"Matilda" Chapters Summary "The Second Miracle - A New Home"
Summary: 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.
Summary: 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
Summary: 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.
Summary: 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.
Summary: 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.
Summary: 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.
Summary: 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.
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