Augustus Gloop
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Augustus Gloop is the glutton of the five main child characters in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is the first of the children to find the golden ticket that signifies one's invitation to the factory. He is also the first of the child characters to be effectively kicked out for drinking out of Mr. Wonka's chocolate river, getting sucked up a large pipe, and nearly getting turned into a rather fetching chocolate.
His nationality isn't mentioned in the book, but both film versions portray him as German (in the 1971 film, he is from fictional "Düsselheim", in 2005, from Düsseldorf). Interestingly, his parents are similar in both versions. In the 1971 version, the entire family is obese; his father is seen only once, eating a television microphone. His mother is the parent who accompanies him to the Chocolate Factory and is perhaps an overly doting parent, as suggested in the novel. The 2005 version portrays her similarly. In this version, his father is a butcher who is just as gluttonous as his son. His mother in the 1971 film, however, tells him to "save some for later", meaning that she is limiting her son's food consumption.
Augustus, as mentioned by the Oompa-Loompas, is a nincompoop, or idiot. He is also a very greedy and porky character.
The four naughty children appear to parallel some of the Seven Deadly Sins. In this case, Augustus naturally represents gluttony.
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[edit] Different versions of Augustus
Gloop is perhaps the most uniformly portrayed of the children between all three versions. He is a stereotypical "fat kid" who is always seen eating large quantities of sweets and chocolate. The reason he was the first to find a Golden Ticket is always said to be because he always bought large amounts of chocolate anyway. However, there are some differences:
[edit] Original Novel
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character | |
|---|---|
| Augustus Gloop | |
| Gender | Male |
| Personality | Rude; enjoys eating. |
| Family | Father: Mr. Gloop, Mother: Mrs. Gloop |
| Town/City the character lives in | n/a |
| Portrayed by | |
In the original novel, Augustus Gloop is shown as a fat child whose mother encourages his eating habits, saying that eating is his hobby, and that his habits are better than him being a hooligan. She is blissfully unaware of the results of unhealthy eating, thinking that Augustus wouldn’t eat if he didn’t need to. Augustus is described as an enormous boy who has fat bulging from every fold, with two greedy eyes peering out of his dough-ball of a head.
[edit] 1971 film
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character | |
|---|---|
| Augustus Gloop | |
 |
|
| Michael Bollner as Augustus Gloop in the 1971 original | |
| Gender | Male |
| Personality | Polite, but is very gluttonous. |
| Family | |
| Town/City the character lives in | Dusselheim, Germany |
| Portrayed by | Michael Bollner |
In the 1971 film, he has decent table manners, doesn't eat just chocolate, is very polite and nice to Charlie and the other children, and he isn't as round as he is in the book and 2005 movie. He also expresses sympathy for Mr. Wonka's financial burden of making fudge. Because of his single fault, nice demeanor, and harsh demise that leaves him screaming, this portrayal of Augustus is sympathetic.
[edit] 2005 Movie
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character | |
|---|---|
| Augustus Gloop | |
 |
|
| "Augustus is what he eats."' | |
| Gender | Male |
| Personality | Similar to the book (Rude; gluttonous.) |
| Family | |
| Town/City the character lives in | Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Portrayed by | Philip Wiegratz |
Augustus seems to be quite unintelligent and a bit of a bully in the 2005 version. He does not speak as much as the other children, being too busy stuffing his face with chocolate; indeed Augustus's face is seemingly-perpetually covered in chocolate. (As the first kid to be kicked out of the factory, however, it can be argued that there is little time for him to develop much of a personality.) His diet of eating simply just chocolate seems quite unhealthy and leaves him obese, he is quite cruel to Charlie at the beginning of the film by telling him to get his own chocolate; his mom doesn't scold him for it either. Augustus is quite fat.
In the 2005 film Augustus's home town "Düsseldorf, Germany" looks like a small typical southern German (Bavarian), Austrian or Swiss town during winter, having Alps mountains in the background. However, the real Düsseldorf is the capital city of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the lower Rhine plains. The city is also quite close to the Ruhr Valley metropolitan area in Germany, an extremely industrialized part of Europe where it would very hard to find wooden houses similar to those found in the 2005 film.
[edit] Augustus' Endgame
His fate in the 1971 film isn't known apart from Willy Wonka's insistence that all four bad children would be intact. In the novel his body shape is altered dramatically: he becomes extremely thin from being squeezed in the pipe. In the 2005 film, his body shape is altered to be slightly narrower from being squeezed in the pipe and he is covered in chocolate. As revealed on the official soundtrack, Danny Elfman's "Augustus Gloop" song for the 2005 film strongly suggests that part of the boy's punishment is that he will become chocolate and finally be "loved by people everywhere," but the chunk of lyrics on which that suggestion pivots was cut from the film for time purposes. The song also mentions that he had been loathed by people everywhere (despite the German media circus talking to him amiably).
[edit] Augustus Gloop Song
[edit] Plot
The Augustus Gloop Song is the first Oompa-Loompa song in the book and its subsequent film versions. It is sung in the Chocolate Room after Augustus is sent up the pipe.
The original song talks about how repulsive Augustus is and what he will go through in the Strawberry-flavored chocolate-coated fudge machine. The 1971 version talks about what happens if one overeats. The 2005 version restored some of Dahl's original lyrics; it reassures the group that Augustus will be unharmed, but he will be altered. All three versions state the same point, that Augustus Gloop is a gluttonous child.
[edit] Portion of lyrics
[edit] Book
Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop!
The great big greedy nincompoop!
How long can we allow this beast
To gorge and guzzle, feed and feast
On everything he wanted to?
Great Scott, it simply wouldn't do!
[edit] 1971 Film
What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?
Eating as much as an elephant eats?
What are you at getting terribly fat?
What do you think will come of that?
I don't like the look of it!
[edit] 2005 Film
Augustus Gloop, Augustus Gloop
The great big greedy nincompoop.
Augustus Gloop, so big and vile
so greedy,foul and infantile.
"Come on" we cried, "The time is ripe,
To send him shooting up the pipe."
But don't dear children be alarmed.
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed
[edit] Video game
In the video game, Charlie spends four levels freeing Augustus from the pipe: the Chocolate Room, Jelly Bean Stalk Room, the Candy Coating Room, and the Chocolate Room (second time). Also, the video game suggests Augustus may be from Bavaria as Wonka states at the beginning of the Fudge Room level, "That Bavarian bully has done it again!"
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) | |
|---|---|
| Characters: |
Willy Wonka | Oompa-Loompas | Charlie Bucket | Augustus Gloop | Veruca Salt | Violet Beauregarde | Mike Teavee | Grandpa Joe | Mr. Slugworth | The Candy Man | Prince Pondicherry | Vermicious knid | Mr. and Mrs. Teavee | Mr. Salt | Mr. Beauregarde | Mrs. Beauregarde | Dr. Wilbur Wonka (only in Tim Burton film) |
| Books: | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator |
| Films: | 1971 | 2005 |
| Misc.: | Differences between the book and film versions | Golden Ticket | Wonka Bar | Video Game | other Roald Dahl films | other Roald Dahl books |
