🧠 Matilda (Roald Dahl Novel) Quiz

Matilda discovers her telekinetic powers after years of being ignored and belittled by her family — she first notices the ability when she wills a piece of chalk to write on a blackboard by itself.

Miss Trunchbull is a former Olympic hammer thrower, which Dahl uses to explain her terrifying physical strength — including her ability to hurl children across the playground.

Miss Honey is herself a victim of Miss Trunchbull, who is revealed to be her aunt and legal guardian — she had stolen Miss Honey's inheritance left by her father.

Harry Wormwood's dodgy car dealings — such as rolling back odometers and respraying stolen vehicles — are described in gleeful detail by Dahl, making him one of literature's most entertainingly awful fathers.

The superglue hat prank backfires spectacularly on Mr Wormwood, who has to go to work and then to a business dinner with his hat glued firmly to his head — much to Matilda's quiet satisfaction.

Miss Trunchbull is revealed to have stolen Miss Honey's inheritance after the death of her father Magnus, leaving Miss Honey to live in poverty in a tiny cottage.

The ghostly message from 'Magnus' terrifies Miss Trunchbull so much that she flees Crunchem Hall, never to return — all thanks to Matilda's extraordinary telekinetic abilities.

Miss Honey's cottage is so bare that she also uses an upturned crate as a chair, and her few possessions highlight just how cruelly Miss Trunchbull has robbed her of her inheritance.

Matilda's mother's bingo obsession is used by Dahl to contrast her shallow pursuits with Matilda's love of reading — while Matilda devours classic literature, her mother can't understand why anyone would want a book when they have a television.

Mr Wormwood's destruction of Matilda's borrowed copy of 'The Red Pony' is one of the novel's most memorable moments of parental cruelty, making Steinbeck an unlikely but fitting part of Roald Dahl's story.