Children’s Responses to Heroism in Roald Dahl’s Matilda

Abstract

The paper presents findings from a reader response study conducted in February 2013 with 150 children aged 7–11 in which they discussed extracts and clips from Roald Dahl’s Matilda (1988) and its cinematic adaptation (1996). Dahl and Matilda were chosen because they provoke emphatic responses from adults, often commenting on the effects of Dahl upon young readers, and thus exemplify the uneasy interface between adult perceptions of children’s literature and the child reader. Frequently the criticism and theory applied to children’s literature are an adult’s comments speculating on the child’s interpretation of the child character created by an adult and, with a few exceptions, critical theory surrounding children’s literature has shied away from reader response studies. After reviewing the critical literature surrounding the book and film of Matilda, we summarise the responses to these texts given by the children in a variety of formats. The children’s understanding of heroism and their responses and reactions to Matilda as a hero-character are used to reflect upon the established scholarship. The paper aims to balance literary adult criticism with audience interpretations of this very interesting heroine and in doing so add to our understanding and appreciation of the effects and effectiveness of Dahl’s work.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Details of the fifteen-minute montage of clips from Matilda that were shown (each section separated by a brief ‘fade to black’):

00:07:20–00:07:52: Matilda’s home life

Matilda is reading, backdrop of peaceful music. She is interrupted by Mr Wormwood (“Did any packages come today?”) who gets her age wrong, then becomes angry. He drags her down the hallway and throws her book on the floor (“Get up. Give me that book!”)

00:09:10–00:10:26: Matilda is a genius

Mr Wormwood comes home from work (“Son, one day you’re gonna have to earn your own living”) and boasts about the profit he has made on various cars. Matilda gets the complicated sum right and he accuses her of being a cheat (“Are you being smart with me? If you are, you’ll be punished.” “Punished for being smart?” “When a person is bad, that person has to be taught a lesson”).

00:15:20–00:17:50: The superglue trick and cake at Cafe Le Ritz

In his garage, Matilda points out to her father that his business practices are wrong (“Daddy, you’re a crook”) and they argue. He says “There’s nothing you can do about it” and there is a meaningful shot of a tube of superglue and his hat. Matilda’s mother interrupts saying she has won at Bingo and they are all going to Cafe Le Ritz. When they get there Mr Wormwood can’t remove his hat, in the process of trying to pull it off both her parents fall over, knocking over a large trolley of desserts, and a cake flies through the air and lands in front of Matilda, who eats it.

00:24:58–00:26:30: Miss Trunchbull throws Amanda Thripp

Matilda is in the schoolyard and whispers “Here she comes” as Miss Trunchbull appears. Miss Trunchbull shoves her out of the way and confronts Amanda Thripp, a small blond girl with pigtails. She picks her up by the hair and throws her like an Olympic hammer. Amanda barely clears the spiked iron fence, but then glides along the ground, collecting flowers as she skids to a halt, and stands up unhurt with a flourish.

01:05:48–01:06:48: Matilda has magic powers

Matilda is at home alone, concentrating on her breakfast cereal. As she thinks about all the horrible things her parents have said to her (shown in flashback) the narrator explains “No kid likes being yelled at. But Harry’s ranting and raving gave Matilda the key to her power. To unlock that power, all she had to do was practise.” Matilda knocks over the box of cereal just by staring at it, then levitates it and pours herself a bowl, then adds milk and a spoon.

01:17:33–01:24:53: Trunchbull’s defeat

Matilda says to Miss Honey “No more Miss Nice Girl” as Trunchbull enters their classroom. She shouts at all the children to line up (“Stomach in, shoulders back!) and accuses one of them of breaking into her house. Miss Honey tries to take the blame, but Trunchbull threatens her. Matilda distracts attention by levitating the chalk and writing a message on the blackboard that scares Trunchbull, who faints. The children all join in and ultimately drive Trunchbull from the school by throwing food and anything else to hand at her. The narrator concludes “Trunchbull was gone, never to be seen or heard from, never to darken a doorway again.”

Appendix 2

Tables of quantitative data