Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Wonka-Vite is one of Wonka’s fantastical inventions, a pill that allows a person to decrease in age at a rate of 20 years. For Grandma Georgina, Grandpa George, and Grandma Josephine—people experiencing the aches and pains of old age—Wonka-Vite is a symbol of overwhelming temptation that reveals their true nature. As in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, only a select few have the requisite selflessness and forbearance to resist overindulging in the wonders of Wonka’s factory, and those who do not are fittingly punished.

The three bedbound grandparents eagerly grab at the offered pill bottle of Wonka-Vite: “Six scrawny hands shot out and started scrabbling to get hold of it” (108). The verb “scrabbling” illustrates the greedy desperation of the grandparents, who fight to seize the pills for themselves. This is especially the case for Grandma Georgina, who greedily declares that she should have the most Wonka-Vite pills: “That’s six for me and three for each of you!” (109). Although she does eventually relent and share, Grandma Georgina is punished most severely for her greed, first by being banished to Minusland, and then by aging to 358 years old with Vita-Wonk; the other grandparents become babies. As a consequence of their overindulgence, they are ultimately returned to their original age, rather than benefiting from the anti-aging properties of Wonka-Vite, which they could have enjoyed if they’d heeded Wonka’s advice and taken the recommended dose.