Economic power and Bildungsroman
If Pip is the inter-textual reference to Matilda, then Miss Honey should be considered the intra-textual reference. With her “lovely pale oval madonna face” and the “curious warmth that was almost tangible [shining] out of Miss Honey’s face”, Miss Honey is the adult Madonna figure whom Matilda admires.
Miss Honey as a Madonna figure is not simply a token stereotypical positive adult figure for Matilda and young readers to emulate. Dahl’s Matilda reverses the Cinderella-Fairy godmother relationship that we would expect. Miss Honey is divine because of her charismatic personality. The problem Dahl poses is that her divinity is not empowering. Whilst it is true that the narrative ends with Matilda being freed from her tyrannical parents and beginning a new, nurtured life with Miss Honey. I would like to suggest that this shift in plot is possible not because of Miss Honey’s personality but because of the economic maturation that Matilda helps Miss Honey through.
Matilda presents two instances of Bildungsroman at work. The growth and maturation of the child protagonist is obvious, however, more subtly, the empowerment of Miss Honey is a Bildungsroman as well. On one level, with Miss Trunchbull’s departure, the acquisition of her inheritance and the ability to exert her individualism could be seen as the finale of Miss Honey’s own growth. However, considering the climax or turning point of the story reveals another dimension of Miss Honey’s maturation—the power relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda.
Miss Honey and Matilda’s relationship begins with a conventional teacher-student relationship. The former is astonished by the child’s intellect and the later admires the kind and pretty teacher. Initially,”the prospect of coaching a child as bright as (Matilda) appealed enormously to (Miss Honey’s) professional instinct as a teacher” (92). Although bearing nuances of self-gratification, this professional, almost exploitative, relationship develops into a more nurturing bond where “Miss Honey had been thinking a great deal about this child and wondering how she could help her” (171). The politics of this relationship, based on institutionalized positions, is a temporary one. The revelation of Miss Honey’s poverty and the subsequent development of Matilda’s supernatural powers would impact this dialectic.
“On the spur of the moment, Matilda decided that the one person she would like to confide [italics mine] in was Miss Honey”, notably, ‘confide’ has connotations of sharing secrets with an equal (170). With her new empowerment, Matilda begins to look at Miss Honey as less of an authoritative figure but as more of a peer. This political shift is mutual as after Matilda confessed her secret, “Miss Honey continued to look steadily at Matilda…and Matilda looked back at her just as steadily” (172). Lacan suggests that the”‘ideal ego’ is the ideal of perfection that the ego strives to emulate; it first affected the subject when he saw himself in a mirror…” (Felluga). As the initiator of the gaze, Miss Honey is positioned as the subject who sees Matilda as the ‘ideal ego’. Granted, according to Lacan’s theory, it is the child who acquires the notion of the ‘ideal ego’, but I would argue that at this stage of the story, Miss Honey, penniless and powerless is more of a child than Matilda who is from an opulent, though boorish, family and is endowed with supernatural powers. When ”Miss Honey… gaz[es] at the child in absolute wonderment, as though she were The Creation, The Beginning of the World, The First Morning”, Lacan’s argument is crystallized in Miss Honey’s almost worshipful attitude towards Matilda (176).
In the previous section, we have examined the complex but complementary relationship between economics and politics. With the eradication of Miss Trunchbull, Miss Honey steps into her rightful adult position, simultaneously ‘en-riched’ and empowered. Interestingly, with the restoration of the judicial order, Matilda loses her supernatural power. In Dahl’s presentation of the structured order, the implicit suggestion seems to consign children as subordinates to adults. Matilda’s process of normalization betrays an authorial intent to put her proper position, authorized by institutions. After Miss Honey’s fiscal maturation, “the two of them talked to each other more or less as equals” (231). In contrast to Miss Honey’s earlier reverence towards Matilda, the reversal of Miss Honey’s fortunes returns the duo’s relationship to the point before the revelation of Matilda’s supernatural power.
The brief nature of the conclusion disallows a more detailed analysis of the power relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey. But the events that lead to Matilda becoming financially provided for, a charge under Miss Honey, suggest a rather conservative, conventional, reinstitution of the position of a child. The irony of the situation is in Miss Honey’s eventual objectification of Matilda. Following the equalization of their relationship, Matilda risks permanent separation when her parents flee for Spain. In attempting to secure the custody of Matilda, Miss Honey bargains for Matilda in monetary terms, offering to “pay for everything. (So that) She wouldn’t cost (the Wormwoods) a penny” (239). In terms of character interaction, using monetary terms to speak at the level of the consumerism-absorbed Wormwoods makes logical sense. But together with this, the larger point is that the once the Wormwoods ‘sell’ Matilda to Miss Honey and Miss Honey, repositioned as legal guardian who is bestowed power, the story ends with a tableau that contrasts Miss Honey to the unnamed “tiny girl” (240). Though this is not an indication that Miss Honey will treate Matilda like how Mr. Wormwood treats his daughter; But clearly, the nature of the politics between the two has changed since the time when Matilda was in a more powerful position.
Examining the development of the Bildungsroman in Matilda reiterates my earlier suggestion of the intertwined nature between power and economics. Additionally, financial power is suggested to be the goal of the maturation process. The conclusion puts forward the notion that power should belong only to institutionalised and matured figures of authority. In such an understanding of power and maturation, to the child-reader who is also going through his/her own Bildungsroman, sees wealth and power as gauges to having ‘arrived’. The narrative then echoes values of the capitalistic world that the adult-author is a part of.
In this analysis of Matilda, Dahl’s critique of rampant consumerism and his attitude towards the unethical acquisition of money has been highlighted. However Dahl’s inevitable inclination towards certain aspects of capitalism is also illuminated through our engagement of the narrative world. As I have shown in with respect to the cookbook in Matilda, the metaphor of food and eating is exceptionally useful when considering the manifestation of consumerism in Dahl’s works. To continue, this paper will attempt to illuminate the significance of the subject matter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factor—chocolate.
Miss Honey as a Madonna figure is not simply a token stereotypical positive adult figure for Matilda and young readers to emulate. Dahl’s Matilda reverses the Cinderella-Fairy godmother relationship that we would expect. Miss Honey is divine because of her charismatic personality. The problem Dahl poses is that her divinity is not empowering. Whilst it is true that the narrative ends with Matilda being freed from her tyrannical parents and beginning a new, nurtured life with Miss Honey. I would like to suggest that this shift in plot is possible not because of Miss Honey’s personality but because of the economic maturation that Matilda helps Miss Honey through.
Matilda presents two instances of Bildungsroman at work. The growth and maturation of the child protagonist is obvious, however, more subtly, the empowerment of Miss Honey is a Bildungsroman as well. On one level, with Miss Trunchbull’s departure, the acquisition of her inheritance and the ability to exert her individualism could be seen as the finale of Miss Honey’s own growth. However, considering the climax or turning point of the story reveals another dimension of Miss Honey’s maturation—the power relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda.
Miss Honey and Matilda’s relationship begins with a conventional teacher-student relationship. The former is astonished by the child’s intellect and the later admires the kind and pretty teacher. Initially,”the prospect of coaching a child as bright as (Matilda) appealed enormously to (Miss Honey’s) professional instinct as a teacher” (92). Although bearing nuances of self-gratification, this professional, almost exploitative, relationship develops into a more nurturing bond where “Miss Honey had been thinking a great deal about this child and wondering how she could help her” (171). The politics of this relationship, based on institutionalized positions, is a temporary one. The revelation of Miss Honey’s poverty and the subsequent development of Matilda’s supernatural powers would impact this dialectic.
“On the spur of the moment, Matilda decided that the one person she would like to confide [italics mine] in was Miss Honey”, notably, ‘confide’ has connotations of sharing secrets with an equal (170). With her new empowerment, Matilda begins to look at Miss Honey as less of an authoritative figure but as more of a peer. This political shift is mutual as after Matilda confessed her secret, “Miss Honey continued to look steadily at Matilda…and Matilda looked back at her just as steadily” (172). Lacan suggests that the”‘ideal ego’ is the ideal of perfection that the ego strives to emulate; it first affected the subject when he saw himself in a mirror…” (Felluga). As the initiator of the gaze, Miss Honey is positioned as the subject who sees Matilda as the ‘ideal ego’. Granted, according to Lacan’s theory, it is the child who acquires the notion of the ‘ideal ego’, but I would argue that at this stage of the story, Miss Honey, penniless and powerless is more of a child than Matilda who is from an opulent, though boorish, family and is endowed with supernatural powers. When ”Miss Honey… gaz[es] at the child in absolute wonderment, as though she were The Creation, The Beginning of the World, The First Morning”, Lacan’s argument is crystallized in Miss Honey’s almost worshipful attitude towards Matilda (176).
In the previous section, we have examined the complex but complementary relationship between economics and politics. With the eradication of Miss Trunchbull, Miss Honey steps into her rightful adult position, simultaneously ‘en-riched’ and empowered. Interestingly, with the restoration of the judicial order, Matilda loses her supernatural power. In Dahl’s presentation of the structured order, the implicit suggestion seems to consign children as subordinates to adults. Matilda’s process of normalization betrays an authorial intent to put her proper position, authorized by institutions. After Miss Honey’s fiscal maturation, “the two of them talked to each other more or less as equals” (231). In contrast to Miss Honey’s earlier reverence towards Matilda, the reversal of Miss Honey’s fortunes returns the duo’s relationship to the point before the revelation of Matilda’s supernatural power.
The brief nature of the conclusion disallows a more detailed analysis of the power relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey. But the events that lead to Matilda becoming financially provided for, a charge under Miss Honey, suggest a rather conservative, conventional, reinstitution of the position of a child. The irony of the situation is in Miss Honey’s eventual objectification of Matilda. Following the equalization of their relationship, Matilda risks permanent separation when her parents flee for Spain. In attempting to secure the custody of Matilda, Miss Honey bargains for Matilda in monetary terms, offering to “pay for everything. (So that) She wouldn’t cost (the Wormwoods) a penny” (239). In terms of character interaction, using monetary terms to speak at the level of the consumerism-absorbed Wormwoods makes logical sense. But together with this, the larger point is that the once the Wormwoods ‘sell’ Matilda to Miss Honey and Miss Honey, repositioned as legal guardian who is bestowed power, the story ends with a tableau that contrasts Miss Honey to the unnamed “tiny girl” (240). Though this is not an indication that Miss Honey will treate Matilda like how Mr. Wormwood treats his daughter; But clearly, the nature of the politics between the two has changed since the time when Matilda was in a more powerful position.
Examining the development of the Bildungsroman in Matilda reiterates my earlier suggestion of the intertwined nature between power and economics. Additionally, financial power is suggested to be the goal of the maturation process. The conclusion puts forward the notion that power should belong only to institutionalised and matured figures of authority. In such an understanding of power and maturation, to the child-reader who is also going through his/her own Bildungsroman, sees wealth and power as gauges to having ‘arrived’. The narrative then echoes values of the capitalistic world that the adult-author is a part of.
In this analysis of Matilda, Dahl’s critique of rampant consumerism and his attitude towards the unethical acquisition of money has been highlighted. However Dahl’s inevitable inclination towards certain aspects of capitalism is also illuminated through our engagement of the narrative world. As I have shown in with respect to the cookbook in Matilda, the metaphor of food and eating is exceptionally useful when considering the manifestation of consumerism in Dahl’s works. To continue, this paper will attempt to illuminate the significance of the subject matter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factor—chocolate.
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