21 Good-bye Violet
‘This gum,’ Mr Wonka went on, ‘is my latest, my greatest, my most fascinating
invention! It’s a chewing-gum meal! It’s… it’s… it’s… That tiny little strip of gum lying
there is a whole three-course dinner all by itself!’
‘What sort of nonsense is this?’ said one of the fathers.
‘My dear sir!’ cried Mr Wonka, ‘when I start selling this gum in the shops it will
change everything! It will be the end of all kitchens and all cooking! There will be no
more shopping to do! No more buying of meat and groceries! There’ll be no knives and
forks at mealtimes! No plates! No washing up! No rubbish! No mess! Just a little strip of
Wonka’s magic chewing-gum – and that’s all you’ll ever need at breakfast, lunch, and
supper! This piece of gum I’ve just made happens to be tomato soup, roast beef, and
blueberry pie, but you can have almost anything you want!’
‘What do you mean, it’s tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie?’ said Violet
Beauregarde.
‘If you were to start chewing it,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘then that is exactly what you would
get on the menu. It’s absolutely amazing! You can actually feel the food going down your
throat and into your tummy! And you can taste it perfectly¹! And it fills you up! It
satisfies you! It’s terrific!’
‘It’s utterly² impossible,’ said Veruca Salt.
‘Just so long as it’s gum,’ shouted Violet Beauregarde, ‘just so long as it’s a piece of
gum and I can chew it, then that’s for me!’ And quickly she took her own world-record
piece of chewing-gum out of her mouth and stuck it behind her left ear. ‘Come on, Mr
Wonka,’ she said, ‘hand over this magic gum of yours and we’ll see if the thing works.’
‘Now, Violet,’ said Mrs Beauregarde, her mother; ‘don’t let’s do anything silly, Violet.’
‘I want the gum!’ Violet said obstinately³. ‘What’s so silly?’
‘I would rather you didn’t take it,’ Mr Wonka told her gently. ‘You see, I haven’t got it
quite right yet. There are still one or two things…’
‘Oh, to blazes with that!’ said Violet, and suddenly, before Mr Wonka could stop her,

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