In The BFG, Sophie watches as the giants run away. The Big Friendly Giant has told her that
every night, while he travels the world bringing pleasant dreams to children,
the other giants venture out and eat humans.
Although the BFG feels bad about this, he doesn’t see how he can
convince them to change their ways. The
only plant that grows in their land is the Snozzcumber, and it tastes so
revolting that none of the other giants will eat them.
But Sophie feels she must do something. After all, tonight the giants are heading off
to her country, to eat her fellow British citizens.
So she concocts a plan.
Using the BFG’s stores of collected dreams, Sophie has him mix a
nightmare about giants snatching British citizens out of their homes and eating
them. Then she asks him to take her to
Buckingham Palace. Using his trumpet-like device, he blows this nightmare into the Queen’s bedroom. Needless to say, when the Queen awakes, and
Sophie tells her that her nightmare was true, the Queen bursts into action.
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| Queen Elizabeth II, captured by renowned illustrator Quentin Blake |
She calls the kings and queens of other countries. She summons the heads of the British Army and
Royal Air Force. While she awaits their
arrival, she sits down for breakfast and asks Sophie and the BFG to explain the
situation, and suggest how she can remedy it.
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| I'm glad the BFG enjoyed his breakfast, but oh, that poor piano. And those grandfather clocks! |
Her butler organizes the staff, and he fashions a table and
chair for the BFG. Then he watches,
aghast, as the giant eats up all the food the cooks serve up, until the royal
pantries are emptied (and the BFG discovers that the humans’ food tastes
infinitely better than those yucky Snozzcumbers).
When the heads of her military seem incapable of coming up
with a means of capturing the other giants, the Queen turns to the BFG and
Sophie, who offer her a solution. The
heads of the Army and Air Force don’t like it, but they agree to go along with
this strange plan concocted by a giant and an orphan girl. After all, they can’t really refuse a royal
command.
While other authors might have portrayed the situation more
realistically, Dahl never mentions the important roles that the Prime Minister,
the other Ministers, or the Houses of Parliament play in the everyday running
of the United Kingdom. Instead, he has
Sophie take her problems directly to Queen Elizabeth II. Far from being remote and unconcerned, the
Queen is horrified at the thought of her subjects’ needless deaths. A politician, faced with the same situation,
would gauge public reaction to various proposed remedies, and ensure he had the
necessary support to weather any potential backlash before he
committed himself to a particular plan.
But the Queen acts like a mother whose children are threatened, she immediately
takes charge of the situation, and demonstrates how relevant she is to her
country by her decisions.
You know, maybe America really does need a Queen.
Dragon Dave
Related Internet Links
Illustrator Quentin Blake, who the Queen recently awarded
with a knighthood, has a wonderful website.
Check it out at quentinblake.com
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