History Literature / Matilda

* BaitAndSwitchComparison: At the very beginning, the narrator speaks of [[DotingParents proud parents who are convinced their offspring can do no wrong]], even digressing into what he would say about them if he were a teacher. This is followed by, "Occasionally, one comes across parents who take the opposite line, and [[ParentalObliviousness show no interest in their children at all]], and these of course are far worse than the doting ones", before describing how Mr and Mrs Wormwood view Matilda.

* BaitAndSwitchComparison: At the very beginning, the narrator speaks of proud parents who are convinced their offspring can do no wrong, even digressing into what he would say about them if he were a teacher. This is followed by, "Occasionally, one comes across parents who take the opposite line, and show no interest in their children at all, and these of course are far worse than the doting ones", before describing how Mr and Mrs Wormwood view Matilda.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Ms. Trunchbull was one of the many customers scammed by Mr. Wormwood. As shown elsewhere on this page, her getting cheated out of a large sum can hardly be called undeserved.

* DramaticDrop: Mrs Wormwood drops her husband's breakfast tray, when she sees his terrible hair-dye job.

** At the book's end, [[spoiler:Miss Honey becomes one as the new headmistress of Crunchem Hall.]]

In 2022, [[Film/RoaldDahlsMatildaTheMusical another film adaptation]], this time of the musical, directed by Matthew Warchus and distributed by the British branch of Creator/SonyPictures will be released in the UK and onto Creator/{{Netflix}} internationally.

In 1996 a [[Film/{{Matilda}} film adaptation]] was made under the direction of Creator/DannyDeVito, starring Creator/MaraWilson (''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'', ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'') in the lead and a frighteningly accurate Trunchbull in the form of Pam Ferris. Notably the film takes place in the United States rather than England.

In 1996 a [[Film/{{Matilda}} film adaptation]] was made under the direction of Creator/DannyDeVito, starring Creator/MaraWilson (''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'', ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'') in the lead and a frighteningly accurate Trunchbull in the form of Pam Ferris.

* CriticalDissonance: InUniverse. Matilda comments that while she thinks that Mr. Creator/CSLewis is a very good writer, he has one failing: there are no funny bits in his books. Judging by the number of "Funny" entries listed on TV Tropes for his works, it would seem that many tropers do not agree with her.

** Matilda is being accused of something she didn't do -- and this is actually what triggers her PsychicPowers in the first place.

* FirstNameBasis: [[spoiler: Ms. Trunchbull, Ms. Honey and Mr. Honey refer(ed) to each other as Agatha, Jenny, and Magnus in private. Matilda uses it in her plan.]]

* HonestJohnsDealership: ** Mr. Wormwood's secondhand car business. Matilda's dad is the stereotypical sleazy car salesman, even putting sawdust in the oil so that the engine will burn out and they have to come back and buy a new car. The book contains a scene in which Mr. Wormwood teaches Michael the tricks to make a lemon look better. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} when the police catch on and Mr. Wormwood goes on the run.
** At the end, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Matilda's dad is receiving stolen cars from the mob.]]

** Also, Harry Wormwood, whose used-car company sells cars made from stolen parts -- at outrageous prices -- that only survive for a few miles. Because their engines are filled with ''sawdust''. And then there's [[AbusiveParents how he acts around Matilda]].

* EvilTeacher: The Trunchbull practically tortures her students, and is implied to have [[spoiler:murdered her brother-in-law, Magnus, to gain control of his assets and abused his daughter (Miss Honey) while she was in her care]].

* FirstNameBasis: [[spoiler Ms. Trunchbull, Ms. Honey and Mr. Honey refer(ed) to each other as Agatha, Jenny, and Magnus in private. Matilda uses it in her plan.]]

In 2022, [[Film/RoaldDahlsMatildaTheMusical another film adaptation]] directed by Matthew Warchus and distributed by the British branch of Creator/SonyPictures will be released in the UK and onto Creator/{{Netflix}} internationally.

* AbusiveParents: Matilda's parents verbally berate her and neglect her every need. Later in the book, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Miss Honey was raised by The Trunchbull, who was even more abusive to her than she is to the students]].

* BaitAndSwitchComparison: At the very beginning, the narrator speaks of proud parents who are convinced their offspring can do no wrong, even digressing into what he would say about them if he were a teacher. This is followed by "Occasionally, one comes across parents who take the opposite line, and show no interest in their children at all, and these of course are far worse than the doting ones", before describing how Mr and Mrs Wormwood view Matilda.

** Matilda is being accused of something she didn't do - and this is actually what triggers her PsychicPowers in the first place.

%%* BigBad: The Trunchbull.

* BooksVsScreens: The eponymous girl's parents love to watch TV and think that, since they have television, books are pointless. Meanwhile, all the bookworms-- Matilda, Miss Honey, and the librarian-- think ''television'' is pointless (Matilda even goes so far as to call the TV the "dreaded box"). Similarly, Matilda dismisses pocket calculators as "a lump of metal".

* BrainsVersusBrawn: BadassBookworm and AdorablyPrecociousChild Matilda uses her wit and intelligence against [[DeanBitterman The Trunchbull]] who tends to use physical aggression, intimidation and brute force to assert her dominance over the school.

* CassandraTruth: The Trunchbull deliberately uses such outlandishly cruel punishments because any parent [[RefugeInAudacity would assume a child was making them up.]]

* ClosetPunishment: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] with the "Chokey," a closet lined with spikes and shards of glass, thus like an IronMaiden, in which there is just barely enough room to stand. Putting children in there for even the slightest misdemeanor is a favorite torture technique of the cruel headmistress of Matilda's school.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: [[invoked]] At Mr. Wormwood's dealership, Harry shows Michael the tools of the trade, namely supergluing a fender on, using a two-bit drill to rewind the odometer, and putting sawdust into the pipes. Matilda is disgusted with how her dad cheats and potentially endangers lives, but Michael is impressed with the drill bit.

%%* EvilCounterpart: Miss Trunchbull is this to Miss Honey.
* EvilTeacher: The Trunchbull practically tortures her students, and is implied to have [[spoiler: murdered her brother-in-law, Magnus, to gain control of his assets and abused his daughter (Miss Honey) while she was in her care]].
* ExactWords: When Trunchbull accuses Matilda of spilling the water with the newt on her, Matilda simply replies that she hasn't moved from her seat the entire time. It ''was'' Matilda...exploiting her newfound MindOverMatter powers, which had ''just'' [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening been awakened]] from a previous false accusation against her.

* FatBastard: Matilda's mother is a plump woman who is completely self-absorbed and is generally a horrible mother.

* FinancialAbuse: Miss Honey reveals that [[spoiler: Miss Trunchbull forced her to surrender her wages for ten years, to pay back for all the "clothes, books and food" that the dear aunt Trunchbull paid for]], receiving one pound a week as allowance and not allowed to keep her inheritance. Matilda quickly intuits that it was a means of keeping Miss Honey at home to cook and keep house, though it didn't work when Miss Honey found a farmers' shed she could rent for 10 pence a week, and she suggests that Miss Honey draw unemployment money or hire a lawyer. In the end, [[spoiler: following Miss Trunchbull's banishment, Miss Honey learns she's the official owner of her father's house and has access to her savings.]]
* FlatCharacter: Matilda's brother, Michael. We know little about him outside he seems to be average and 'inherited his father's love of crookery.'

--> '''Miss Trunchbull:''' You don't think for one minute I am going to eat the filth I give to you? My cake was made from real butter, and real cream!

* FreudianExcuse: Miss Trunchbull says she's glad she "never was a child" implying that she possibly didn't have a very happy childhood.
* FirstNameBasis: [[spoiler: Ms. Trunchbull, Ms. Honey and Mr. Honey refer(ed) to each other as Agatha, Jenny, and Magnus in private. Matilda uses it in her plan.]]

--> '''Miss Trunchbull:''' Spell "write".
--> '''Nigel:''' Which one? The one you do with a pen, or the one which means the opposite of wrong?
--> '''Miss Trunchbull:''' The one with the pen, you little fool!
--> (Nigel spells it correctly)
* GenderFlip: Roald Dahl got the idea of a story about a boy called Billy developing telekinesis, but got writer's block and did a gender flip.

* GuileHero: No one can beat the Trunchbull in a physical confrontation. Matilda wins by frightening Agatha Trunchbull with the "ghost" of Magnus Honey. She had practiced this sort of heroism against [[StarterVillain her father]] earlier in the book.
%%* HairTriggerTemper: Miss Trunchbull.

** Sometimes your biological family are just plain terrible people and it's in your best interest to get away from them. Both the film and book ends with Matilda getting away from her parents and living with Miss Honey who provides her with the love and support she was denied at home and this is presented as being a happy ending. It's an important counterpoint to the message that people should stick by their biological families no matter what, which can be taken sadly internalized by many kids that they should put up with abuse and mistreatment due to supposed parental love that, in too many instances, just isn't there.

* HatedByAll: Teachers and students alike fear Miss Trunchbull’s mercurial temper and violent outbursts and she is not shown to have any friends or allies on staff or otherwise. She maintains her position entirely by inspiring terror.
* HatesReading: Matilda's parents and brother don't like books because they don't see the point of them. This contrasts them with Matilda, who's a bookish ChildProdigy
* HonestJohnsDealership:
** Mr. Wormwood's secondhand car business. Matilda's dad is the stereotypical sleazy car salesman, even putting sawdust in the oil so that the engine will burn out and they have to come back and buy a new car. The book contains a scene in which Mr. Wormwood teaches Michael the tricks to make a lemon look better. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} when the police catch on and Mr. Wormwood goes on the run.
** At the end, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Matilda's dad is receiving stolen cars from the mob.]]

--> '''Miss Trunchbull:''' This ''clot'', this ''blackhead'', this ''foul carbuncle'', this ''poisonous pustule'' that you see before you is none other than a disgusting criminal, a denizen of the underworld, a member of the Mafia! That robber-bandit, that safe-cracker, that highwayman standing over there with his socks around his ankles stole it and ate it!
* HypocriticalHumour: Mr Wormwood boasts about how it took him less than ten minutes to work out how much profit he made on a lucrative day, only to be upstaged by Matilda who works it out in seconds. Later, when Miss Honey visits to tell him about Matilda's remarkable ability in arithmetic, he says "what's the point of that when you can buy a calculator?".

* ImprovisedWeapon: When the Wormwoods hear a creepy voice saying "hello, hello, hello" in their house, Mrs. Wormwood thinks it's a burglar, and the whole family creeps into the kitchen to investigate. Mr. Wormwood arms himself with a golf club, Mrs. Wormwood with a poker, and Michael with a table lamp. Matilda (who planted the talking parrot) joins in the act and takes the knife she has been eating with.
* InformedAbility: Hortensia claims that the Trunchbull has a canny ability to guess which kid plays a prank on her, even if she has no proof, but the ability is a NoSell where Matilda is concerned. Trunchbull claims that Matilda put a stink bomb in her desk even though she had an alibi-- being in Miss Honey's class-- and also accuses the child falsely of sneaking a newt into her water jug.

** Also, Harry Wormwood, whose used-car company sells cars made from stolen parts - at outrageous prices - that only survive for a few miles. Because their engines are filled with ''sawdust''. And then there's how he acts around Matilda.

** Ms. Trunchbull. Yes, she's been humiliated in front of the class and driven out of town but that's hardly a punishment for what she'd been doing to the students. [[spoiler: She also receives no repercussions for murdering her brother-in-law or stealing Ms. Honey's inheritance.]]

%%* LargeHam: The Trunchbull, even in the book.

** Surprisingly, this is averted with Matilda's parents. When Matilda innocently comments on her father's hysterical behaviour after the platinum blond incident, her mother tells her about men being generally like that, adding "you will learn that when you get a bit older, my girl".

* NarrativeFiligree: At the very beginning of the book, the narrator spells out several examples of the scathing teachers' reports he would write about children doted on by proud parents, eventually finishing with "But enough of that. We have to get on."
* NeverSuicide: Miss Honey speculates that [[spoiler: her father's suicide was a murder by Miss Trunchbull. Trunchbull's reaction to Matilda's staged haunting and "Magnus" accusing her of killing him seems to confirm it.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Miss Trunchbull falsely accusing Matilda of putting a newt in her jug ends up triggering Matilda's powers when Matilda feels indignant rage and successfully wills the cup to turn over onto Trunchbull's lap. It also starts the chain of events that lead to Miss Honey revealing that [[spoiler: the Trunchbull is her aunt]] and giving Matilda an incentive and plan to control her powers. On a lesser front, the attempt to punish Bogtrotter for stealing her cake provides the student body with its victory against her.

* PainfulAdhesiveRemoval: Matilda gets revenge on her father by putting super glue in his favorite porkpie hat, which he doesn't realize until he's already put it on his head. It ends up being too painful for his wife to remove right away, forcing him to sleep in his hat before they cut it off the next day (which leaves him with a horrible hair cut).

--> '''Miss Trunchbull:''' Squashing a bad girl is like trying to squash a bluebottle. You bang down on it, and the darn thing isn't there.

%%* PluckyGirl: Matilda.

%%* ProtagonistTitle
* PunishmentBox: The sadistic headmistress is fond of [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment (among other things)]] using the "Chokey," a closet lined with spikes, thus like an iron maiden in which there is just barely enough room to stand.

--> If only he [Mr. Wormwood] would read a little Dickens or Kipling he would learn that there was more to life than cheating people and watching television.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Mrs. Phelps, the local librarian, is a sweet, kindly old woman who initially tries to help the four-year-old Matilda find picture books. But when she realizes that she has a child genius on her hands, she instead starts offering her some of Western literature's greatest works. Matilda devours them all, but Mrs. Phelps never makes a big deal of it or tries to get the attention of the press, instead preferring to let the little girl read in peace. It's [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the narrator, who comments that while most people would have started kicking up a fuss, Mrs. Phelps is a sensible woman who doesn't see much need for theatrics. Mrs. Phelps also takes a practical interest in Matilda's well-being and bends the rules of the library to let her have a library card early and borrow as many books as she wants per week, as a four-year-old walking ten blocks in heavy traffic every day is a recipe for disaster.
** At the book's end, [[spoiler: Miss Honey becomes one as the new headmistress of Crunchem Hall.]]

** Bookish and level-headed Matilda is the blue while the rest of her family is the red (her mother is vain and passionate, her father is an obnoxious sleazy car dealer and her brother is [[FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling relatively less competent than her]]).
** When Matilda and Ms. Honey are paired up, Matilda is the more open extroverted PluckyGirl (red) compared to Ms. Honey who is still the blue.

--> '''Nigel:''' Mrs. D, Mrs. I, Mrs. FFI, Mrs. C, Mrs. U, Mrs. LTY. That spells "difficulty".\\

* TastesLikeFriendship: Averted in that while the older girl Hortensia is telling Lavender and Matilda about the Trunchbull, she is cramming crisps into her mouth, without offering them to the younger girls.

* ThemeNaming: Matilda's female friends are named Lavender and Hortensia, which are both plants.

* TheUnfavorite: Matilda's parents inexplicably hate her and refuse to believe she is any more intelligent than a lima bean, but favor her rather dim-witted brother Michael instead. Interestingly, Michael is [[GoodIsDumb a different kind of dumb]] and is nothing but pleasant to his sister (in the book at least), if too stupid to try and help her. The book suggests at one point that Matilda's father at least is furious that she can get pleasure from things he cannot, specifically reading.
* VillainousBreakdown: When Matilda uses her powers to write a "ghostly" message from "Magnus", Trunchbull can't even speak due to her horror.
* WhamLine: When Matilda asks Miss Honey who her cruel aunt was, Miss Honey replies: [[spoiler: Miss Trunchbull.]]
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Matilda, big time. She's able to multiply large numbers in her head (eg. "13 times 379") [[ChildProdigy in seconds]]. She says she likes to read just about anything. It's implied that the two reasons she wasn't in advanced placement by now were because her parents don't believe in the value of education--and, of course, The Trunchbull's dislike of young children. [[spoiler: Once Miss Trunchbull is deposed, Matilda gets moved up to the top-level classes. Unfortunately, now that she's using her brain to the fullest, she can't use telekinesis anymore. Realizing that has her first confused, but then relieved that she's not "a miracle" anymore.]]

--> '''Mr Wormwood:''' What in heaven's name are you talking about, you stupid witch? Do you think I'm so stupid I'd glue my hat to my head on purpose?

* FoulCafeteriaFood: Lampshaded by Miss Trunchbull, when she accuses Bruce Bogtrotter of stealing her own cake, as opposed to the food given to the children.
--> '''Miss Trunchbull:''' Do you think I would eat the filth I give to you? My cake was made from real butter, and real cream!

* QueueJumping: When Mrs Wormwood tells her husband that he will have to have his hair dyed back to its original colour, he demands that because it's an emergency, they have to boot someone else off their list.

* LiesToChildren: Just after Matilda has shown her brilliance with numbers on her very first day of school, way beyond what is expected of her age group, her classmate Lavender asks why Matilda can do it, and she can't. Miss Honey lies through her teeth and tells her not to worry, as she will soon catch up.

* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: a central theme of the work is that while the most dangerous bullies can and will back up their threats, this only makes it more important to stand up to them. Simple stubborn defiance can defeat what direct force cannot.