The Realism and Fantasy of Roald Dahl’s, Fantastic Mr. Fox ” The delightful tale of a fox who lives by poaching food from his three neighbours, Messrs. Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, three farmers – each one meaner than the other” (Telgan, Children ” literature Review, Vol. 41, pg. 27).
Mr.
Fox and his family endure the hardships of attempted murder, being hunted, and starvation as the farmers resort to violence to rid themselves of Mr. Fox and preserve their livestock. Out of an undying will to survive, and out of love and concern for his family and fellow animal community, Mr. Fox, is able to valiantly burrow a subterranean tunnel into the store houses of the three farmers. The triumphant Mr.
Fox invites all of the community animals for a feast and propose that they build “a little underground village” (Dahl, Mr. Fox, pg. 88), that they may never have to contend with those farmers again. All the while, Boggis, Bunce and Bean still wait on the surface for the starving fox to surface. Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is a fiction which employs devices of both realism and fantasy.
Realism, in literature, is defined as a genre “that attempts to persuade its readers that the created world is very like the world the readers inhabit” (University of Victoria, 1995).
Contrastingly, Fantasy is defined as a genre “of fiction that pictures creatures or events beyond the boundaries of known reality” (web 2001).
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The word, genre, refers to the “types or categories into which literary works are grouped according to form, technique, or, sometimes, subject matter” (Brown, 2002).
As it will be adduced in this essay, Dahl is able to utilized conventions of realism and fantasy in complementary ways that make the existence and experiences of Mr. Fox believable within a known reality, yet enable the human reader to closely identify with the animal-protagonist beyond the dictates of a known reality. Devices of Realism One device of realism in, Fantastic Mr.
Fox, is the allusion to nature which conveys the life-struggle of wild animals, drawing upon all the faculties in their power to keep safe and fed. Mr. Fox “creep[s] down into the valley in the darkness of night[; ]… approach[ing] a farm with the wind blowing in his face…
[so] that if man were lurking… , the wind would carry the smell of that man to Mr. Fox’s nose from far away” (Dahl, Mr. Fox, pg. 18).
While Boggis, Bunce, and Bean were attempting to dig Mr.
Fox out of his hole, the Fox family “started to dig for dear life… ‘As deep as we possibly can'” (Dahl, Mr. Fox, pg. 29).
The reader can acknowledge Mr. Fox asa realistic wild animal through his use of natural abilities and instincts.
The setting also carries the realism, especially if the course of Mr. Fox’s journey is charted by the reader. He lives on the top of a hill in the forest, and the farmers (with their associated livestock) live in the valley. After Mr. Fox is chased deep down into the ground, he cleverly takes his journey on a more horizontal slope towards the farms that are now on a more equal latitude with him. Though animal-animal communication is universal in the text, human-animal communication does not an any point exist.
Dahl’s communication structure creates a separateness of the protagonist animals and the antagonist humans, which structure is partial to realism conventions. The consequences of violence are not downplayed to any degree: “The smoke of three guns floated upward in the night air… , half in and half out of the hole, lay the poor tattered bloodstained remains of a fox’s tail… Mrs. Fox was tenderly licking the stump of Mr. Fox’s tail to stop the bleeding…
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‘It will never grow again,’ said Mr. Fox” (Dahl, Mr. Fox, pg. 24-25).
Similarly, in its descriptive starkness, “Mr. Fox chose three of the plumpest hens, and with a clever flick of his jaws he killed them instantly” (Dahl, Mr.
Fox, pg. 55).
Along with accurate illustrations, Dahl portrays the known reality of death, injury, and pain as a result of violence and malice. It is through these allusions to reality that the reader validates the existence and experiences of Mr.
Fox as a wild animal, in his natural pursuit of sustenance and safety. These aspects of reality give a basis upon which to judge the constructed nature of fantasy in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Boggis, Bunce and Bean want to shoot and kill Mr. Fox because they are frustrated with him stealing their livestock, however, Mr. Fox only steals the livestock to feed his family.
Both of these intentions are, realistically, morally ambiguous (i. e. , killing out of anger, and stealing to eat).
The devices of fantasy are used to assemble the text-based reality from which we will judge our characters, and side with morality of the protagonist. Devices of Fantasy Nearly all the aspects of fantasy in, Fantastic Mr. Fox, address the nature of humans and animals within this constructed reality.
Dahl admits to writing “grown-ups… [as] silly or grotesque,” for as they are the key agents to the civilizing of children, “children are inclined… to regard grown-ups as the enemy” (Telgan, Children’s Literature Review, Vol. 41, pg. 5, quotingRoald Dahl).
“The owners of these farms…
were also nasty men… as nasty and mean as any men you could meet” (Dahl, Mr. Fox, pg. 8).
The characters of farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean are as bluntly stat able at the start of the story as they are at end – the absence of complex character development being another virtue of fantasy (re: Ella Enchanted, The Princess and the Goblin, The Tale of Peter Rabbit).
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Not just adults but all humans (even children) in Fantastic Mr. Fox are shown to be cruel. At no time is any human noted to be doing anything nice or positive: the children make up horrible rhymes about the three farmers (pg. 14); “people jeered and laughed ” at the farmers’ pathetic plight to catch Mr.
Fox (pg. 40); the “one hundred and eight [farmhands]formed a tight ring about the bottom of the hill… armed with sticks, guns, and hatchets and pistols and all sorts of other horrible weapons… [which] made it quite impossible for… any… animal to escape from the hill (pg.
47); Mabel, the maid, remarks to Mrs. Bean, “‘I’ll be glad when the rotten brute (Mr. Fox) is killed,’ ” right before Mrs. Bean wretchedly yells at her to “‘get move on'” (pg.
80).
As the events and characters in the text construct the text-based reality, humans come off as inevitably and unchangeably cruel. Animals, oppositely, embody the admirable ‘human’ traits that might prevail in a realist novel about human interaction. The animals: speak endearingly to one another (pg. 16, 30, 71, 86); are depicted to be organized into loving families (pg. 15, 84); are part of a caring neighbourhood community that does not discriminate between species, nor assign territories (pg.
86-88).
The protagonist, Mr. Fox, especially exhibits qualities of intelligence, compassion, self-control, and a strong-will as he overcomes the trials of being hunted in order to save his family and community. He is always able to outsmart the farmers, and at the peak of his fantastic ness (when he burrows into the loaded store houses), his self-control, over what would seemingly be a realistic animal instinct to pillage and take as much food as possible, ensures that his loved ones will always be able to be fed because he did not take too much as to “give the game away” (pg.
67).
As animals retain these ‘human’ qualities, this scenario exists outside of a known reality, and is thus an element of fantasy Other characteristics that further this fantasy device of animals as human are the illustrations ” depiction of the animals as: bipedal (walking on two feet); using tools (push carts, glasses); casually drinking alcohol, and; properly preparing poultry. The effect of this fantasy convention is the reader’s identification and allying with the protagonists, the animals. Being a human, in this story, is a tragedy, for we all begin and end with nasty intentions.
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Transcending realism and fantasy: Badger’s inquisition into morality Dahl includes a chapter entitled, “Badger Has Doubts” (pg. 70), in which Badger questions the moral nature of Mr. Fox’s livelihood. “‘Doesn’t this worry you, … Foxy? …
All this stealing'” (pg. 70-71).
This inquisition comes at the most inopportune time – as Mr. Fox is making his last rounds before joining his family and friends for the great feast. Why does Dahl include this in the story? The readers are very well on the side of Mr. Fox, and Badger himself has just glutenous ly stolen some bacon (pg.
67).
What does stealing have to do with a wild animal’s survival? Perhaps it is because we have sided so much with Mr. Fox, that as a precaution, Dahl felt it necessary to digress from the excited thievery and address the morality that could easily be lost in his mix of realism and fantasy. Mr. Fox discourses: “‘Boggis and Bunce and Bean are out to kill us… But we are not going to stoop to their level.
We don’t want to kill them… We shall simply take a little food here and there to keep us and our families alive. Right? … If they want to be horrible, let them… We down here are decent peace-loving people'” (pg. 71).
However irrelevant or fallible Mr. Fox’s reasoning, Badger seals Fox’s response as valid and true when he replies: “‘Foxy, … I love you'” (pg. 71).
Any questions? Moral clarifications such as this are suitable in Dahl’s tightrope walk of realism and fantasy: as the reader desires for the success of the human-like, Mr.
Fox, it is important to be mindful that his actions are justified on the basis of the reality of his identity, a wild animal trying to survive. Generic Stability vs. Instability As Dahl’s literature is classified as fiction, the generic convergence of fantasy and realism is not at all unstable so long his stories are not interpretations of true events. The most latent and significant conflicts of realism vs.
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fantasy in, Fantastic Mr. Fox, is as previously mentioned, the manipulation of morals – human vs. animal – when the fantasy conventions are used to imply that the naturally amoral (Foxes, Badgers) are actually the moral, and the moral (humans) are the amoral. Dahl shows the non-progression of the three farmers. At the beginning of the novel, they would hide with their shotguns every night trying to kill Mr. Fox (pg.
17).
At the end of the novel, they were still waiting to shoot him. Meanwhile, Mr. Fox is scheming, progressing, learning, and adapting. In realism, characters advance in knowledge and purpose (e. g.
Harriet the Spy; The Bas tables in, The Story of the Treasure Seekers; April in, The Story of April Raintree).
Realistically, a fox’s purpose of mere survival should not change, while the farmers should be attending to other farm duties besides hunting a single fox. While fantasy and realism a reapplied to Mr. Fox’s as a human-like wild animal who advances in knowledge and purpose, only the fantasy of unprogressive, typecast ed characters is applied to the three farmers.
Perhaps this contrast is resolved when it is proposed, at the end of the story, that the animals (exhibiting fantasy and realism elements) should live apart from humans all together, thus severing the connection between the incongruent constructions of the once shared world. Realism with Fantasy: a cause for confusion or popularity?” I’m not trying to indoctrinate them… I’m trying to entertain them… I generally write for children between ages of seven and nine… [when] children are only semicivilized…
[and] in the process of becoming civilized” (Telgan, Children’s Literature Review, Vol. 41, pg. 5, quotingRoald Dahl).
Dahl’s assumption of children’s semicivilized state may explain, in part, his adherence to the use of both fantasy and realism as his audience might more fluidly accept elements of both. The coupled use of both types of generic devices could be construed as a resistance of the indoctrination of which he spoke. Being entertaining could “get a young person into the habit of reading and thinking that books are fun…
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[and] encourage them to develop a love for books… [which] makes life richer” (Telgan, Children’s Literature Review, Vol. 41, pg. 5, quoting Roald Dahl).
Fantastic Mr. Fox, is both entertaining, and non-indoctrinating to the extent that the reader can appreciate the role reversals of humans and animals.
Perhaps the target aged children of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox are assumed to have a knowledge of human characteristics but not knowledge of animal characteristics nor the distinct separations between man and animal. If these distinctions are not superimposed on the readers understanding, less confusion would result, and the entertainment and enjoyment of this story would ensue. We all would gladly live in the ‘little underground village’ rather than sit in the rain, gun-in-hand, with Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Works Cited: Dahl, R.
Fantastic Mr. Fox. Penguin Group, 1988. Telgan, D. , ed. Children’s Literature Review, Vol.
41. Gale Research, 1997. Daniels Brown, M. 2002. The Department of English, University of Victoria, September 23, 1995.
