Resizing - a recurring theme in fiction
Published on 8th April 2020
Resizing (including miniaturization, growth, shrinking, and enlargement) is a recurring theme in fiction, in particular in fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction.
Brobdingnag is a fictional land in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels occupied by giants. Lemuel Gulliver visits the land after the ship on which he is travelling is blown off course and he is separated from a party exploring the unknown land..
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has repeated resizing themes, where Alice grows or shrinks as she eats foodstuffs or drinks potions. According to Rose Lovell-Smith, Alice's size-changes continually reposition her in the food chain, serving as a way to make her acutely aware of the "eat or be eaten" attitude that permeates Wonderland.
In the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Violet Beauregarde grows into a giant blueberry using magical gum and Mike Teevee uses Wonka's shrink ray to miniaturize himself.
The novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth by H. G. Wells describes a kind of food that can accelerate and extend the growth process, which when introduced to the world causes great upheavals. In Wells' novel, giants have great powers, and they seek to continue growing and improving; only the small people with their small minds stand in their way. This is a symbol of social groups with great potential suppressed by mainstream society, and an expectation for them to eventually change the world in a radical way. Though one of Wells' lesser-known works, many of the features of the novel have been incorporated into other works.
In the children's book series The Magic School Bus, the bus is able to shrink to a very small size in order to allow science field trips to impossible locations such as the human body.