The Conflict Of Family Relationships In Roald Dahl's 'Matilda'

Many people around the world lack a bond with their parents or relatives. This problem could be caused from favoritism of children, neglection, or selfishness. Roald Dahl emphasizes this issue in his novel through two characters: one who is the neglected child and the other who grows up with a demon-like aunt. Both characters feel as if they are alone, but are brought together and develop the kind of bond they needed in their lives. In Matilda, the conflict of family relationships is demonstrated by Miss Honey and Matilda Wormwood struggling to bond with their families, as neither are happy around them. First, Miss Jennifer Honey struggles to get along with her Aunt Agatha Trunchbull. In an interview with Dahl, he stated, ¨I find that the …show more content…
From when the girl was born, her parents were rude to her. They were so caught up in themselves that they didn't realize how brilliant Matilda actually was. On a side note, according to the article ¨Five Fascinating Matilda Facts¨, Matilda was originally written to be a wicked child. Roald Dahl´s editor forced him to rewrite the story with the parents and the principal being villainous instead. (http://www.roalddahl.com/blog/2015/august/five-fascinating-matilda-facts). “Occasionally one comes across parents who take the opposite line, who show no interest at all in their children, and these of course are far more worse than the doting ones. Mr and Mrs Wormwood were two such parents. They had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda, and the parents looked upon Matilda in particular as nothing more than a scab¨ (Dahl 10). Harry and Zinnia are not very good parents to either kids. They only care about themselves and their happiness. Throughout the book, Matilda struggled to bond with her family and eventually meets Miss Honey who she later is adopted by. Her parents gave up Matilda instantly. “Well, I think they might! Matilda cried. They don't actually care tuppence about me!¨ (Dahl 236). Matilda said that when asking Miss Honey to adopt her. She stated that her parents did not really care about her anyways. Mr. and Mrs.Wormwood are bad parents to Matilda and do not give her the …show more content…
Matilda is looked at as a weird disgrace, but the parents see her brother as a normal kid. “Matilda's brother Michael was a perfectly normal boy, but the sister, as I said, was something to make your eyes pop¨ (Dahl 11). Michael wasn't a very smart kid and surely was not normal. The parents just hated Matilda so much that they referred to him as the normal one. Matilda was a very intelligent , young girl and always dreamed of going to school. Her parents would not let her because someone needed to be home to sign for her father’s packages. Michael is able to go to school while Matilda is not. “Nearly every weekday afternoon Matilda was left alone in the house. Her brother (five years older than her) went to school. Her father went to work and her mother went out playing bingo in a town eight miles away¨ (Dahl 12). Matilda wasn't able to go to school like she wished. If her parents would have been smarter, they would have let her go and have Micheal stay home. The son of Harry and Zinnia Wormwood is chosen to be the favorite over his sister, Matilda. In the novel Matilda by Roald Dahl and in real life, people strive to have a certain type of bond with their parents or families. In Matilda Wormwood and Miss Honey´s case, they fail to have that desired bond. If the book were to continue on, both would get the kind of bond they wanted, through each other. Matilda will be a book forever