Matilda
(Roald Dahl)
Like the best children's authors, when reading any of Roald Dahl's books, one is left very much with the impression that Roald Dahl has not forgotten what it was like to be a child. In the world that Roald Dahl creates within 'Matilda' most of the adults are vile of character and idiotic in nature, and sometimes, nothing short of tyrannical.
The heroine, Matilda, is a remarkable little girl, 'extraordinary...sensitive and brilliant' in the words of the narrator. Born into a family where the television, and meals on trays in front of the television, rule the roost, Matilda could not be more incongruous if she tried. Matilda's parents could be politely described as foul, and think as little of their clever little daughter, as they applaud in her very ordinary brother. By the age of one and a half, Matilda could talk; using a vocabulary more complex than most adult's. By the age of three Matilda had taught herself to read; using the one book her parents had in the house: a cookery book. Left to her own devices in the house, aged four, while her mother goes to the bingo, Matilda visits the local library and digests the classics of literature more easily and more quickly than someone ten times her age. When Matilda finally attends school her spectacular mind is discovered by every child's idea of the perfect teacher, Miss Honey. Unfortunately, the school is run by a bullish frightening headmistress whose name sums her up perfectly: Miss Trunchbull. Matilda is essentially a story that quite brilliantly portrays the stupidity of adults, and how power, be it through parenthood or as a headmistress, can be abused to quite astounding effect. It is a tale documenting bullying, towards children and, perhaps surprisingly, adults.
Of course, the book was written for children, and as such is full of hilarious exploits as Matilda exacts revenge on her parents and on Miss Trunchbull. Roald Dahl could bitingly satirise with the best of them, but Matilda is a book that will make a child giggle with glee, and as Matilda herself declares: "Children are not so serious as grown-ups and they love to laugh".
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