Anonymous
High School
October 2024
Roald Dahl’s Matilda portrays multiple, excellent examples of generational trauma and how these cycles can affect the people around them. This essay will analyze two different instances of inflicted trauma in the two points of view we are given, and how they bring an unlikely pair together.
Zinnia Wormwood, Matilda Wormwood’s mother, developed an insatiable hunger for the spotlight in order to cope with her past neglect. She desperately craves attention; competing in dance competitions, dyeing her hair, and expressing her need to be “Exotic” and “Loud”(Scene 11). By acting brash and vain, she hopes to direct the attention to herself in order to feel valued. Towards the middle of the show, she expresses how she wants “...less dressing like your mom…” (Scene 11), implying that perhaps her mother wronged her in the past. In an attempt to break the mold, Zinnia showers her first born, Michael, with constant praise and encouragement.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Wormwood follows in her mother's footsteps when her second child, Matilda, is born. She becomes bitter at the innocent child for ruining her dance competition chances, “This is the worst day of my life!... I should be dancing… not dressed in hospital cotton…”(Scene 1). Zinnia constantly mistreats Matilda through verbal abuse, neglect, and bullying. “Look at this, she's reading a book. That's not normal for a five year old. I think she might be an idiot” (Scene two) Egged on by her crooked husband, the two make for a quite comical depiction of an abusive household.
Agatha Trunchbull, a sociopathic headmistress of a school and result of a broken home (source: Book) inflicts violent discipline on her students. Her glory days haunt her, causing her to run her school tighter than the circle around the feet of a hammer throwing champion. But Agatha's wrath doesn't stop at her students, for her niece, Jennifer Honey, bears even more pain and guilt. Orphaned at a young age by her aunt, Jenny was raised by Agatha, withstanding constant physical and verbal abuse for decades. “She beat her, and threw her in a dusty cellar” (Act 2, Scene 6). However, unlike Zinnia and Agatha, Ms. Honey chooses to love her students more than anything, breaking the cycle of abuse.
When the two protagonists finally open up to one another, they both manage to work through their broken pasts and mend the damage done by their guardians. Matilda ends up rescuing Jenny from Agatha by chasing her out of the school, and Jenny's house, and Jenny rescues Matilda from her crooked family by adopting her. In conclusion, Roald Dahl’s Matilda portrays generational trauma in a way that not only allows for light hearted comedy, but also sheds light on real-world domestic issues.
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