Sravanthi Challapalli
The relationship between the educator and the educated is often underlined by fear. Many students are afraid of the teacher while the much feared teacher may, at the very least, just be someone who is trying her best to maintain discipline. In children’s literature, the teacher is often a daunting creature and school a terrifying place. However, the opposite is also true: Teachers can be angels, and friends, succour. Matilda, by Roald Dahl, also gives
expression to these themes.
The protagonist of the book, Matilda, has taught herself to read by the age of three, and by five, she has run through the children’s books section of the library. She is ready for authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, John Steinbeck and George Orwell. Her mean and myopic parents have no idea of her genius. When she is finally admitted to school, she encounters Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress who is wont to lift children up by their hair or their ears and fling them afar with all the skill of the hammer throw athlete she used to be. Then there is Miss Honey, the teacher who tries with all her might to do justice to Matilda’s intellect. How Matilda overcomes the difficulties she faces at home and school
with her intelligence and helps Miss Honey reclaim what is rightfully hers makes up the rest
of the book.
The themes in Matilda include child abuse in terms of parental neglect and bullying at school by authorities, the misuse of power, intelligence vs. foolishness, and the triumph of
victory over evil. It shows how students and teachers can form mutually beneficial bonds if teachers like Miss Honey abound. Except her, none of the adult characters in the book are nice persons. Matilda’s classmates are presented in a good light too.
On one level, the book comes across as fantasy. Can a child really read so much at such an early age, can a headmistress throw a child across a room without causing grievous
damage, and is telekinesis, the power to move things with your eyes, real at all? However, fiction is all about the willing suspension of disbelief and taking to heart the truths it reflects, so there’s much to be learnt and enjoyed in Matilda.
