Introduction

British author Roald Dahl first made his mark as a leading writer of children’s literature in 1961, when he published James and the Giant Peach. His subsequent books include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, and his 1982 novel The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), which was illustrated by Quentin Blake and based on a segment of Dahl’s 1975 book Danny, the Champion of the World. His books have been viewed as darker than traditional children’s tales, particularly with respect to the revenge that is at times wrought on adults by children. In all, Dahl has written 19 children’s books.

This study guide utilizes the 1984 Puffin Books version of The BFG.

Content Warning: This guide quotes and discusses the source text’s use of outdated and derogatory language to refer to people’s nationalities.

Plot Summary

The BFG opens with Sophie, an eight-year-old girl who lives in an orphanage in an English village, looking out into the street from her bed in her dormitory. At first the street is quiet and deserted, but then she sees a huge man slinking along, hiding in the shadows. Sophie watches the person approach. He has with him a suitcase and an object that looks like a trumpet; he blows his trumpet silently into the bedroom across the street. The giant notices Sophie and she runs to her bed and attempts to hide. The giant, however, approaches, reaches through the window, and carries her off in her blanket. He speeds off on foot, running for hours, and eventually carries her into a cave in a strange and barren country. Sophie later learns that she is in Giant Country. In the cave, which is the giant’s home, Sophie begs the giant not to eat her. This makes him laugh and he tells her that he is not going to eat her, as he is the Big Friendly Giant (BFG).

Although he does not plan to eat Sophie, he tells her that she has to now stay with him forever, because no one can ever learn that he—or the other giants—exists. He tells her she needs to be cautious because if she leaves his cave then the neighbors, nine man-eating giants far bigger than he is, will catch her and eat her.

The BFG tells Sophie that since he does not eat humans, he subsists on snozzcumbers, which are a disgusting variety of vegetable that look like cucumbers. When another giant, the Bloodbottler, arrives, Sophie hides in a snozzcumber and is almost eaten by the Bloodbottler, who takes a bite that includes Sophie, spits it out, sending Sophie flying across the cave, then leaves. Fortunately, the Bloodbottler does not notice Sophie.

The BFG takes Sophie to Dream Country in order to capture dreams. They encounter the nine man-eating giants on the way, who taunt the BFG and throw him and kick him. Once in Dream Country, the BFG shows Sophie how he catches dreams, but while doing so catches a nightmare. The BFG tells her about the items he carries with him every night. The suitcase contains jars in which he stores the dreams that he catches. He then blows them into the windows of children with the trumpet-like device. The good dreams are given to children throughout the world and the bad ones he usually destroys, although when they return to Giant Country, he decides to blow the nightmare he just caught into the Fleshlumpeater’s face, which causes a huge fight among the giants.

Sophie suggests that they involve the Queen of England to help imprison the other giants to prevent them from killing more people. The BFG mixes a dream which conveys the information about the existence of the nine man-eating giants, as well as himself. Sophie leads the BFG to Buckingham Palace. The BFG gives the Queen the nightmare containing the man-eating giants. Included in the dream is an awareness of Sophie being present on the windowsill of the Queen’s bedroom, which leads the Queen to believe in the information contained in the dream, and she wakes up to see Sophie. She invites Sophie and the BFG to breakfast and they discuss a plan to vanquish the other giants.

A battalion of helicopters is dispatched to follow the BFG and Sophie to the homeland of the giants, where they tie them up while sleeping. They are not very difficult to capture, with the exception of Fleshlumpeater, who awakens while the British forces try to tie him up. Sophie and the BFG dupe Fleshlumpeater into putting his limbs in position to be tied by telling him that a poisonous snake has bitten him, when in actuality, it was Sophie stabbing him with her brooch.

The helicopters transport the giants to London and imprison them in a deep pit. A castle is built as a home for the BFG, and a cottage for Sophie, both on the grounds of Buckingham Palace next to the Queen’s castle. They are, for many years, the recipients of gifts from all of the countries around the world that were ever threatened by giants. The novel, it is learned at the end, was written by the BFG as a record of his adventures with Sophie.