Matilda: Roald Dahl Essay examples

Submitted By Ashleyng2014
Words: 485
Pages: 2
Open Document
Roald Dahl often said that the key to his success as a children’s writer was to conspire with children against adults. ‘It’s the path to their affections,’ he said, in an interview with a British newspaper in 1990. ‘It may be simplistic, but it is the way. Parents and schoolteachers are the enemy. The adult is the enemy of the child because of the awful process of civilizing this thing that when it is born is an animal with no manners, no moral sense at all.’
Matilda is a very good example of Dahl’s philosophy. Matilda’s parents and her headmistress are monsters who are in positions of power. They are adults seen from the child’s point of view; they want to threaten and hurt the children in their care. Dahl’s children’s books often put good against evil, - bad, bad adults against innocent, clever children who always win in the end.

Dahl’s stories are very funny and children love them for this reason. The bad adults are outrageously, comically bad, satirizing real life in a way that children recognize and find highly amusing. The author turns normal behaviour upside down. Parents normally complain that their children watch too much television. Matilda’s father, however, insists that she watch it. ‘“And what’s wrong with watching the TV?” her father said. His voice was suddenly soft and dangerous.’ Things in Dahl’s stories are exaggerated. Matilda’s teacher, Miss Honey, is so poor that her tiny sitting room has no real furniture, only three boxes. Miss Trunchbull, her aunt, has stolen Miss Honey’s house and forced her to work for £1 a week. Children recognize both the humour and absurdity of the situation and the injustice of it. Children, who are in the power of others, are deeply responsive to any kind of injustice, and it is this injustice that Dahl constantly plays on in his stories.
Dahl’s stories echo children’s deepest
Show More

Related Documents: Matilda: Roald Dahl Essay examples

Roald Dahl's Influences

Roald Dahl was influenced by various of things in his childhood. One of them was Candy shops. When Roald Dahl attended Llandaff Cathedral School, his only enjoyable memories were his trips to the candy shop. Influences also came from his time at Repton School. The school was close to Cadbury’s chocolate factory, where Dahl and his friends got to regularly test the variety of chocolate bars. Dahl’s childhood of loving sweets is exhibited in many of his books including ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’…

Words 212 - Pages 1

Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical

reasonably rocky start, London eventually began producing some of the world’s most successful musicals. Matilda the Musical by The Royal Shakespeare Company is no exception. This didn’t come about through previous strategies such as using celebrities, creating new pop song items, basing the story off an already existing popular band. But Matilda was adapted from a classic novel by author Roald Dahl. His books – though written for children – enticed adults and took them on a journey that would make them…

Words 1492 - Pages 6

Essay on American Novelists and John Galsworthy Girl

Cleave Little Women Louisa May Alcott Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Looking For Alibrandi Melina Marchetta Lord Of The Flies William Golding Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring J.R.R. Tolkien March Geraldine Brooks Mama Day Gloria Naylor Matilda Roald Dahl Memoirs Of A Geisha Arthur Golden Memory Keeper’s Daughter, The Kim Edwards Metamorphosis Franz Kafka Mister Pip Lloyd Jones My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin My Sister’s Keeper Jodie Picoult Native Son Richard Wright Nausea Jean Paul…

Words 907 - Pages 4