Matilda’s World and the Real One

About Roald Dahl´s "Matilda"


Essay, 2005

13 Pages, Grade: 1,0


Excerpt


Matilda’s World and the Real One

I. Introduction

Taken for granted that children around, say, 10 years old do have an idea of what kind of a world they are living in by considering the world’s immediate, esp. social, impact on them (school, parents, friends, neighbourhood, teachers etc.), it goes almost without saying that they have to make use of their own fantasy in order to produce secondary worlds which become a necessity. The term world can point to a number of directions but what we can state about it is that children – because they have a somewhat narrow scope – have a better access to fictional worlds that are, of course, also to be found in any fairy tale, thus in any children’s book from Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter. The world s which are portrayed in these offer an ersatz world, one that seems more adventurous and fascinating to any child, regardless of how they consider their own reality to be. The reason for this is the reality they are born into, a reality that has to do with any sort of dangers which cause a constant threat to them.

The real world does not satisfy all of their needs and, above all, they do not rule (in) it. Their scope of action is quite restricted due to their little age, experience and – a circumstance quite clearly dealt with in Matilda – their bodies.

Though children’s books not infrequently take on the subject of children suffering under their own weaknesses, the major difference between the world in these books and the real world is that in the latter they cannot define the rules, nor can they rule. In a fictional world, however, they can become heroes and masters of their own fate, or even, anything and anyone. Here children can become free in an existential sense of the word. In order to gain this freedom the child must cope with a number of different and quite difficult and dangerous tasks. But what sort of world is it actually? An aforementioned ersatz world, a parallel world or just a copy of the real world they are desperately striving to escape from?

In any case, these fictitious worlds do not only include the “things in it” but quite frequently (cf. Harry Potter, Huck Finn etc.), focus strongly on their protagonists, a fictional child that is in many ways like any other child save in one thing: he or she is capable of ‘doing things’ the others cannot, thus being enabled to change the status quo of things (or of the world). This status quo, i.e. conflicts children generally encounter, is depicted in ironic, quite often exaggerated ways that the child heroes have to face and overcome. Of course, in order to accomplish this, it takes an extraordinary child and it is no coincidence that many a ‘successful’ children’s book either carries its protagonist(s)’s name in the title or is actually named after them. As is Roald Dahl’s Matilda.

As for the world Matilda lives in, it contains many elements of different genres (such as fairy tales etc.) that I will pay my closer attention to, hoping to yield some information on what these worlds include and what makes them so attractive to children and approach to the fantasies and the fantasy world of children.

II. Matilda universe: what/who is real, what/who is fiction?

As the writer and critic A.S. Byatt points out in her review on Harry Potter, children books contain caricatures of the real world which “has trains, hospitals, newspapers and competitive sport[1].” So does ‘Matilda’. She gets her beloved books by Dickens, Austen, Kipling, Orwell etc. from Mrs Phelps, the librarian at the ‘local’ library, in order to devour them on the spot or at home. As for ‘local’, we are not told by the narrator in which particular town the narration takes place. Thanks to some characters’ names such as Mrs Wormwood’s and Mrs Phelps’ we can suppose that the characters in Matilda are living in an English speaking country, and anyway, does the author really tell us that it is not a nice little village somewhere in Australia and what actually, except the (British English) language that is used, could make us think otherwise? Spain is mentioned at the end of the novel (p. 236) which can be reached from, say, New Zealand as well!). Coincidence? It seems simply unimportant since the locations and the different characters (which are anything but insipid!) act as variables in a parable story, actually not very much different from the one Matilda herself is reading at the beginning of the story: Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ Just as each character in Animal Farm stands for either iconic personalities (Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Goebbles) and/or for human vices and virtues (horses and donkeys = efficiency, loyalty; dogs and pigs = malice, intelligence), the characters in Matilda stand for universal human characteristics. In many ways, even the characters themselves are ‘caricatures’ of real people. Or are there really personalities that superficial such as Matilda’s parents, Mr and Mrs Wormwood, in real life, not to mention, of course, Matilda’s superhuman powers or Fred’s speaking parrot that says: “Rattle my bones? (p. 43)? Or “The Trunchbull”? Certainly not. But there are people in real life who are like them, sharing many of their features, esp. in terms of morals, thus their connection to and (lack of) sensitivity for both power and justice. And therefore the characters, and to some extent even Matilda’s character (which I must sadly admit), are mere caricatures, since they are sketched in an exaggerated way, being reduced to only some characteristics (Matilda = amiable, nice, [very] intelligent, morally aware); Mr Wormwood = ugly (even “ratty”, p. 23), unscrupulous, preferring money to (loving) his children; Mrs Wormwood = extremely superficial, uneducated, slovenly etc. But even these characters do not necessarily have to be perceived as disagreeable as one might expect since they have a comical, ridiculous side to them which distinguishes them from “real” villains. And what is more: nobody gets killed (except for Miss Honey’s father but this happened in the past) – after all, this is a children’s book.

Of course this has nothing to do with any sort of weakness in Dahl’s ability to portray characters, quite the contrary. It is these dualisms such as good and evil, or, to be more accurate, good versus evil, which constitute the story’s moral. There must be villains so as to render Matilda (even more) amiable: Matilda’s real antagonist is, of course, Mrs Trunchbull, the dreaded and (“really”) villainous headmistress. That’s because, in contrast to Matilda’s parents, she embodies malice and, what is more, there is hardly anything about her that could make children laugh at her. Despite her outward appearance, she is definitely not ridiculous.

She is the greatest threat even to adult readers who compassionately live through the poor children’s fears of Miss Trunchbull. But Matilda’s mere presence and the instant identification of the reader with her render even Miss Trunchbull “vincible” all the same.

The revelation of such exaggerated a character like Miss Trunchbull emphasizes the above mentioned dualism. It focuses on only some distinctive features or characteristics which is a technique frequently employed in caricatures. Any information that might distract the reader’s attention from this, is redundant and will destroy the caricature (note that ca ri cature contains the originally Latin word “ri dere” = to laugh).

Miss Honey’s is probably the only amiable adult in the entire book. Her character, as Matilda’s, is diametrically opposed to that of Miss Trunchbull. She is sensitive, caring and reasonable, in contrast to the other adults in the story (except for Miss Phelps, the librarian!).

And, of course, it would be useless trying to find fault with her because there is none (no cynicism intended). Except maybe that she is too honest, too kind, too dear. And it would likewise have been absurd had Dahl portrayed her vices as well. Because this is not the real world, which has so few heroes (except icons, maybe, such as that of Ché Guevara – who I personally consider anything but a hero), where even an act of good will might result in a disaster. The world of a fairy tale must not have ambiguity. That is why we are only provided with information which is relevant for the sake of the fictional narration a story that takes place in another world, that of the fantasies of (both) children (and adults).

[...]


[1] Source: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/18/1058035189828.html?oneclick=true

Excerpt out of 13 pages

Details

Title
Matilda’s World and the Real One
Subtitle
About Roald Dahl´s "Matilda"
College
University of Dortmund  (Anglistisches Institut)
Grade
1,0
Author
Year
2005
Pages
13
Catalog Number
V204005
ISBN (eBook)
9783656302995
ISBN (Book)
9783656303886
File size
463 KB
Language
English
Keywords
matilda’s, world, real, about, roald, dahl´s, matilda
Quote paper
StR Sener Saltürk (Author), 2005, Matilda’s World and the Real One, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/204005

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