Week 18 - Matilda Summary

 

Matilda Summary 

Chapter 10: Throwing the Hammer

Matilda gets along well with her classmates. She becomes friends with a girl named Lavender, and the two admire each other’s adventurous spirit. Matilda and Lavender meet an unpleasant, older student named Hortensia on the playground. Hortensia tells them about “The Chokey,” a small closet with walls covered in broken glass and sharp nails, where Miss Trunchbull puts kids to punish them. Children who do not stand up straight are cut and poked by the glass. Hortensia tells them of the times that she has been sent to The Chokey, for putting syrup on Miss Trunchbull’s chair and for putting itching powder in the drawer where Miss Trunchbull keeps her gym shorts. 

Matilda and Lavender realize that Hortensia has a rebellious spirit like their own. Hortensia also warns them that Miss Trunchbull sometimes picks up students and throws them, since she used to compete in the hammer throw for Britain at the Olympics. While on the playground, Miss Trunchbull yells at a small girl named Amanda for having pigtails. Amanda tries to argue, and Miss Trunchbull picks her up by the pigtails, spins her around and tosses her over the fence. Matilda asks if the parents ever complain, but Hortensia explains that most parents are just as afraid of Miss Trunchbull as the students.

Chapter 11: Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake

Lavender tells Matilda that Lavender’s father would be very angry if he found out that the Headmistress had thrown her over a fence by her hair. Matilda explains that no one would believe the story, and that was the secret to Miss Trunchbull’s success. Everything that she did was unbelievable. The two girls decide that Miss Trunchbull is not crazy, but very dangerous. 

All the students are sent to the Assembly Hall. Miss Trunchbull enters, holding a riding-crop (a whip for horses). Miss Trunchbull calls Bruce Bogtrotter to the front. She accuses him of stealing a slice of chocolate cake from her. He eventually admits to it. Miss Trunchbull calls in the school cook, who brings a very large chocolate cake. Miss Trunchbull yells at Bruce, telling him that he must eat all of it in front of everyone. Bruce struggles at first but eventually gets into a comfortable rhythm, eating slice after slice. Matilda can sense that all the students are quietly hoping that he succeeds, instead of Bruce getting sick in front of everyone. Bruce finishes the cake, after Miss Trunchbull threatens to lock him in The Chokey if he doesn’t. She becomes angry and smashes the empty plate over Bruce’s head, but it doesn’t hurt him. Miss Trunchbull screams at Bruce and leaves. 

Chapter 12: Lavender

Miss Honey tells the students that Miss Trunchbull has a custom to take over every class for one period each week. She will be taking over Miss Honey’s class on Thursday afternoons. Miss Honey warns her students that they must be very clean and must be on their best behavior. They should not argue, answer back, or try to be funny. She then tells them that Miss Trunchbull always asks for a pitcher of water and glass to be on the teacher’s desk when she teaches. Lavender volunteers to get the pitcher and glass each Thursday. Lavender feels that she must punish Miss Trunchbull, joining Hortensia and Matilda in their heroic daring deeds at school and home. Lavender catches a harmless, but dangerous looking, newt from her garden pond and hides it in her pencil box. She takes the newt to school and does not tell anyone about it. Lavender gets a blue, ceramic pitcher and water glass after lunch on Thursday. She puts the newt inside the pitcher while the classroom is empty. Then, she returns to the other students on the playground outside, so that she does not get caught.

Chapter 13: The Weekly Test

Miss Trunchbull stands in front of the class and tells the students that they are all “nauseating little warts.” She says that she should try to kick as many out of school as she can, so she doesn’t have to deal with them for the next six years. She examines the students’ hands to see if they are clean. She tells Nigel that he is disgusting and makes him stand in the corner. She asks him some spelling words, and he responds correctly. Miss Trunchbull then lifts Rupert by his hair after he answers a multiplication problem wrong, and she lifts Eric by his ears after he gets a spelling word wrong. Miss Honey is worried about the safety of the students and tries to stop Miss Trunchbull, but Miss Trunchbull ignores her. Miss Trunchbull then tells Miss Honey that she should try to be like the mean teacher in Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. Matilda says that she has read that book, but Miss Trunchbull does not believe her. When she finds out that Matilda is Mr. Wormwood’s daughter, Miss Trunchbull says that he is a crook, as the car he sold her no longer works and was full of sawdust. She tells Matilda that she will be watching her closely.

Chapter 14: The First Miracle

Miss Trunchbull sits behind the teacher’s desk and tells the class that she thinks that small children are disgusting. Her idea of a perfect school is “one that has no children in it at all.” When she pours herself a glass of water, the newt slides out of the water jug and lands in the glass as well. Miss Trunchbull yells and jumps out of her chair. Lavender warns her that the newt probably bites. Miss Trunchbull quickly accuses Matilda of putting the newt in the jug. She threatens to kick Matilda out of school. Matilda says repeatedly that she did not. The two argue until Miss Trunchbull threatens to beat Matilda with a belt. Once everyone is seated, Matilda concentrates on the glass with the newt in it. She experiences a very strange feeling, as if her eyes were connected to millions of invisible little arms. She uses her mind to push the glass onto Miss Trunchbull. The newt spills on Miss Trunchbull, who immediately becomes very angry. She blames Matilda, but Miss Honey tells her that nobody in the classroom moved. Miss Trunchbull marches out of the room and slams the door. Miss Honey lets the class go to the playground for the rest of the day.

Chapter 15: The Second Miracle

Matilda does not join her classmates on the playground. She decides to tell Miss Honey what she has done. Once the two are alone, Matilda tells Miss Honey that she did not put the newt in the water jug, but she did cause the glass to tip over. Miss Honey does not understand at first. Matilda explains the powerful feeling and how she wanted the glass to fall. Miss Honey doubts her but asks if Matilda thinks that she could repeat the trick. Matilda agrees, and Miss Honey sets up the empty glass on the desk. Matilda focuses on it and feels the same strange power. She wills the glass to tip over, and Miss Honey is amazed. Matilda has a distant look on her face, and when Miss Honey asks her about what happened, she replies, “I was flying past the stars on silver wings.” Miss Honey invites Matilda to her cottage for tea. Matilda accepts and asks Miss Honey not to tell anyone about her new powers.

Chapter 16: Miss Honey’s Cottage

Matilda follows Miss Honey across town and speaks excitedly with her. Miss Honey suggests that Matilda’s powers might be linked to her intelligence, but the two of them should “tread very carefully” with Matilda’s powers, because they do not understand them. Matilda is not concerned. They walk out of town into the country and arrive at Miss Honey’s cottage. Miss Honey recites a Dylan Thomas poem to her as they walk toward the small cottage. Matilda finds the cottage and the location unreal and fantastic, like something out of a fairy tale. Matilda goes to the cottage’s well to get water for the tea and is amazed at how small Miss Honey’s kitchen is. When Matilda asks Miss Honey if she is poor, Miss Honey replies, “Very.” They move to the sitting room, which is small and “bare as a prison cell.” They sit on upturned boxes and drink tea. Matilda feels that there is a mystery somewhere in the cottage and wants to know more. Miss Honey tells her that no one has ever had the power that Matilda has been given. Miss Honey says that they should find the limits of Matilda’s powers. She wonders if there is a limit to how large an object Matilda can move, or how far she can move it. Matilda is excited to find out.

Chapter 17: Miss Honey’s Story

While sitting and drinking tea, Matilda asks Miss Honey if other teachers are as poor as she is. This makes Miss Honey uncomfortable, and Matilda apologizes. Miss Honey decides to tell her story to Matilda, even though Matilda is just a young girl. Miss Honey’s mother and father died when she was young, and she was raised by her aunt. Her aunt was very mean and made Miss Honey her slave, forcing her to do all the housework and cooking. Miss Honey eventually went to the local teacher college while still caring for her aunt. Once she became a teacher, her aunt told her that she owed her money for raising her and arranged to receive Miss Honey’s teacher’s salary. Miss Honey was only given a single pound each week (the British equivalent of a dollar). Miss Honey found the small cottage and rented it for 10 pence a week to escape. Matilda protests that Miss Honey’s father must have left the house to Miss Honey and not to the aunt, but Miss Honey says that the aunt forged the documents and is a “respected figure in the community.” When Matilda asks who the aunt is, Miss Honey reveals that her aunt is Miss Trunchbull.

Chapter 18: The Names

Matilda is shocked that Miss Trunchbull is Miss Honey’s aunt. She knows that Miss Honey must have had an abusive childhood and feels sorry for her. Miss Honey apologizes for telling Matilda her life story and asks if Matilda would like to practice her powers. Matilda says she would rather go home. They walk to Matilda’s home in silence. Before parting, they talk about Miss Honey’s past again. Matilda promises not to bring it up to anyone, including Miss Honey. She then asks Miss Honey three questions. Matilda wants to know what Miss Trunchbull called Miss Honey’s father, what Miss Honey’s father called Miss Trunchbull, and what they called Miss Honey when they were all living together. Miss Honey answers that they were each called by their first names: her father was Magnus, Miss Trunchbull was Agatha, and Miss Honey was Jenny. Miss Honey tells Matilda not to “do anything silly.” Matilda laughs, thanks her for the tea, and goes to her front door.

Chapter 19: The Practice

Matilda finds that her house is empty. She decides that she needs to help Miss Honey. Matilda takes one of her father’s cigars from the living room and goes to her room to practice for her plan. She sets the cigar on her dressing table and uses her new powers to push it off. She then tries to lift the cigar, but that task is more difficult. After some effort, Matilda is able to lift the cigar with her mind and hold it in midair for about a minute. She finds it very exhausting. She practices every day after school for a week, until she is able to move the cigar in midair. She is pleased by her progress and decides to put her plan into action.

Chapter 20: The Third Miracle

Miss Honey tells her students that Miss Trunchbull will be teaching them again. Miss Honey warns them to be careful and not talk back. When Miss Trunchbull arrives, she insults the students and then starts asking them about multiplication tables. The students that she asks are too scared to answer properly, and she lifts one of them by the ankle. While she is holding the student, a piece of chalk starts writing on the chalkboard behind her. A boy named Nigel yells out, and everyone turns to look. The chalk, floating in midair, writes a message from Magnus to Agatha, telling her to give Jenny her house back, or he would come and get her. Miss Honey notices that Matilda is in deep concentration. Miss Trunchbull faints. Nigel dumps the jug of water on her face in an attempt to wake her. The school nurse and several other teachers arrive and take Miss Trunchbull away. Miss Honey lets the students go to the playground but gives Matilda a hug and a kiss on the way out.

Chapter 21: A New Home

After recovering from her fainting fit, Miss Trunchbull leaves the school and does not return. Mr. Trilby, the Deputy Headmaster, goes to her home and finds that she has moved out. Miss Honey receives a letter that contains her father’s true will, leaving her the house and his savings account. Matilda is promoted to the senior class, but she still visits Miss Honey regularly. Matilda finds that she no longer can move objects with her mind. Miss Honey suggests that maybe Matilda lost her powers because she is finally challenged in school and does not have all the extra mental energy. 

Not long after, Matilda arrives home to find her family frantically packing the car to go to the airport. She asks where they are going and when they will return. Her father says they are going to Spain and will never return. Matilda runs off to Miss Honey, who explains to Matilda that Mr. Wormwood works with criminals, selling stolen cars. Miss Honey is not surprised that he is running away. Matilda says she wants to stay with Miss Honey instead. The two run back to Matilda’s house. Matilda asks her father if she can stay behind with Miss Honey. Her parents agree. The car drives off, and Matilda’s brother waves at her through the back window.