How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Sophie saw that under the cloak he was wearing a sort of collarless shirt and a dirty old leather waistcoat that didn’t seem to have any buttons. His trousers were faded green and were far too short in the legs. On his bare feet he was wearing a pair of ridiculous sandals that for some reason had holes cut along each side, with a large hole at the end where his toes stuck out. Sophie, crouching on the floor of the cave in her nightie, gazed back at him through thick steel-rimmed glasses. She was trembling like a leaf in the wind, and a finger of ice was running up and down the length of her spine. (4.17)
This description of the BFG makes him sound sort of…goofy, doesn’t it? Of course, Sophie’s still terrified, because he is a giant, but it feels like we readers are getting a clue from the description that the BFG isn’t so much dangerous as trying to find a way to fit in. Ain’t that cute?
Quote #2
“I is hungry!” the Giant boomed. He grinned, showing massive square teeth. The teeth were very white and very square and they sat in his mouth like huge slices of white bread.” (5.4)
See what Roald Dahl is doing here? By comparing the BFG’s teeth to bread, he’s reminding us how close Sophie feels she is to becoming food herself. Fingers crossed the giant confuses his teeth for a snack instead.
Quote #3
“Such wonderful and terrible sounds I is hearing!” he said. “Some of them you would never wish to be hearing yourself! But some is like glorious music!” He seemed almost to be transfigured by the excitement of his thoughts. His face was beautiful in its blaze of emotions. (7.109-110)
This is the first time we’re told that the BFG is beautiful. Before, he seemed sort of bumbling and silly. Maybe his beauty is the otherworldly type, like he’s catching a bit of the natural wonder that he is describing to Sophie.