Character List
Mr. Willy Wonka - The eccentric owner of the Wonka chocolate factory.
Mr.Wonka is the most renowned candy maker in the world and an endless
combination of opposing parts. He is old but filled with a boundless
energy. He is physically small, but his persona is larger than life.
He is also both charming and insensitive. His decision to open his
factory to five lucky children is actually a calculated ploy to
find the perfect child to take over his factory. He is looking for
a properly obsequious child to whom he can teach all the secrets
of his factory. Charlie Bucket is that boy.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Mr. Willy Wonka.
Charlie Bucket - The
protagonist of the novel. Charlie is unassuming and respectful toward
everyone in his life. He is undernourished but refuses to ever take
an extra portion of food because it would deprive another member
of his family. He must walk by Mr. Wonka’s factory every day on
his way to school and smell the tantalizing smell of chocolate as
his stomach grumbles. He is almost always cold because he does not
have an adequate jacket. Even though he has every reason to complain,
he never does. Charlie is exactly the kind of child that Mr. Wonka
wants.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Charlie Bucket.
Grandpa Joe - Charlie’s
paternal grandfather. Grandpa Joe spends all his time in bed with
the other three Bucket grandparents. He is extremely imaginative
and fun loving. He realizes a return of his childish energy when Charlie
finds the golden ticket. He thinks Mr. Wonka’s idea to send out
golden tickets is a marketing stroke of genius, and he continues
to think Mr. Wonka is brilliant while the other parents think he
is mad. Grandpa Joe is kind and loving and also sensible. He is Charlie’s
greatest friend and confidant.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Grandpa Joe.
Augustus Gloop - A
fat boy who loves nothing but eating. Augustus is rude and insubordinate
in his never-ending quest to fill his own face. His parents choose
to indulge him rather than listen to his whining. He suffers for
his greed in the factory: while sucking from the chocolate river,
he falls in and is sucked up by one of the super pipes. He comes
out changed on the other side, as evidenced by his new thin body.
Veruca Salt - A
spoiled brat. Veruca demands anything she wants and throws tantrums
until her parents meet her demands. She is mean and completely self-involved, and
her parents always acquiesce to her wishes. Veruca’s impetuousness
causes her trouble at the factory. She demands to own one of Wonka’s
trained squirrels, but when she marches in to claim it, it deems her
a “bad nut” and sends her down the garbage chute. Mingled with garbage,
she comes out changed at the end of the story.
Violet Beauregarde - An avid gum chewer. Violet’s attempt to beat a gum-chewing
record completely consumes her. At the factory her gum-chewing antics
become her downfall when she grabs an experimental piece of gum
against Mr. Wonka’s advice. She eagerly chews the gum and turns
into a giant blueberry. After being juiced by Oompa-Loompas, she
leaves the factory changed.
Mike Teavee - A
boy who cares only for television. The more guns and violence on
a show, the more Mike likes it. Mike is slightly more complex than
the other bad children in that he is smart enough to realize when
Mr. Wonka is lying to him. Still, his attempts to get answers to
his questions go completely unheeded. At the factory he wants nothing
more than to check out the chocolate television room. Once there
he spies the opportunity to be on television himself. Without regard
for his own safety, he engineers a filming of himself and ends up shrinking
down to a couple of inches. The Oompa-Loompas stretch him out to
twice his normal height in the end.
The Oompa-Loompas - Fun-loving dwarves hailing from Loompaland. Mr. Wonka’s
diminutive work force feasts on cacao beans and performs all of
the work in the Wonka chocolate factory. They also enjoy dancing, beating
drums, and singing songs about what happens to bad children.
Mr. Bucket - Charlie’s
hard-working father. Mr. Bucket works tirelessly to provide for
his family, which includes two sets of grandparents. In spite of
his efforts, Mr. Bucket barely earns enough money for his family
to survive.
Mrs. Bucket - Charlie’s
mother. Mrs. Bucket worries constantly about her son. She unfailingly
tries to give Charlie her portion of a meal, which he always refuses.
She is extremely giving in her efforts to take care of the four invalided
grandparents with whom she lives.
Grandma Josephine - Charlie’s paternal grandmother. Grandma Josephine,
like her fellow grandparents, spends all her time in bed. She loves
Charlie and is quick to judge others.
Grandpa George - Charlie’s
maternal grandfather. Grandpa George is pessimistic and terse. He
does not seem as judgmental as the grandmothers and clearly loves Charlie.
Grandma Georgina - Charlie’s maternal grandmother. She is the mirror
image of Grandma Josephine. She too is very quick to judge others.
Mr. and Mrs. Gloop - Augustus’s parents. The Gloops are moronic and indulgent
of their son’s overeating. Mrs. Gloop is proud of her son’s appetite
and thinks it better that he eat than be a nuisance.
Mr. and Mrs. Salt - Veruca’s parents. Mr. and Mrs. Salt are at their daughter’s
beck and call. Whenever she screams and cries they give in to her
every demand. Mr. Salt goes so far as to divert his entire factory
from shelling peanuts to shelling candy bars in order to get Veruca
the golden ticket she demands.
Mr. and Mrs. Beauregarde - Violet’s parents. The Beauregardes are weak and ineffectual.
They let their daughter talk back to them and ignore her insults.
Mr. and Mrs. Teavee - Mike’s parents. Mr. and Mrs. Teavee are hands-off
parents. They allow the television to parent their son.
Messrs. Fickelgruber, Prodnose, and Slugworth - Wonka’s main competitors. Fickelgruber, Prodnose,
and Slugworth each allegedly planted spies at the Wonka factory
in order to steal Wonka’s candy-making secrets. The thefts put Mr.
Wonka out of business for a long time. One day, Mr. Wonka’s factory
mysteriously reopened, though no one has ever been seen going in
or out since.
