Blog 13 B/C-Notable Moment and Analysis: James and the Giant Peach

Blog 13 B/C-Notable Moment and Analysis: James and the Giant Peach

After reading James and the Giant Peach, it is hard for me to choose one notable moment. There are so many situations in the book where I’m drawn in. Whether it is the evil aunts getting crushed by the giant peach, or it is James catching seagulls to tie to the stem of the peach the book was enjoyable for me. My favorite part beyond all is when James introduces all of the insects to the city of New York.
He first introduces the centipede and makes up a poem about him.

“My friends, this is the Centipede, and let me make it known
He is so sweet and gentle that (although he’s overgrown)
The Queen of Spain, again and again, has summoned him by phone
To baby-sit and sing and knit and be a chaperone
When nurse is off and all the royal children are alone”

Once James is done introducing the Centipede he then goes on to introduce the earthworm, then the grass-hopper, glow-worm, miss spider, ladybug, and finally silkworm. Each poem was unique in its own way describing each insect. Upon finishing up the last poem about the silkworm, the insects and James are all saved from the Empire State Building. This is then pretty much the end of the story and then it is illustrated that James lives inside the giant peach pit in the middle of central park.


Analysis

For my analysis of James and the Giant Peach, I have decided to do it over whether or not James lived happily ever after or not. After finishing reading the book myself I was under the impression that he did live happily ever after. James was no longer trapped by his evil aunts in their house up on the hill. He now had friends that were other children, and he was not isolated away from society any longer. Also, he had a home where he lived inside the giant peach pit and had visitors every day. He was described as being famous and had more fame than most of the other insects that made their way over to the United States with him.

On the other hand, you can argue that James did not have a happy ending. First of all he lived in a peach pit in the middle of central park in one of the most crime ridden cities in the United States. He had not real family at all anymore. He only had a celebrity sort of fame and was never going to be able to live the life of a just a child. He had visitors come, but he did not have any friends. All in all, I feel that Roald Dahl intended for the book to have a happy ending for James, so I would have to argue with the first side of the story I argued.