Matilda by Roald Dahl
Often touted as most children’s favorite author, Roald Dahl is not always so popular with parents. The children in his books are rude to adults and not at all good role models for youngsters.
This is probably true, but there are reasons for this.
Roald Dahl's Childhood Influenced His Children's Books
Born in Llandaff, Wales, on September 13, 1916, Roald Dahlhad a troubled childhood which greatly contributed to his accord and sympathy for children who are bullied by adults. He died on November 23, 1990.
The only boy with four sisters, Roald was raised by his mother after his father died when Roald was only three. The first eight years were spent at home, attending Llandaff Cathedral School near Cardiff, Wales. His parents had emigrated to Wales from Norway during World War I.
His father kept a diary all during his service in that war, and his mother was a gifted story-teller regaling her children with stories from Norse sagas and classics.
It was when he went away to private school (British "public" school) that he learned how brutal adults can be to children. He has declared that "the adult is the enemy of the child".
Dahl Never Forgot What It Was Like to Be a Child
Matilda is a good example of this. Written late in his writing career, Roald Dahl admits that this book was not easy to write. In fact, he wrote the whole book and then rewrote it in its entirety because he felt he had not got it right the first time.
This is the only book he ever had to rewrite completely. His problem was that the character kept changing as the book progressed and he did not keep up with her. The character of Matilda is, indeed, very complex. The adult characters, on the other hand, are very black and white.
It is easy to see how Matilda came into being from this background. The kind teacher, Miss Honey, was likely patterned after his mother. But the evil Miss Trunchbull had more sinister experiences leading to her construction. Roald was appalled at how vicious teachers could be when he attended private school (British "public" school).
In his autobiography, Boy, Tales of Childhood, Dahl tells how he hated the matron who ruled the dormitories, leading him to allege that "The adult is the enemy of the child".
When his own children went off to "public" school, Dahl wrote letters to them twice a week to help them keep their spirits up.
The Character of Matilda
She is a little girl of only three years of age at the beginning of the book. Her parents are terrible. Adults usually are terrible in Roald Dahl’s books. Matilda’s father dressed in bizarre clothes and never moved about without making a tremendous amount of noise. He had two interests in life: make money and pass his disreputable business practices on to his son.
He hardly noticed that he had a daughter, and when he did notice Matilda, he had nothing pleasant to say to her. Her mother was fat and lazy and not at all interested in being a caring mother. Every day, she went out to play bingo, leaving her little girl alone to fend for herself.
Fortunately, Matilda is up to the challenge of raising herself. As with Dahl’s other child characters, everything about Matilda is exaggerated. She’s extremely young, extremely small, and extremely intelligent and self-sufficient. First she teaches herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines she finds around the house.
Then she memorizes her mother’s cookbook. When she gets bored with that, she finds her way to the local public library and quickly devours all the children’s books before moving onto a long list of classics by Dickens, Hemingway, Austen, Bronte, and others.
Not your average three-year-old, obviously.
How Matilda Succeeds in School
The story continues when Matilda goes to school.
There are two teachers that figure largely in the book: Miss Honey, who is sweet, of course, and Miss Trunchbull who is very much like a big angry bull.
Matilda heroically routs the enemies (her parents and Miss Trunchbull) and rescues Miss Honey and herself from their respective problems.
Matilda is a long book (about 240 pages) for children ages 8 to 12, but younger children can enjoy it too. The text is complemented with illustrations by the well-known and award-winning artist, Quentin Blake.
SOURCES / CITATIONS
Official Website of Roald Dahl
Official Website of Quentin Blake
Artwork Images by Quentin Blake