At times, his playfulness turns vengeful, and he devises tricks. Trickeryįrom early in his life, Dahl-a man who has created some of the most imaginative works of literature in the twentieth century-conveys a playful spirit. Along with half the world, Dahl watches on television as the man who used to cane his bottom until it bled lowers a crown onto Elizabeth II's head. Dahl's confusion over the hypocritical Headmaster is compounded when he learns the man has become the Archbishop of Canterbury. Knowing the truth of God's 'salesmen' on Earth, Dahl cannot help but question the entire organization they represent. The experience of witnessing authority figures like his Headmaster say one thing while doing another sows seeds of religious doubt in the young Dahl. To Dahl, the subject becomes significant when he is commenting on the hypocrisy of the Headmaster at Repton, a clergyman who viciously canes and strikes terror into young boys only to preach the next morning in the chapel about religious ideals of compassion and forgiveness.

Religious HypocrisyĪlthough Dahl attends schools where prayers are mandatory, religion is not a large part of his life. At the end of his school career, he longs to get as far away from England as he can. Ultimately, Dahl's experience of undergoing systemic abuse carried out by the people in charge of his education does not train him into obeying the greater class structure at work in English social life. Despite being a sports captain, Dahl refuses to become one of the Repton prefects-older students who cane younger boys for falling out of line. Dahl learns to distrust authority figures who perpetuate the sadistic practice of caning.

While the pain Dahl details is harrowing, he illustrates how the threat of being caned is its own emotional and psychological torture.

While there are now laws banning school corporal punishment in Britain and many other Western countries, Dahl grew up in an era when hitting boys with canes was a common disciplinary tool in the British school system. Although Dahl states in the preface that the book is simply a collection of memories skimmed off the top of his consciousness, he returns repeatedly to instances of violence he either endured or witnessed as a schoolboy. School corporal punishment-the infliction of physical pain to punish schoolchildren-is an important theme in Boy: Tales of Childhood. Buy Study Guide School Corporal Punishment

Boy by Roald Dahl