“All three of them were about as nasty and mean as any men you could meet.”

The three farmers—Boggis, Bunce, and Bean—are characterized as universally detested. They are archetypal “bad guys” who are predictably established as the antagonists of Fantastic Mr. Fox.

“He was enormously fat. This was because he ate three boiled chickens smothered with dumplings every day for breakfast, lunch and supper.”

Boggis’s hyperbolic diet and fatness are characterization tools used to illustrate his greed and gluttony.

“He mashed the livers into a disgusting paste and then stuffed the paste into the doughnuts. This diet gave him a tummy-ache and a beastly temper.”

Like Boggis, Bunce’s diet is a characterization tool used to illustrate his greed and gluttony. Roald Dahl uses the farmers to allegorically suggest that hoarding riches and enjoying luxuries without human connection lead to an unhappy life.