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The Oompa-Loompas are Willy Wonka’s mysterious factory workers, tiny people the size of dolls from the far-off country of Loompaland. In exchange for all the cacao and chocolate they can eat, plus protection from the monsters who dwell in Loompaland, they live and work in Willy Wonka’s factory. Throughout the book, they appear after every child’s accident to sing a song ridiculing the children for their flaws and serving as a voice of morality. They explain why the child’s habit was bad and why they deserve their fate. Their rhymes are often harsh to the unfortunate children, but this meanness appears to be part of their sense of humor, just as Wonka suggests. For example, they describe Augustus Gloop being chopped up into fudge, but he actually fares better than some of the others. Nevertheless, they are merciless judges, often emphasizing their belief that the children who get into accidents are simply getting what they deserve. One of them even laughs at Mrs. Gloop’s distress when Augustus Gloop is sent up the pipe.
When we look back on this book from a modern perspective, the Oompa-Loompas can raise some troubling questions. They are a whimsical foreign race, happy to work for food while singing and dancing. Willy Wonka even tests out some of his dangerous new sweets on the Oompa-Loompas. One floats up into the sky forever because he takes a fizzy lifting drink and refuses to burp. Another, after testing the hair toffee, keeps growing a beard forever and ever. Unlike the children, these Oompa-Loompas have done nothing to deserve their bad fates. Even so, the book portrays their mishaps as funny. Although the novel is a fantasy book, and the Oompa-Loompas are not real, it still might seem unjust, particularly in a book with such a strong sense of morality.
