Character Sketch of Adolph Knipe:
Adolph Knipe:
Adolph Knipe is the central character of the story “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”. Knipe is a young engineer and doesn’t look smart and tidy. He is a “thin and tall person” having “long and toothy face” with “big ears on either side” which looks quite strange. His boss Mr. Bohlen finds him quite a “difficult boy” as he remains always “drooping and untidy, with spots on his jacket and hair falling all over his face”. He stood so sloppily before him which makes Mr. Bohlen puzzled “why couldn’t he stand up straight? “
Mr. Bohlen is so upset with this young man’s looks that he asks the boy to take rest and go on a holiday for some time. Knipe’s unpleasant looks are repeatedly pointed out by Mr. Bohlen.
Knipe is a “genius”. His engineering skills are extraordinary which is evident by Mr. Bohlen’s appreciation for his contribution in the making or the great automatic computing engine at the beginning of the story. Mr. Bohlen admits that without Knipe and some of his “ideas” this project might still be “on the drawing boards today”.
Later in the story, when Knipe explains his idea about the automatic grammatizator to write stories automatically to Mr. Bohlen, he admires the work and ability of the boy and thinks that the boy was really ” valuable – a sort of genius, almost – worth his weight in gold to the firm”. He also refers his work as an “astonishing piece of work”.
Although Knipe is a genius engineer but his ” heart’s not in it” because all his life” he wanted “to be a writer”. In the last ten years he has written hundreds of short stories approximately five hundred and sixty – six in his spare time. But sadly his writings have always been rejected by the editors of different literary magazines.
Knipe is a revengeful person. The continuous rejection of his stories from all the publishers, made Knipe quite sad, agitated and depressed. When he looks at the ” sloppy boring stuff ” that is published in the magazines week after week, it drives him “mad”. He has become revengeful towards the editors of the magazines. He chose to “revenging himself in the most devilish manner upon his greatest enemies”. He decides to take revenge against his enemies by building a machine which can produce literary works automatically.
Knipe comes out as a greedy person after the success of his new grammatizator. He does not believe in high moral standards in art. To monopolize the literary market he decides to “absorb all the other writers”. He produces a contract to simply “buy” them out and if they “won’t sell, sqeeze’em out”, and diminishes the competition. He offers them a lifetime contract with pay. All they have to do is undertake never to write another word and to let Knipe use their names on his own stuff. Initially he was rejected but at the end of his rounds of contacting authors, Knipe was able to convince about seventy percent of the writers to sign the contract. After the end of the year, half of all the novels produced in English language are produced by Knipe.
Knipe also has immense confidence and the power to convince others. It brings him success in persuading Mr. Bohlen to agree to the proposal of producing the automatic machine and then setting up a literary agency.
This way through the character of Knipe, Roald Dahl successfully reveals the tendency of human greed and controlling others.
Character Sketch of Mr. Bohlen:
Mr. Bohlen :
John Bohlen is another important character of Roald Dahl’s ” The Great Automatic Grammatizator”.
Mr. Bohlen has small hands, tiny mouth and narrow purple coloured lips. When he talks only his lower lip moves. He doesn’t like Knipe’s dirty clothes and messy looks. The way he dislikes Knipe and asks him to go and have rest shows that he behaves like a snob.
Mr. Bohlen is Adolph Knipe’s boss and the head of the firm of electrical engineers. Bohlen is a pragmatic and supportive boss who values innovation and productivity. He acknowledges and praises Knipe’s contributions to the company. When Knipe presents his plan of grammatizator, Bohlen was really impressed by the idea and accepts that the boy was “really valuable – a sort of genius, almost – worth his weight in gold to the firm”.
Mr. Bohlen is a considerate boss. He shows genuine interest in Knipe’s ideas and inventions. When Bohlen proposed the idea of the automatic grammatizator, Bohlen did not dismiss it outright but instead listened to his employee’s vision, this reflects his willingness to support his employee’s creativity and innovation. Also he recognised Knipe’s potential and provided him with the resources and freedom to explore his concept.
Mr. Bohlen is a money minded person. Initially he is not convinced with Knipe’s idea of automatic grammarizator because according to him there is no “money in it”. This shows Bohlen’s commercial and practical point of view. But when Knipe explains his way to make money from his machine, Mr. Bohlen instantly convinced by him.
Although Mr. Bohlen is the head of the company but he easily agrees to accept a junior position in the literary agency that both of them establish together. This also shows that he is money minded.
Mr. Bohlen is of course, a greedy person. He too indulges in unethical literary practices to earn money and fame along with Knipe.
This way Mr. Bohlen’s character also shows human greed for money and power.