These days, it seems as if nothing is safe from the woke cultural revolution. Now, the left is coming for the works of a famed childrenâs author.
According to the Telegraph, publisher Puffin Books has made a number of changes to certain portions of the works of Roald Dahl, in order to remove any âoffensiveâ language. The edited Books include his most famous works: âCharlie and the Chocolate Factory,â âJames and the Giant Peach,â âMatildaâ and âThe Twits.â
The most common things changed relate to the charactersâ physical appearance, removing words such as âfat,â as well as replacing some phrases with other gender-neutral ones.
For instance, in âCharlie and the Chocolate Factory,â the character of Augustus Gloop was described in the book as âenormously fat,â but that has now been altered to simply read âenormous.â Meanwhile, the âOompa Lumpas,â who were previously described as âlittle men,â are now referred to as âlittle people.â
In âJames and the Giant Peach,â Aunt Sponge was also described as âenormously fat and very short,â but that too has been changed to say âquite large and very short.â
In âMatilda,â references to Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling have been removed and replaced with Jane Austen and John Steinbeck.
In âThe Twits,â the phrase âladies and gentlemenâ has been replaced with âfolks,â and instances of the use of the phrase âold hagâ have also been altered.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a representative for Puffin said that it was ânot unusualâ for publishers to review the language of Books when republishing them and updating them, adding that, âAs part of our process to review the language used we worked in partnership with Inclusive Minds, a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion and accessibility in childrenâs literature.â
In essence, Puffin Books submitted to the woke cultural agenda and altered Dahlâs work in order to suit the spirit of the age.
According to the New York Post, Matthew Dennison, a biographer of the late author, said Dahl âwould have recognized that alterations to his novels prompted by the political climate were driven by adults rather than children.â
Indeed, these alterations are more than just the removal or changing of a couple of words or phrases, they end up vandalizing the work as a whole, as these phrases in their context contribute to the overall meaning of the story.
Take âCharlie and the Chocolate Factoryâ for instance. The moral of the story is that one should be careful to guard against vices such as sloth, gluttony, greed or wrath. Augustus Gloop is the embodiment of gluttony, and the description of him as âenormously fatâ is a way of communicating just how much Augustus has succumbed to that vice to the point where he personifies it.
That is all lost in the woke alternation. By simply describing him as âlarge,â the authors have removed any indication that Augustus is a glutton, and thus the warning against that vice is removed.
This really is just another instance of woke vandalism, where political correctness takes precedence over true cultural sustenance.
Good literature, whether for adults or for children, is supposed to give us profound insights into the human condition. Literature is a way for us to learn about ourselves and the truths of the world we live in.
Puffin Books, unfortunately, has another thing in mind, they want to remove all of that from childrenâs literature in order to create a Culture purely devoted to Political Correctness.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
