Plot Summary

Danny the Champion of the World is a creative novel by Roald Dahl about the life of a boy named Danny. Danny is raised by his father because his mother died when he was young. They live in an old gypsy caravan at the filling station that his father owns. His father is a mechanic who teaches Danny everything that he knows. His father has a dark secret, however. One night, Danny wakes up to find that his father is not in bed. He learns that his father is a pheasant poacher. Danny knows this is stealing, but does not mind so much because his father is stealing from the mean rich man, Mr. Hazell.

Another night Danny’s father does not return from a poaching expedition, so Danny drives a car to go find him. Danny finds his father in a pit on Mr. Hazell’s land. His father got caught by the keepers, who keep watch over the pheasants and dug that pit to catch poachers. Danny rescues his father using a rope from the car, but his father’s leg has been broken by the fall into the pit. They get home and call the doctor, who puts a cast on his father’s leg.

Shortly after that, Danny comes up with a brilliant idea for catching pheasants. Their favorite food is raisins so Danny suggests to his father that they put powder from the sleeping pills given to his father for his leg into the raisins so that the pheasants would fall asleep after they eat the raisins. His father thinks it’s a brilliant plan and takes Danny poaching with him to try it out. They carry it out the day before Mr. Hazell’s big pheasant shooting party, and capture 120 pheasants. Danny’s father calls him the “Champion of the World”. Unfortunately, when they finally get the pheasants back to their caravan, all of the pheasants wake up. Mr. Hazell sees all the pheasants around the caravan, but is unable to do anything about, making this the ultimate victory for Danny and his father.

Danny the Champion of the World is a book that rides the line between contemporary and historical realistic fiction, but I would place it in the contemporary realistic fiction genre. According to Literature and the Child, contemporary realistic fiction is defined as "illuminating life, presenting social and personal concerns in a fully human context as it is experienced today or in the very recent past" (Galda 232). This book qualifies as contemporary realistic fiction because it could have been possible at a time in the recent past.  The reason this genre categorizing may be controversial is that definitions of historical fiction are different for different people. If the definition of historical fiction was simply a story that could have taken place in the past, Danny the Champion of the World might qualify. The book has many elements which date it to a time in the past. For example, teachers are no longer able to strike students with a cane as Danny’s teacher did (Dahl 114). Also, cars do not have a starter button any more as the one that Danny drove to save his father did (Dahl 52). These elements only date the book back to a time in the 1900's though, so I would still categorize it as contemporary. As far as the story being realistic, I’m not sure if pheasants would really fall asleep and fall off their perches if given sleeping pills, but it sounds plausible, as does the rest of the book.

Textual Elements

Danny the Champion of the World is told from the first person point of view by Danny, the main character. It is interesting that when the book begins, it is like Danny is talking directly to the reader. In fact, Danny says “This is how I looked at the time” and under those words on the page is a baby picture (Dahl 1). It is as if Danny is sitting in the room with the reader, talking directly to them, telling them the story of his life. The book concludes with the statement “What I have been trying so hard to tell you all along is simply that my father, without the slightest doubt, was the most marvelous and exciting father any boy ever had” (Dahl 205). The way that Danny talks directly to the reader draws them in and gives the story a realistic feel; like Danny was a real person and this experience really did happen to him.

One of the main themes of this book is the strong relationship between a father and a son. Danny has a very good relationship with his father, as the reader can tell by what he says at the end of the book (Dahl 205). Danny spends more time with his father than he does with any other person. In fact, Danny would rather hang out with his father than with his friends (111). They fly kites together, make a hot air balloon together, and fix cars together. They even go poaching together. In the few scenes where Danny is not around his father in the book, he mentions his father. For example, when Danny goes to school, he mentions what his father thinks of the headmaster (110).  Throughout the book, Danny never makes a negative comment about his father. He instead describes his dad as “the most marvelous and exciting father any boy ever had” (8).

Analysis and Critique

As in many of Dahl’s other books, humor plays a huge role in his style. This humor is present in his descriptions, like the simile of Doc Spencer face as “brown and wrinkled as a shriveled apple” (Dahl 76). Humor can also be found in the dialogue. For example, when Danny’s father talks about Danny’s headmaster’s wife, he says “‘If I was unlucky enough to be married to Mrs. Snoddy, I would drink something a bit stronger than gin… poison. She’s a frightful woman” (110). Even the storyline itself is humorous, with pheasants raining down out of the trees after Danny gives them sleeping potion (148). Dahl’s use of humor throughout the story helps to keep the reader interested and wondering what will happen next.

Through this book, Dahl seems to be saying that single fathers can raise children just as well as two parent families. Danny’s father did all of the things that a mother would normally do, plus all of the fatherly tasks as well. When Danny was a baby, his father fed him, washed him, and changed his diapers (Dahl 2). At the same time, he made money for their small family by repairing automobiles (2). Danny’s dad walks him to school every day, even with a broken leg (87). Danny’s father spends a lot of time with his son, constantly coming up with new fun ideas of things for them to do together (17). His father even tells him bedtime stories at night (9). Danny’s father seems like a model parent, even though he is single. This, as well as Danny’s attitude towards his father, displays the fact that single fathers can raise children.

One negative message that this book may send to children is that poaching is alright. The whole plot of the book revolves around poaching. Danny’s father is a poacher and describes poaching as an art form (29). Although Danny does not originally approve of his father’s poaching, he later comes up with an idea of how to poach more birds in one night. Instead of reprimanding him, Danny’s father takes him on the next poaching expedition and calls him “Champion of the World” (153). Many of the respectable characters in the book, including the doctor and the sergeant turn out to be former poachers as well. This story may confuse children into thinking that poaching is alright, when really, it is stealing.

Citation

Dahl, Roald. Danny the Champion of the World. New York: Puffin Books, 2007.

Galda, Lee, Bernice Cullinan and Lawrence Sipe. Literature and the Child. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2006