was going to be you” (142). Wonka was able to guess that Charlie was going to be the winner because Charlie showcased maturity traits that even some adults do not exercise. Charlie does not conform to adult society; he rises above