23 pages • 46 minutes read
Roald Dahl, Illustr. Quentin BlakeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Roald Dahl uses the unnamed narrator to connect with younger readers. Using direct address and casual, conversational diction, readers feel as though they are being told a story orally. The narrator addresses the reader directly, telling them: “Last week, something very funny happened to the Gregg family. I am going to tell you about it as best I can” (7).
By leaving the protagonist unnamed, readers can better imagine the narrator for themselves. Dahl provides only the basic details of a rural English town. Much like the unnamed narrator, Dahl leaves the setting’s specifics up to the audience to fill in for themselves. This lack of detail is a writing trope often found in fables. Fables contain a moral lesson meant for everyone. When fables are vague about the time and location where a story takes place, it can resonate with more readers.
The Magic Finger can be read as a fable. The novel’s fantastical elements, talking animals, straightforward plotline, and moral fit the genre. The book’s cover asks: “What happens when the hunter becomes the hunted?” (1).
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