Matilda and Murdock's Heroine's Journey

One of the most recognizable heroines in juvenile/young adult fiction is Matilda Wormwood. Created by the famous British author Roald Dahl, Matilda is a child genius who is abused by the adults around her, ignored, and unrecognized despite her amazing intellectual prowess. Despite her age, Matilda’s story can still be related to the heroine’s journey.

Unlike other heroine’s journeys, Matilda’s doesn’t really start with the illusion of the perfect world. Matilda’s world, from the beginning, is extremely imperfect. Her genius is ignored, and she’s constantly emotionally abused by her parents. Instead, at first, Matilda doesn’t really try to change her current situation. She’s depressed but doesn’t really try to escape her family situation (though she is literally an elementary school kid at this point) and chooses to cope with it instead. Her coping mechanisms include reading, math, and playing pranks on her parents to vent her frustrations. In a way, betrayal/realization happens from the very beginning. Another betrayal/realization moment for Matilda is when she meets the headmistress of her school, Miss Trunchbull, who is mean, tyrannical, hates Matilda at first sight, and demonstrates to Matilda that her school life will be nothing like it's supposed to be (at least as long as Miss Trunchbull is there).

Matilda awakens her power after inadvertently using telekinesis to tip over a water jug containing a newt onto Miss Trunchbull. This is where her journey begins. At her school, Matilda also meets Miss Honey, whom she forms a close connection with. Though Matilda tries to explain to Miss Honey her newfound powers, Miss Honey is unwilling to believe her at first, though this quickly changes after Matilda demonstrates her telekinesis to Miss Honey.

I would argue that the Eye of the Storm moment is around the time when Matilda begins to work together with Miss Honey to understand and use her power, as Matilda is finally able to receive some of the love and support she’s never been privy to from an adult. The moment of death (where all is lost) definitely has to do with Miss Trunchbull. I’d argue that it’s the scene where Miss Trunchbull comes into Matilda’s classroom and begins bullying the children both mentally and physically. Afterward, Matilda follows Miss Honey to her home and learns that Miss Trunchbull is actually Miss Honey’s aunt and is currently living in Miss Honey’s house after claiming it as her own (illegally, of course). This gives Matilda the resolve to concoct and follow through with a plan to chase Miss Trunchbull out of town. With the support (support moment!) of Miss Honey and her classmates, Matilda uses her powers to lift a piece of chalk and write a message from Miss Honey’s dead father (whom Miss Trunchbull allegedly murdered) on the board, terrifying Miss Trunchbull to the point where she leaves town and never comes back. Matilda ends up leaving her family and moving in with Miss Honey into her rightful home. She also moves up many grades in school and loses her telekinetic powers after finally being given the opportunity to use her brain to its fullest capacity -- a return to the ordinary world.

Although some of these scenes don’t line up quite chronologically with the timeline of Murdock’s heroine’s journey, Matilda’s story does generally fit in with the heroine’s journey more than the hero’s journey. This may just be because Matilda’s “adventure” has less to do with action and more to do with mental struggles and overcoming hardships she must face in her daily life, which, in general, is probably one of the things that separates (or used to separate) the journey of men and women in fiction. Matilda also doesn’t deal that much with issues surrounding femininity or masculine approval, though it can be argued that these issues are replaced with issues of parental love and approval.