The main over-the-top characters in this particular Dahl tale are Matilda’s mother and father and then later her school principal. Honestly, there are times when their meanness and rudeness venture over the line of what we would want our kiddos reading. Her father calls young Matilda stupid and an ignorant little twit (also mom is called a stupid witch). Their treatment of Matilda is cruel. Even worse is Miss Trunchbull. She often crosses the line to being cruel and degrading. She calls kids “disgusting little cockroach” and "filthy little maggots”. A girl is grabbed by her pigtails and thrown.
Matilda and Mrs. Honey are the kind and lovable characters. But that makes Matilda’s response to her those who are awful to her that much worse. She decides early on that she should get back at her awful parents through a series of mean pranks herself. Examples include putting superglue in a hat, putting hair dye in shampoo, etc.). For one main trick she convinces her family there is a ghost in the home ands he tells them her room in particular is haunted. We read “But the new game she had invented of punishing one or both of them each time they were beastly to her made her life more or less bearable” and then later “The thing that prevented her from going round the bend, was the fun of devising and dishing out these splendid punishments”. She says she sees this “counter attack” as a “most satisfactory exercise”. We also see her tell a bird to shut up. This by a girl who is called “sweet” in the intro and would have been seen this way otherwise, besides this behavior.
Matilda’s school is shown in a very negative light overall. The head lady is absolutely evil. Most of the students there are rude and terrible. Upon meeting an older girl she calls Matilda a “stupid liar” and tells of punching a kid’s teeth out for telling on her after she did something awful. Strangely Dahl has Matilda and her young friend start to look up to this girl, even referring to her as a “goddess”. This makes for really sad context when the book randomly references the students doing “prayers” and having a “scripture lesson”.
Matilda finds herself to be able to do strange things, which the book refers to as “miracles”. Miss Trunchbull is referred to as a demon.
In an out of place heavier moment, Miss Honey’s backstory mentions that her father is said to have “killed himself". She then tells of how she was actually abused, describing someone as holding her head below the water if she didn’t wash well enough when growing up.
Other things to be cognizant of:
A line reads “Young teenager’s romance of the kind written for fifteen-year-old-schoolgirls.
Early on when showing off just how special Matilda is a list of “classic” books are run through, of which several are likely not for the intended audiences here.
Another concerning line: “But the fact remained that any five-year-old girl in any family was always obliged to do as she was told, however asinine the orders may be”.
A poem includes the line “to eat your heart”.
A nice teacher is said to be “lying through her teeth” to be “nice” to a child.
A woman is described as “bosomy”. “Knickers” are referenced
Miss Honey describes a bath to Matilda, including “I strip and wash myself all over”.
Several young characters say they hate another character, to which Miss Honey simply replies, “try not to make it so obvious”. One young child says they wish they were a grown up so they could “knock her out flat”. .
The following terms are used: idiot, “don’t be an ass”, “oh my gawd”, “holy terror”, “for heaven’s sake” (flippantly), shut up, morons.