How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The children's eyes were riveted on the Headmistress. "I don't like small people," she was saying. "Small people should never be seen by anybody. They should be kept out of sight in boxes like hairpins and buttons. I cannot for the life of me see why children have to take so long to grow up. I think they do it on purpose." (13.68)
Boy, it's getting pretty clear just how unimportant and insignificant the Trunchbull thinks children are. It's hardly the attitude you'd expect from someone who's been entrusted with running an entire elementary school, but it's totally the attitude you'd expect from someone as mean as the Trunchbull.
Quote #8
[The Trunchbull] said, "I have never been able to understand why small children are so disgusting. They are the bane of my life. They are like insects. They should be got rid of as early as possible. We get rid of flies with fly-spray and by hanging up fly-paper. I have often thought of inventing a spray for getting rid of small children. How splendid it would be to walk into this classroom with a gigantic spray-gun in my hands and start pumping it. […]" (14.1)
The Trunchbull really knows how to pay a compliment, doesn't she? Kids are about as useful to her as the pests that invade a farmer's crops. Why else would she be suggesting adults should spray them with poison? It's pretty nervy of her to say something like that in public, right? In any U.S. classroom today, a teacher who said something like that would be so fired, so fast.
Quote #9
"A precocious child," Miss Honey said, "is one that shows amazing intelligence early on. You are an unbelievably precocious child."
"Am I really?" Matilda asked. (16.19-20)
Just in case we were tempted to be jealous of our Matilda, here we get a reminder that she's also a really nice kid. She's too sweet and humble to boast and brag. And that means we can root for her when she puts her awesome smarts on display.