Invention of Vita-Wonk

Class 7EnglishHoneycomb

Introduction

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The story The Invention of Vita-Wonk is an excerpt from Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The story is about the invention of a magical thing that helps to accelerate a person's ageing process. While inventing the potion named Vita-Wonk, the inventor Mr Willy Wonka talks a lot about the stuff with Charlie. Mr Wonka previously invented Wonke-Vite. But this did not serve the purpose. The invention of Vita-Wonk happens in a continuation of the invention of Wonke-Vite.

What is the significance of the story?

The excerpt we read as a story here is all about preparing for the invention of the magical potion named Vita-Wonk. The incidents that happen in the story are related to the invention. The characters Mr Willy Wonka and Charlie work on the invention. So, the title of the story is justified.

Summary

The part of the novel here depicts a story of Willy Wonka's invention of a potion named Vita-Wonk. In the beginning, there is an indication of a potion called Wonka-Vite. But the strength of it is too much. It is supposed to make people younger. But the strength of it brings people to minus age, making them disappear! A person's age reverses and becomes minus eighty-seven years old instead of getting younger. Then Willy Wonka starts inventing a new potion that works to make people older. In such a way, he can adjust the minus age of people. The conversation between Willy Wonka with Charlie reveals the whole thing in the story.

We see Willy Wonka starting the process of inventing something that accelerates ageing. He tells Charlie that he is about to start making the thing. Charlie seems to be excited. Mr Wonka asks Charlie what the oldest living thing in the world is, and Charlie promptly answers that it is a tree. Now Mr Wonka rectifies his answer, saying it is particularly the Bristlecone pine. It is found generally in Nevada, USA, on Wheeler Peak. He also adds that a Bristlecone pine can be over 4000 years old. He tells Charlie to consult with a dendrochronologist if he has questions. Now Mr Wonka enters the Great Glass Elevator.

His intention is to gather useful things from the oldest living things in the world.

He hoarded -

• A pint of sap from the Bristlecone pine

• A part of the toe-nail of 168 years old Russian farmer

• A 200-year-old tortoise's egg

• A fifty-one years old horse's tail

• Whiskers from a thirty-six years old cat

• The tail of a two hundred and seven years old Tibetan rat

• Black teeth of a Grimalkin that is ninety-seven years old

• Knucklebones of seven hundred years old Cattaloo

Now he tells Charlie how hard he worked to collect everything from across the globe. He provides him with the minute details like collecting hair or an eyebrow for the invention. He continues to explain his capabilities while collecting things. Sometimes he utilised the time when an animal was asleep to protect himself. He also tells his terrible experience of facing the Venomous Squerkle. It can throw venom to the human eye from fifty yards away. He also speaks about the Whistle-Pig, Bobolink, Skrock, Pollyfrog, Stinging Slug and Giant Curlicue.

Mr Wonka says that he has so many experiences collecting such aged things he cannot even share all of them now because he has limited time. Now he needs to pay attention to prepare the potion. He adds further how he has prepared the potion after a lot of boiling, bubbling and experimenting with the things in his Inventing Room. The thing he invents here is an oily black liquid which he has produced in a minimal amount, and only a tiny cupful is ready to test. Further, he shares the experience of testing it on a 20-year-old volunteer named Oompa-Loompa. He tested the courageous volunteer with four drops of the liquid.

Now Charlie becomes eager to know the outcome of the examination. Mr Wonka tells him that the examination is successful. He says the person is getting older, showing the signs of an older person. The person is now a seventy-five years old aged man. Thus Mr Willy Wonka invents Vita-Wonk.

Explanation of the story

The story The Invention of Vita-Wonk is interesting for children. The scientific experiments that show magical outcomes bring a feeling of surprise and joy to the readers' minds. Here we see Charlie conversing with Mr Willy Wonka in the story. And all the details we get from the conversation. The person named Mr Wonka is already into scientific experiments, which we come to know at the beginning of the excerpt. The experiment with the potion went wrong, so someone went to minus eighty-seven age instead of getting younger. This potion is known as Wonka-Vite. Now Mr Wonka is sure he needs to prepare a different mixture to bring the age to the right point. So, he needs something that would make the ageing faster. The minus age can be reversed by ageing rapidly.

Here the invention procedure of the Vita-Wonk starts. He leaves, entering the Great Glass Elevator to collect some special and particular things. The ingredients of the potion he is about to prepare are unusual. One cannot even believe that such things exist in the world! Charlie is amazed to see Mr Wonka's determination and knowledge. Mr Wonka tells him the details of the ingredients. He also lets him know how difficult it was to collect such unique things. Sometimes Mr Wonka risked his life to collect such ingredients for preparing the potion. Mr Wonka's process to prepare the magical potion starts with bubbling, boiling and also testing. It becomes a great success as he sees the person he experimented with is ageing fast. He declares the potion as Vita-Wonk.

Conclusion

Here we see the endless willpower of Mr Wonka to create a magical elixir. He does not even stop after failing once. He tries to rectify his mistake by creating another potion. His knowledge is limitless. And he wants to share it with young Charlie Bucket. Charlie is interested in the magical inventions of Mr Wonka.

The author shows a boy's eagerness to learn new things in the story. The excerpt we read here evolves around the activities of these two characters. The Invention of Vita-Wonk is an interesting story about unusual experiments and surprising results.

FAQs

Q1. Who invented Vita-Wonk?

Ans. Mr Willy Wonka invented Vita-Wonk.

Q2. What is Wonka-Vite?

Ans. Wonka-Vite is a magical potion that reverses a human's age.

Q3. What is Vita-Wonk?

Ans. Vita-Wonk is a magical elixir that makes people older faster.

Q4. Was Vita-Wonk effective as expected?

Ans. The result of the invention of the Vita-Wonk was as expected because it was effective on the volunteer.