THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR

THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR

ROALD DAHL

1977, PUFFIN BOOKS

AUTHOR

Roald Dahl was born on September 13, 1916 in Llandaff, South Wales. He had three sisters Alfhild, Else, Asta and Astri. He was educated in Llandraff Cathedral School, then he was sent to an English boarding school: St. Peter`s. He was good at sports but academically he was toward the bottom of the class. One of his main hobbies was reading, and some of his favourite novelists were the adventure writers Rudyard Kipling, Captain Marryat, H. Rider Haggard and G.A Henty. Their books influenced Dahl's life and his own writing. By the time Roald Dahl was 13 the family moved to Kent in England and was sent to the famous Repton Public School. After completing his education at Repton Dahl decided that he wanted a career that would take him to "wonderful far places like Africa or China". So he went on a sea voyage to East Africa and there he started to work for the Shell Oil Company. In 1939, it was the second world war, Dahl joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) and learnt to fly warplanes. Unfortunately he crashed in the Libyan desert in 1940. His skull was fractured, his nose was pushed in and blinded him for days. His first book was "The Gremlins". If the Gremlins never reached the big screen, the experience certainly made Dahl's name as a writer. By the fall of 1944 he had a literary agent, Ann Watkins, and he had published a number of stories in American magazines. In 1945 Dahl moved back home to Amersham to be near his mother Sofie. There he wrote a book called "Sometime Never", which was a total flop. Dahl helped his mentor American Charles Marsh set up a charity known as the Marsh'' Public Welfare Foundation. When he travelled to the Big Apple in 1951 he met his future wife there, the actress Patricia Neal. They married on July 2, 1953 at Trinity Church in New York. In 1983 he was the winner of the Whitbread Award. Roald Dahl died in November 1990 at the age of seventy-four.

Some of Roald Dahl's books:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

James and the Giant Peach

Boy

Repton Public School

Going Solo

Snake-Catcher

Shoot one of them down

The Gremlins

Over to You

Sometime Never

Someone Like You

Matilda

The BFG

The Witches

The Twits

George's Marvellous Medicine

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Danny The Champion of the World

The Magic Finger

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

Rhyme Stew

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

Esio Trot

The Enormous Crocodile

Dirty Beasts

SUMMARY

A third person narrator (Roald Dahl) tells the story, or I could also say the fairy tale, of the mysterious change of Henry Sugar. The protagonist drives from London to Guildford to stay with Sir William Wyndham, who owns a magnificent estate. But when he arrives it is pelting with rain and all the rich people are sitting in the drawing room , all of them resentful of the bad weather, because that is the only discomfort that their money can't do anything about. So he goes to the library and when he finds a book called

his interest is stirred. It deals with an Indian (minor character of the story) man who comes to see a doctor to get the confirmation of his ability to see without using his eyes. He asks him the favour to blindfold him and so give him the chance to give proof of his ability. So the doctor seals down his eyelids, fills his eye-sockets with dough, lays a thick pad of cotton-wool on his eyes and bandages his hand with two rolls of 3-inch bandage. To the physician's surprise the man walks out the hospital as if his eyes weren't covered with several layers of stuff. Outside he takes his bicycle and proceeds to ride out into the bustling honking traffic of the street. But why all this? Well, the doctor gets the explanation from the placard the man had with him on his bike:

And because all this is so unbelievable the doctor invites the Indian to have supper with him after the show. Anyway, out of curiosity, he wants Imhrat Khan to explain him how he developed this magical power to write his story down, which moreover would help the artist to become well known/to get some publicity. And so he starts to tell him:

He is a Hindu and he was born in Akhnur, in Kashmir State, in 1905. His family was poor because his father was just a ticket inspector on the railway. When he was 13 an Indian conjurer came to his school and gives a performance. Imhrat was impressed and felt a powerful wish to learn this magic himself. So he ran away from home to follow his new hero and became his assistant. After some weeks it came to him that all this "magic" was just trickery and quickness of the hand. So he lost every bit of interest in his job and longed to find out about the real magic and about the strange power called yoga. One day he heard about Banerjee, one of the true yogis of India who possessed the rare power of levitation. Unfortunately he didn't want Imhrat to become his disciple but gave him a note for another yogi who finally gave him instructions and told him that he would have to train for about 15 years to become a yogi too.

After three years of exercising he was able to walk over glowing embers, and after this success he decided that he would concentrate upon this exclusive aim - to see without his eyes.

So every night he lighted a candle at dead level to his eyes, stared at the black part of the flame, then shut his eyes and concentrated upon one single object. At the age of 24 he was slowly beginning to develop an inner sense of sight. For him the sense organs were just instruments which assisted in conveying the sensation itself to the brain. Now, at the age of 29, he was able to read a book blindfolded, "seeing" with his other parts of the body.

That night the doctor feels aware of having seen a miracle. From a doctor's point of view Imhrat Khan must be the most valuable man alive. He could possibly change the whole course of medicine. But the next day when Dr John F. Cartwright comes to see him again he is dead.

Having read this report Henry Sugar realises that if only he could train himself to do the same he could make a fortune. So he tries the trick with the candle-flame which doesn't appear to be particularly hard work. Surprisingly he shows unusual patience and good sense at this point and his progress is remarkable. Henry thinks he must be the one-in-a-million person who is gifted with the ability to acquire yoga powers at incredible speed. He gives up all card games and razzing to parties with friends. Everything else has to wait until he succeeds. At some time during the 10^th month of his training he becomes aware of a slight ability to see an object with his eyes closed. And that's the time he tries the thing with the card. And it works! His aim is to see the reverse side of a card in four seconds. Like that he will be able to work the casinos successfully. After three years and three months of exercising he reaches his aim and goes to his favourite casino. The only problem is that he mustn't win too much or somebody will get suspicious. Henry wins a lot of money but he can't understand why he feels so little excitement about his tremendous success. On the contrary. He feels melancholy. It is beginning to dawn upon Mr. Sugar that nothing is any fun if you can get as much of it as you want. So he goes onto his balcony and throws the banknotes out in the street and decides to give the rest of his profit to an orphanage or some other charity. So he travels around in the world, winning a lot of money in the casinos and founds a company called it ORPHANAGES S.A.

Henry dies at the age of 63 when his work is completed, and he has been at it for just on 20 years: He leaves 21 well-established, well-run orphanages scattered about the world.

HENRY SUGAR

Actually I'll have to describe the main character before and after his change. He is very well-drawn and described in a very direct way. He is the antagonist of the "true story", how Roald Dahl calls it. Henry Sugar is 41 years old and unmarried because he is too selfish to share his money with a wife. He is wealthy because of inherited money and he has never learnt anything or done any work before. His motto, which he has invented himself, says a lot about his character: It is better to incur a mild rebuke than to perform an onerous task. He is not as good looking a he thinks he is (although plastic surgeons keep correcting his face) and he pays great deal of attention to his clothes. Mr Sugar drives a Ferrari and lives in a country cottage. Men like him can be found all over the world. They are of no real importance, they are just part of the decoration. They have a terrific urge to make themselves still wealthier than they already are, they are longing to get more money. They all employ the same methods for increasing their fortunes, for example they buy stocks and shares, play in casinos and bet just about everything. (For the most part Henry isn't really fair in those games.) With games the high society tries to overcome/beat the boredom of being both idle and rich.

After Henry Sugar has read the book he changes completely. He isn't that avaricious, vain, egoistic and standoffish man any more. On the contrary. He is charitable and cares about all human beings. That change is what makes the story interesting.

PERSONAL OPINION

That is really a recommendable book! I enjoyed reading it a lot because I could identify with the protagonist of the "story in the story". I practice yoga too and to be honest perhaps I have a slight esotericism-touch. I am really fond of all these things because I think there is a little bit of mystery and magic in it. Well, perhaps esotericism is just something I can satisfy my curiosity and lust for the mysterious with.

Moreover, in my opinion, the idea of a "story in a story" is brilliant. I really got absorbed by the book and so  I devoured it within only one sunny afternoon.