Matilda Summary

Matilda Wormwood is a young girl who is extraordinarily brilliant. At a young age, she can
solve complex math problems in her head and read books meant for adults. Unfortunately,
though, Matilda has grown up with parents who do not give her the attention and love she
deserves. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood and their son, Michael, are quite different from Matilda,
preferring to watch television than read books. They do not understand her, and often treat her
badly.
Rather than feel hopeless, Matilda plays tricks on her family to get back at them for the way they
treat her, replacing her father's hair tonic with platinum hair dye and using a parrot to convince
them that their house is haunted. These tricks give Matilda some agency, and distract her parents
from mistreating her.

Matilda starts school late for a girl her age, and is placed in the lowest form in Crunchem Hall
Primary School. Matilda's teacher, Miss Honey, is a wonderful, sweet woman, and she
immediately recognizes Matilda's intelligence and seeks to move her into the highest form,
where she can maximize her potential. Unfortunately, though, Crunchem Hall is run by a terrible
woman named Miss Trunchbull. She is massive and muscular, having been a former
Olympic athlete for Britain. She absolutely loathes children and treats the students horribly,
keeping them in line with terrible punishments such as the "Chokey," a thin closet with walls
made of nails where students have to stand straight up for hours when they misbehave.
Miss Trunchbull will not move Matilda to the highest form, so Miss Honey keeps her in her
class, giving her advanced books to study while the rest of the class learns basic lessons. She
does her best to nurture Matilda's mind and allow her to learn new things. Meanwhile, Matilda
quickly befriends the other students in school and learns about the ways they resist Miss
Trunchbull's terror. The peak of Miss Trunchbull's horrible antics is reached when she calls a
school-wide assembly, and makes a boy named Bruce Bogtrotter eat an entire giant
chocolate cake on his own in front of everyone as punishment for stealing a slice of hers. To her
surprise he does it without getting sick or quitting, a small victory for the students against her.
Miss Trunchbull comes into Miss Honey's class for one period each Thursday to take over, and
she terrorizes the students with difficult math and spelling questions and punishes them with
physical abuse when they cannot answer. Matilda's friend Lavender, seeking to get revenge on
Miss Trunchbull, sticks a large newt in her drinking glass, sending Miss Trunchbull into a
frenzy. Miss Trunchbull blames Matilda for placing the newt there, even though she did not do
it, and Matilda gets so angry that a peculiar sensation of power comes over her and she manages
to knock the water glass over with her mind, pouring the newt onto Miss Trunchbull's bosom.
Matilda is awed and frightened by her newfound power, and when she demonstrates it for Miss
Honey, the teacher invites her back to her cottage to talk. Matilda is mystified when she sees
Miss Honey's cottage, a tiny, sparse place hardly fit for living. Miss Honey reveals her life story
to Matilda: her parents died when she was young, leaving her in the care of her cruel aunt, who
has bullied her and forced her to work ever since. This terrible aunt takes nearly every cent of
Miss Honey's salary, so she cannot afford to live anywhere but this tiny shack. At last, Miss
Honey reveals who this aunt actually is: Miss Trunchbull.
Matilda comes up with a plan to get back at Miss Trunchbull and help Miss Honey. She hones
her power until she can make objects move in the air at her will, and then the following week
when Miss Trunchbull comes in to teach their class, she has the chalk move on its own and write
an ominous message to Miss Trunchbull. Miss Trunchbull believes that the message has come
from Magnus, Miss Honey's deceased father. Panicked, she disappears, moving out of his
house and leaving Crunchem Hall.
When Magnus's will mysteriously appears, it is revealed that his house belonged to Miss Honey
all along, as do his life savings. She moves in immediately, and Matilda is a frequent visitor.
Under the new head teacher, Matilda is moved up to the highest form, where she finds that
because her mind is challenged with hard work, she has lost the ability of telekinesis. She
discusses this with Miss Honey but decides she does not mind that it is gone.

When she returns home that day she sees her parents and brother in a frenzy, packing up to move
to Spain because her father has finally been caught for being involved with criminals who sell
stolen cars. Miss Honey offers to adopt Matilda so she can stay and live with her, and Matilda's
parents, who never truly cared about her, agree to the plan.

Matilda Character List

Matilda Wormwood
Matilda is the titular character and the protagonist of Roald Dahl’s Matilda.  Unlike her other
family members, who are selfish and dull, Matilda is a precocious child with a love of books and
a high aptitude for mathematics. Unfulfilled and neglected by her family, Matilda often comes up
with pranks to “punish” her parents. Her overwhelming mental power leads her to develop
telekinetic abilities which she perfects to defeat the cruel headmistress, Miss Trunchbull and help
her teacher Miss Honey. Though she is clearly uniquely gifted, Matilda remains an extremely
likable and humble young girl.
Miss Honey
Miss Honey is Matilda’s school teacher and the first person to appreciate and foster Matilda’s
extraordinary intelligence. She attempts to bring Matilda’s gift to the attention to Miss
Trunchbull and Matilda’s parents, but is coldly rebuffed. Miss Honey is a shy, sweet woman and
is beloved by all of her students, especially Matilda. Miss Honey acts as a motherly figure as
well as a confidant to the young girl.
Miss Trunchbull
Miss Trunchbull is the headmistress of Matilda’s school, and the story’s main antagonist. She is
also the legal guardian of Miss Honey. Trunchbull is a fearsome creature, and she utterly
despises children. She is abusive towards Miss Honey as well as to her students and frequently
makes use of a torture chamber called the “Chokey” to punish them. Matilda uses her unique
powers to restore Miss Honey to her house and her rightful inheritance, and Trunchbull is never
seen again.
Mr. Wormwood
Mr. Wormwood is Matilda’s father, and a secondary antagonist of the story. He is a neglectful
father who hates books and is an extremely dishonest businessman. He is the prime target of
Matilda’s tricks. Mr. Wormwood is an arrogant and ratty man, and he shows no interest in his
daughter. Because of his fraudulent business dealings, Mr. Wormwood is forced to flee the
country with his family, but he leaves Matilda behind.

Mrs. Wormwood
Mrs. Wormwood is Matilda’s mother. She is a voluptuous woman who is highly concerned with
appearance (constantly dying her hair platinum blonde) and prizes looks over intelligence and
substance. She is inattentive of her children and often leaves Matilda alone in the house while
she goes to play bingo.
Lavender
Lavender is one of Matilda’s new-found friends in her school. She is extremely small for her age,
and has deep brown eyes and a fringe. Much like Matilda, she is very brave and mischievous.
She plans an elaborate prank on the Trunchbull that is very successful.
Bruce Bogtrotter
Bruce is a fellow student of Matilda’s. He is an extremely rotund boy and is forced by the
Trunchbull to consume a giant chocolate cake in front of the entire school when she accuses him
of stealing her food.
Michael Wormwood
Michael is Matilda's older brother, who is favored by their parents because he enjoys watching
television and generally does not care about reading or academics, just like them. Mr.
Wormwood wants his son to follow in his footsteps and work as a car salesman alongside him
one day.
Mrs. Phelps
The village librarian. She means well, but she often treats Matilda like a little girl, having trouble
understanding how such a small child could be reading books outside the children's section in the
library. She does her best to help Matilda pursue her love of reading.
Fred
Matilda's neighborhood friend who owns a parrot. Matilda borrows Fred's parrot to use in a trick
against her family.
Hortensia
A ten-year-old student at Crunchem Hall, who tells Matilda and Lavender everything they need
to know about Miss Trunchbull and how to fight her.
Amanda Thripp
A child at Crunchem Prep who comes to school with braided pigtails. Miss Trunchbull hates
pigtails, so she swings Amanda around and around by her pigtails and throws her over the fence.
Nigel Hicks
A spunky boy in Miss Honey's class who initially gets picked on by the Trunchbull because his
hands are filthy and unwashed. He does not succumb to her bullying, however, and continues to
be a loud and cheerful voice in the classroom while she torments them.
Prudence
A girl in Miss Honey's class who spells "difficulty" correctly on the first try when asked to by
Miss Trunchbull.
Rupert
A boy in Miss Honey's class who is lifted up by his hair when he cannot correctly solve two
times seven.
Eric Ink
A boy in Miss Honey's class who is lifted up by his ears by Miss Trunchbull when he cannot
correctly spell "what."
Magnus
Miss Honey's father, who died mysteriously when she was five and left her in the care of her
cruel Aunt Trunchbull.
Wilfred
A boy in Miss Honey's class who is tormented by Miss Trunchbull with a number of hard math
problems he cannot answer, until she is distracted by the chalk at the blackboard beginning to
move on its own.
Mr. Trilby
The Deputy Head of Crunchem Prep, who takes Miss Trunchbull's place when she disappears.
He is much kinder and more rational than she was.
Miss Plimsoll
The teacher in the highest form, where Matilda is moved after Mr. Trilby becomes Head
Teacher.
Plot Summary: Matilda, written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin
Blake tells the story of a very young girl who is an extraordinarily bright kid for
her age, quick to learn new things but never appreciated, rather disregarded
by her parents. She teaches herself to read by the age of 3 through
newspapers and magazines. On finishing the only book in her house, she
asks her father to buy her one, to which he sternly refuses. Her father
believed in spending his leisure time watching the television and her mother
played bingo every afternoon. Matilda sets out by herself to the library and
over the course of a few weeks, reads all the children’s books in the library. In
the following 6 months, she reads the works of authors like Dickens, Bronte,
Austen, Hemingway and George Orwells. All of this happens without her
parents’ knowledge who still think that she’s unworthy . She turns to to acts
like gluing her father’s hat to his head, hiding a friend’s parrot in the chimney
to give the impression of a burglar or a ghost and secretly bleaching her
father’s hair, to get revenge on her parents for regarding her with contempt.

On joining kindergarten, Matilda befriends her teacher, Ms Honey, who is

astonished by Matilda’s ability to recite tables and read long and complex
sentences. She tries to move her into a higher class to guide her within a
competition that was up to her cognitive abilities but is refused by the brutish
headmistress, Miss Agatha Trunchbull. Miss Honey also tries to talk to
Matilda’s parents about her intellectual abilities, but they pay her no
heed. Matilda develops a strong bond with Miss Honey and watches as Miss
Trunchbull terrorizes her students with over-the-top punishments to prevent
parents from believing their children complaining. When Matilda’s friend,
Lavender, plays a practical joke on Miss Trunchbull, Matilda uses an sudden,
bizarre power of telekinesis to tip the glass of water containing a newt onto
Miss Trunchbull.

After Matilda reveals her powers to Miss Honey, Miss Honey reveals that she
was raised by an cruel, brutish aunt after the dubious death of her father. Her
aunt is revealed to be Miss Trunchbull, who withholds her niece’s inheritance
so that Miss Honey has to live in destitution in a shabby, insecure farm
cottage. Preparing to extract retribution for Miss Honey, Matilda develops her
telekinetic ability by practicing at home. Later, during a lesson that Miss
Trunchbull is teaching, Matilda telekinetically raises a piece of chalk to the
blackboard and writes on it, acting as the spirit of Miss Honey’s late father and
demanding that Miss Trunchbull hand over Miss Honey’s house and wages
and leave the area for good.
Miss Trunchbull’s house is later found empty with no sign of where she went.
Matilda continues to visit Miss Honey’s now returned house regularly. One
day  she finds her parents and her older brother in a hurry, packing to escape
from the police, who are after her father for selling stolen cars. Matilda tells
them that she wants to live with Miss Honey, to which her parents
uninterruptedly agree. Hence, both Matilda and Miss Honey find their happy
ending, and the school’s atmosphere improves immensely under Mr. Trilby,
the new head of school.
Rating: 4/5 stars

Review:  The book is fast paced which makes it a really fun read. The

intricate way of weaving important lessons into a story for children leaves a
lasting impression on the reader. The writing style is simple, perfect for new
readers. The expressions used by Roald Dahl are hilarious and perfectly
fitting at the same time. The character building is masterfully done, the side
characters add to the dynamic nature of the book. Every character’s values
shine clearly through the writing.

Themes:

 The child-parent relationship portrayed is much needed and true for

many households. Such topics often get sidelined in mainstream literature.
 Matilda has a small number of people in her life who truly stick by her side,
so she is incredibly loyal to the ones that do.
 The main character of this book is a young girl who is much smarter and
kinder than almost all of the characters who are adults. This is an opposite
of the usual portrayal of children vs adults.
 Dahl perfectly shows how family can be found beyond blood as Matilda
finds a home with Ms Honey instead of her parents.
 The focus on value knowledge and learning.
 Greed leads to a sour end.