Character Sketch of Matilda Wormwood
Matilda by Roald Dahl is one of the most well-known children’s novels of the twentieth century. Matilda Wormwood is the protagonist and title character in Roald Dahl’s Matilda. She is five and a half years old and has a brilliant and lively mind that separates her from her family. Matilda’s character is very interesting because she has a strong personality and can think very quickly. She also manages to get over all the obstacles that are in her way.
Matilda has a unique image that is the most important part of her personality. As soon as Dahl started writing Matilda, he said that she was “extraordinary,” which meant that she was both sensitive and clever. Natov called her a rebellious superhero child who had a lot of mental power. And, interestingly, Matilda starts reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens when she comes to the library for the first time and starts reading. This makes a reader think that the main character will change a lot in the next few days.
Matilda, on the other hand, is growing up in a world that does not appreciate her. Their daughter is not interested in school or literature. Playing bingo with her mom in the afternoon is what Mrs Wormwood does during the day. Her father is a cheater. As the author said, they were too busy with their “silly little lives” to see how special their daughter is. She is told by her parents all the time that she is a “a noisy chatterbox” and that “small girls should be seen and not heard” . She becomes even more powerful and strong as she takes charge of her own life and learns to use her extraordinary abilities, even though her family is full of problems (Spivey 95). It is one of the main ways Dahl makes Matilda look like a different person in the book.
Over the course of the storey, Matilda shows that she can change the environment around her. This can be seen clearly when she goes to school and meets the mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. It is interesting that Matilda, who is only a child, saves not only her classmates but also her teacher, Miss Honey, who is an adult. There are many ways to do this.
A person who looks at Matilda this way is called the “social warrior, ten-year-old”. (Maynard 49). By making a change, Matilda creates a new family for herself, so she has a new home.
This new place can be seen as a contrast to her old one. Miss Honey, a kind and patient teacher, knows that Matilda has a lot of skills and wants to help her improve them. She also encourages the little girl to reach her full potential. Matilda’s parents had a very different attitude. They were trying to get rid of her good traits and thought she was “ignorant and stupid” . Miss Honey, on the other hand, made Matilda “felt completely comfortable in her presence, and the two of them talked to each other more or less as equals”. She no longer has to be seen as less than adults. They are now equals.
All in all, the book by Roald Dahl shows the unique personality of a little girl and how the main character changes over time. In the beginning, a reader might only see a lonely smart girl who is not liked by her parents. However, by the end of the book, Matilda looks like a powerful, unique person who can be happy with the people around her and grow her abilities even more.
Works Cited
Dahl, Roald. Matilda. Puffin Books, 2016.
Natov, Roni. The Courage to Imagine: The Child Hero in Children’s Literature. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
