Matilda: The Pocket Sized Revolutionary

Namratha Saraswathi Sitharaman

Was there a moment in your childhood when you felt so frustrated and misunderstood that you fantasised about replacing your parents or teacher with someone who really got you? That’s exactly what Matilda the heroine of Roald Dahl’s eponymous book set out to do.

I first discovered Matilda when I was twelve years old, and instantly fell in love with its precocious protagonist. Though I was nearly a teenager, Matilda appealed to the child in me that wanted to stop dominating adults in their tracks. That fantasy hasn’t completely gone away. After all wouldn’t it be great to teach the people who bully us a lesson using our secret superpowers?

Four year old Matilda is the much-misunderstood daughter of the somewhat half-witted and self-absorbed Wormwoods. Her parents (a used car salesman and a veteran bingo player) have no idea of their daughter’s genius, let alone her powers of telekinesis (the ability to move objects with one’s mind).  They can’t understand why Matilda seems to prefer the local library when they spend hours in front of the idiot box watching soap operas.

While Matilda’s story might seem unbelievable, Dahl’s sharp writing convinces us that that this little prodigy quietly devours Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen and John Steinbeck, all in the space of a few months, with the help of the kindly librarian. This love for literature infuriates her parents instead of impressing them but  books give Matilda a comforting and hopeful message: you are not alone.

‘Mr Hemingway says a lot of things I don’t understand,’ Matilda said to her. ‘Especially about men and women. But I loved it all the same. The way he tells it, I feel I am right there on the spot watching it all happen.’

‘Don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music.’

Matilda is very isolated in her dysfunctional family but rather than tell her story as a tragedy, Dahl makes us laugh with the comic antics of his never-say-die heroine. When her father tears up her library book, little Matilda quietly takes revenge by adding a layer of superglue to his favourite hat. She also hides a talking parrot in the chimney so that her parents are convinced that their house is haunted.  

We might think that school offers this child prodigy a better chance to express herself but here too Dahl creates a monstrous adult: Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress, who has a penchant for throwing children about. (She also has a tendency to create some unbelievably nasty nicknames for children.) But luckily for Matilda her class teacher Miss Honey is able to understand her sensitivity and intelligence and to identify with the loneliness that her student experiences.

Why does Matilda’s story appeal so much? Could it be her ability to control her destiny no matter how powerful the adults around her seem to be? Is it because abusive parents and teachers are more common than we think? Or is it because we all have a Matilda within us who is looking for  a few words of love and encouragement in order for her genius to emerge?

Namratha Sitharaman is a poet, photographer and animal lover. She speaks six languages and is an enthusiastic movie buff. Having recently completed her Master’s in Journalism and Mass Communication, she has begun working on a transitional photography project which involves books and found objects. You can view her poems and photography at https://strandzofculture.wordpress.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/missivestolight/