The interesting thing that struck me about Dahl's work on this rereading -- or rather the interesting thing that struck me about children's fiction in general and made me say "oh hey, Dahl does that a hell of a lot, doesn't he?" -- is the recurring thing of being a child in the power of an adult who is not sane and who means you harm.

Seriously this is all over children's fiction and I think the reason it's there is twofold: (a) every child at some point in hisher life feels that way, and (b) the only way a child can justifiably do anything seriously risky and important is if the adults who ought to be responsible for the child's welfare are either absent, helpless, incompetent, or evil.

...possibly I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I COULD GO ON.