The BFG

For other uses, see BFG (disambiguation).

The BFG

First edition cover
Author	Roald Dahl
Illustrator	Quentin Blake
Language	English
Genre	Children's
Publisher	Jonathan Cape (original) Penguin Books (current)
Publication date	1982
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Paperback
ISBN	0-224-02040-4

The BFG (short for "Big Friendly Giant") is a children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in 1982. The book was an expansion of a story told in Danny, the Champion of the World, an earlier Dahl book. An animated film based on the book was released in 1989 with David Jason providing the voice of the BFG and Amanda Root as the voice of Sophie. The book went on to win a Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis prize in 1985. It has also been adapted as a theatre performance.

Plot

The story is about a little girl named Sophie, a name inspired by the author's granddaughter Sophie Dahl. One night when Sophie can't fall asleep during the "witching hour", she sees a giant blowing something into the bedroom windows down the street. The giant notices her, and although she tries to hide in her bed, he reaches through the window and carries her away to his home in Giant Country.

Fortunately for Sophie, she has been abducted by the world's only benevolent giant, the Big Friendly Giant or BFG. Operating in the strictest secrecy, the BFG catches good dreams. With the help of his giant ears he can hear dreams and their contents (which manifest themselves in misty Dream Country as floating, blob-like objects) and blow them via a trumpet-like blowpipe into the bedrooms of children. When he catches a nightmare, he explodes it, bottles it forever, or sometimes uses it to start fights among his neighboring mean giants. The BFG has a very pleasant character, often misusing words and having difficulty in grammar. He often writes down mixtures of dreams for children. Sophie teaches him how to speak properly and in the end it is revealed that the story was written and told by the BFG himself after learning English from Sophie.

The other giants are not so pleasant; each night they go out into the world to steal and eat "human beans", especially children. There is little else for them to eat where they live; the BFG, because he refuses to eat people, must survive on a revoltingly bitter and sour vegetable known as a snozzcumber. Luckily he is also able to make a delicious drink called frobscottle, which is fizzy and infinitely refreshing. It is rather unusual in that the bubbles in the drink travel downwards and therefore cause the drinker to fart instead of burp; this causes noisy flatulence known as Whizzpoppers.

Sophie and the BFG become friends. Eventually, Sophie persuades the BFG that something must be done to stop the giants. Together they develop a plan to get the Queen to help them. The BFG mixes a dream which will show the Queen what the giants do; when complete, it is the worst nightmare she has ever encountered. They set off for Buckingham Palace and blow the dream into the Queen's bedroom. The BFG then leaves Sophie on the Queen's windowsill and retreats into the palace gardens to hide.

When the Queen awakens, Sophie tells her that all of her dream was true. Because the dream included the knowledge that Sophie would be there when she woke up, the Queen believes her and speaks with the BFG. After considerable effort by the palace staff to create a table, chair and cutlery of appropriate size for him to use, the BFG is given a lavish breakfast, and the Queen begins work on eliminating the other giants. She calls the King of Sweden and the Sultan of Baghdad to confirm the BFG's story — the giants having visited those locations on the previous two nights — then summons the Head of the Army and the Marshal of the Air Force. The said officers, though initially belligerent and skeptical, are brought to cooperate.

Eventually, a huge fleet of helicopters follows the BFG to the giants' homeland. While the child-eating giants are asleep, the Army ties them up, hangs them under the helicopters, and after a brief struggle with the Fleshlumpeater, flies them to London, where a special large pit has been constructed from which they will not be able to escape. With thousands watching closely, the BFG unties the giants, then feeds them snozzcumbers which they will eat for the rest of their lives as a punishment for eating human beings.

Afterwards, a huge castle is built to serve as the BFG's new house, with a little cottage next door for Sophie. While they are living happily in England, Sophie suggests that the BFG write a book about their adventures. When it is completed, the reader wonders what he had written, and it is revealed that it is actually this book.

Characters

• Sophie

Sophie helps the BFG to imprison the evil giants.

• The BFG

The BFG is a nice giant and very kind to humans. He's unlike the other giants who eat people.

• The Queen of England
• Mary the Maid
• Mr. Tibbs
• Mrs. Clonkers
• Head of the Army
• Head of the Air Force
• King of Sweden
• Sultan of Baghdad
• Monsieur Papillon, the Chef

Giants

The nine evil giants in the story :

• The Fleshlumpeater
• The Bonecruncher
• The Manhugger
• The Childchewer
• The Meatdripper
• The Gizzardgulper
• The Maidmasher
• The Bloodbottler
• The Butcher Boy

There is a possible tenth giant. Since the New Zealander-eating "Welly-Eating Giant" is mentioned only once and is never referred to again, this may simply be a reference to one of the known giants under a different name.

Most of the evil giants are only mentioned by name; some are given a larger role, such as Fleshlumpeater, who is the nastiest of them all, and Bloodbottler, who invades the BFG's cave early in the story. Later, the BFG narrates the hunting methods of Childchewer, Gizzardgulper, and Meatdripper. It is also remarked that each giant has his favorite hunting ground, though they vary at times. Because all humans taste different, the giants have certain preferences; all detest Greece as a hunting ground, however. This is because the flavors supposedly reflect the names and/or principal exports of their native land: therefore, Greeks taste greasy, Danes taste like dogs (Labradors - those from Labrador taste like Great Danes), and Swedes taste sweet and sour, people from Wales taste of fish because the name sounds like whales and so on. Turks from Turkey taste of Turkish Delight, those from Brazil taste of Brazil Nuts whilst those from Panama taste strongly of Hats.

Editions

• ISBN 0-224-02040-4 (hardcover, 1982)
• ISBN 0-374-30469-6 (hardcover, 1982)
• ISBN 0-590-06019-8 (paperback, 1982)
• ISBN 0-435-12279-7 (hardcover, 1984)
• ISBN 0-14-031597-7 (paperback, 1984)
• ISBN 0-14-034019-X (paperback, 1985)
• ISBN 1-85715-924-1 (hardcover, 1993)
• ISBN 0-679-42813-5 (hardcover, 1993)
• ISBN 0-14-130105-8 (paperback, 1998)
• ISBN 0-14-130283-6 (paperback, 1999)
• ISBN 0-14-131137-1 (paperback, 2001)
• ISBN 0-224-06452-5 (hardcover, 2002)
• ISBN 978-0-14-241038-7 / ISBN 0-14-241038-1 (paperback, 2007)