Matilda Chapter Summaries
Matilda Chapter Summaries 1-9
Chapter 1: The Reader of Books
The
narrator describes how most parents think that their children are the best and
the smartest. The narrator says that sometimes parents do the opposite and
ignore their children. This is the case with Matilda. Matilda’s brother,
Michael, is “perfectly normal,” but Matilda is brilliant and sensitive. She can
speak like an adult at age one and a half. She teaches herself to read by age
three, but her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, do not notice that she is
special. There are very few books in Matilda’s home, so she asks her father if
he would buy her one. He tells Matilda that she should watch TV instead.
Every
afternoon, while her father is working and her mother leaves town to play
bingo, Matilda walks to the public library. The librarian, Mrs. Phelps, is
concerned by Matilda’s age and lack of supervision, but does not interfere.
Matilda reads through all of the children’s books and asks for a good, famous
book that adults read. Mrs. Phelps gives Matilda Great
Expectations. After finishing it, Matilda reads other classic novels. Mrs.
Phelps shows Matilda how to check out books from the library, so that Matilda
only must return once a week. Matilda spends her free time drinking hot
chocolate and reading books in her bedroom while her family is away.
Chapter 2: Mr. Wormwood, the Great Car Dealer
Matilda
lives in a nice home, since Mr. Wormwood is a successful used car salesman.
During dinner, her father tells Matilda and Michael about the tricks that he
uses to sell cars. He plans for Michael to join him as a salesman someday. Mr.
Wormwood puts sawdust in a car’s oil so that it sounds better for the test
drive, and he takes apart the odometer so that he can lower the mileage. He
proudly states that he does this with every car he sells. Matilda tells her
father that changing the cars that way is dishonest and that he is cheating
people who trust him. Her father becomes angry and tells Matilda that his
methods are what pay for her food. Matilda’s mother also reprimands Matilda for
disrespecting her father. Matilda tries to leave to read her book but is told
she must sit through family dinner, in front of the TV. Matilda is upset and
does not like being told that she is ignorant and stupid, but she suppresses
her emotions. When she goes to bed, Matilda decides to get even with her
parents, starting with her father.
Chapter 3: The Hat and the Superglue
Matilda
sets out on her first revenge plan. Just as her father is getting ready for
work, Matilda applies superglue to the inside rim of his favorite hat and puts
the hat back on the peg. Her father does not notice when he puts on the hat and
is stuck wearing it all day. When he returns home, Mrs. Wormwood tries to yank
it off his head, but the hat stays glued in place. When Matilda’s father wakes
after an uncomfortable night of sleep, still wearing the hat, Matilda’s mother
decides to cut the hat off. Once it is removed, Matilda’s father has a bald,
white ring around his head and several pieces of the hat still stuck to his
forehead. Matilda tells her father that he should get the rest off, or people
will think he has lice. He snaps at her. The narrator states that the prank was
not enough to teach Mr. Wormwood a permanent lesson.
Chapter 4: The Ghost
The
next week, Matilda’s father does not bully her. After a bad day at work,
however, he comes home and becomes angry that Matilda is reading a book instead
of watching the television. Matilda wonders if he is angry because she is
enjoying something that he does not. He takes her book and tears its pages out.
She tries to tell him that it is a library book, and she must return it, but he
does not care. Matilda devises her next revenge plan instead. She borrows a
talking parrot from her neighbor, Fred. She hides the parrot in the chimney and
waits for everyone to eat dinner in front of the TV. The parrot starts
speaking, and the family becomes scared. Matilda’s father suggests that they
investigate together. The whole family enters the dining room holding various
objects as weapons. The parrot speaks again, but in a spooky voice, and Matilda
convinces them that the voice is a ghost and that the room is haunted. Her
parents are terrified. When Matilda returns the parrot to Fred, she tells him,
“My parents adored it.”
Chapter 5: Arithmetic
Matilda
wants her parents to be good, loving, smart, and understanding. Her parents’
behavior improves after Matilda has punished them with pranks, but overall,
they have not changed. Matilda’s only relief is in planning out her next
revenge. Matilda’s father comes home from work bragging about how much money he
made. He tells Matilda’s brother, Michael, to get a paper and pencil. He then
lists the amounts he paid for five different cars and the prices that he sold
them for that day. He asks Michael to work out the total profit that he made.
While Michael is working, Matilda tells her father the total profit. Her father
tries to ignore her, but she insists. He checks the total on a slip of paper in
his pocket and is immediately angry. He accuses her of having already looked at
the paper in his pocket. Matilda protests, saying that she could not have seen
the paper. Her father tells her that she is a cheat and a liar.
Chapter 6: The Platinum-Blond Man
Matilda
plots revenge against her father before she goes to bed that night. In the
morning, she goes to the bathroom and locates two hair products. The first is
“platinum blonde hair-dye extra strong” that her mother uses to keep her hair
blonde. The second is “oil of violets hair tonic” that Matilda’s father uses
every morning, and he claims that it keeps his hair strong. Matilda empties
most of her father’s hair tonic out and fills it with her mother’s blonde
hair-dye. While the family eats breakfast, Mr. Wormwood goes through his
morning routine, applying his hair tonic. When he enters the room, Mrs.
Wormwood drops the breakfast tray. She tells him that his hair looks
“horrendous” and that he “looks like a freak.” His hair is a dirty silver
color. Mr. Wormwood panics. Matilda tells him that he must not have looked
closely at the labels of hair products in the bathroom. He goes to wash the dye
out and commands his wife to make an appointment with her hairdresser, so he
can dye his hair back to black. When he is out of the room, Matilda’s mother
tells Matilda that “men are not always quite as clever as they think they are.”
Chapter 7: Miss Honey
Matilda
goes to school for the first time. Her teacher is Miss Honey, who is nice and
adored by her students. The frightening Headmistress of the school, Miss
Trunchbull, is the opposite. Miss Honey warns her students that they should
always obey Miss Trunchbull, who insists on strict discipline. Miss Honey then
asks if the students know any multiplication tables. Matilda answers a series
of multiplication problems correctly. The last few are very difficult. Miss
Honey thinks that Matilda is probably a child genius. Miss Honey then asks how
much the students can read, and Matilda impresses her again. Matilda reads a
difficult sentence on the blackboard and a poem from a book. Matilda even knows
that the poem is called a “limerick.” Miss Honey is amazed. Matilda recites a
limerick to the class that she has made up about Miss Honey. The limerick is
about Miss Honey’s beauty. When Miss Honey asks what else Matilda has read,
Matilda says that she liked C. S. Lewis and Tolkien very much, but that their
books didn’t have enough “funny bits.” She also tells Miss Honey that she likes
Charles Dickens. Before Miss Honey can react, the bell rings, ending the
class.
Chapter 8: The Trunchbull
Miss
Honey leaves the classroom and heads for Miss Trunchbull’s office. Miss
Trunchbull is described as not having any of the qualities that would make
someone a good Headmistress: fairness, sympathy, understanding. Miss Honey
tries to tell Miss Trunchbull about Matilda. Miss Trunchbull recalls that she
bought a car from Matilda’s father and found him trustworthy. She also
remembers that he told her to watch out for Matilda, because she was always
causing problems. Miss Honey disagrees and says that Matilda is a genius, but
Miss Trunchbull doesn’t believe her. Miss Honey argues that Matilda should be
moved up to the highest grade level in the school. Miss Trunchbull thinks that
Miss Honey is just trying to get rid of Matilda. Miss Trunchbull tells Miss Honey
that “all children remain in their own age groups regardless of ability.” This
makes Miss Honey sad, but she is not defeated. She promises herself that she
will find a way to help Matilda.
Chapter 9: The Parents
Miss
Honey gives Matilda senior class books on subjects like algebra and geometry.
Miss Honey decides that she should visit Matilda’s parents. She goes to
Matilda’s home in the late evening, so that Matilda will be asleep. When Mr.
Wormwood answers the door, he is annoyed that Miss Honey has interrupted his
television show. She explains who she is and that she wants to talk about
Matilda. Mr. Wormwood tells her that it is a great inconvenience. Miss Honey
tells him that he should not be a parent if he thinks that watching television
is more important than talking about his daughter’s future. Mr. Wormwood is
shaken by this and allows her in. Mrs. Wormwood objects to interrupting her
television show and tells Miss Honey that men are not interested in brainy
girls. She goes on to compare herself to Miss Honey, pointing out that she,
herself, is married and comfortable while Miss Honey is single and a teacher.
Miss Honey tries to tell them that Matilda could go to university, stressing
the value of a doctors and lawyers. When she realizes the Wormwoods will never
agree with her, Miss Honey eventually gives up and leaves.
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