Matilda Chapter Summary

 

Matilda Chapter Summaries 1-9

Chapter 1: The Reader of Books

The narrator describes how most parents think that their children are the best and the smartest. The narrator says that sometimes parents do the opposite and ignore their children. This is the case with Matilda. Matilda’s brother, Michael, is “perfectly normal,” but Matilda is brilliant and sensitive. She can speak like an adult at age one and a half. She teaches herself to read by age three, but her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, do not notice that she is special. There are very few books in Matilda’s home, so she asks her father if he would buy her one. He tells Matilda that she should watch TV instead. 

Every afternoon, while her father is working and her mother leaves town to play bingo, Matilda walks to the public library. The librarian, Mrs. Phelps, is concerned by Matilda’s age and lack of supervision, but does not interfere. Matilda reads through all of the children’s books and asks for a good, famous book that adults read. Mrs. Phelps gives Matilda Great Expectations. After finishing it, Matilda reads other classic novels. Mrs. Phelps shows Matilda how to check out books from the library, so that Matilda only must return once a week. Matilda spends her free time drinking hot chocolate and reading books in her bedroom while her family is away.

 

Chapter 2: Mr. Wormwood, the Great Car Dealer

Matilda lives in a nice home, since Mr. Wormwood is a successful used car salesman. During dinner, her father tells Matilda and Michael about the tricks that he uses to sell cars. He plans for Michael to join him as a salesman someday. Mr. Wormwood puts sawdust in a car’s oil so that it sounds better for the test drive, and he takes apart the odometer so that he can lower the mileage. He proudly states that he does this with every car he sells. Matilda tells her father that changing the cars that way is dishonest and that he is cheating people who trust him. Her father becomes angry and tells Matilda that his methods are what pay for her food. Matilda’s mother also reprimands Matilda for disrespecting her father. Matilda tries to leave to read her book but is told she must sit through family dinner, in front of the TV. Matilda is upset and does not like being told that she is ignorant and stupid, but she suppresses her emotions. When she goes to bed, Matilda decides to get even with her parents, starting with her father.

Chapter 3: The Hat and the Superglue

Matilda sets out on her first revenge plan. Just as her father is getting ready for work, Matilda applies superglue to the inside rim of his favorite hat and puts the hat back on the peg. Her father does not notice when he puts on the hat and is stuck wearing it all day. When he returns home, Mrs. Wormwood tries to yank it off his head, but the hat stays glued in place. When Matilda’s father wakes after an uncomfortable night of sleep, still wearing the hat, Matilda’s mother decides to cut the hat off. Once it is removed, Matilda’s father has a bald, white ring around his head and several pieces of the hat still stuck to his forehead. Matilda tells her father that he should get the rest off, or people will think he has lice. He snaps at her. The narrator states that the prank was not enough to teach Mr. Wormwood a permanent lesson.

Chapter 4: The Ghost

The next week, Matilda’s father does not bully her. After a bad day at work, however, he comes home and becomes angry that Matilda is reading a book instead of watching the television. Matilda wonders if he is angry because she is enjoying something that he does not. He takes her book and tears its pages out. She tries to tell him that it is a library book, and she must return it, but he does not care. Matilda devises her next revenge plan instead. She borrows a talking parrot from her neighbor, Fred. She hides the parrot in the chimney and waits for everyone to eat dinner in front of the TV. The parrot starts speaking, and the family becomes scared. Matilda’s father suggests that they investigate together. The whole family enters the dining room holding various objects as weapons. The parrot speaks again, but in a spooky voice, and Matilda convinces them that the voice is a ghost and that the room is haunted. Her parents are terrified. When Matilda returns the parrot to Fred, she tells him, “My parents adored it.”

Chapter 5: Arithmetic

Matilda wants her parents to be good, loving, smart, and understanding. Her parents’ behavior improves after Matilda has punished them with pranks, but overall, they have not changed. Matilda’s only relief is in planning out her next revenge. Matilda’s father comes home from work bragging about how much money he made. He tells Matilda’s brother, Michael, to get a paper and pencil. He then lists the amounts he paid for five different cars and the prices that he sold them for that day. He asks Michael to work out the total profit that he made. While Michael is working, Matilda tells her father the total profit. Her father tries to ignore her, but she insists. He checks the total on a slip of paper in his pocket and is immediately angry. He accuses her of having already looked at the paper in his pocket. Matilda protests, saying that she could not have seen the paper. Her father tells her that she is a cheat and a liar.

Chapter 6: The Platinum-Blond Man

Matilda plots revenge against her father before she goes to bed that night. In the morning, she goes to the bathroom and locates two hair products. The first is “platinum blonde hair-dye extra strong” that her mother uses to keep her hair blonde. The second is “oil of violets hair tonic” that Matilda’s father uses every morning, and he claims that it keeps his hair strong. Matilda empties most of her father’s hair tonic out and fills it with her mother’s blonde hair-dye. While the family eats breakfast, Mr. Wormwood goes through his morning routine, applying his hair tonic. When he enters the room, Mrs. Wormwood drops the breakfast tray. She tells him that his hair looks “horrendous” and that he “looks like a freak.” His hair is a dirty silver color. Mr. Wormwood panics. Matilda tells him that he must not have looked closely at the labels of hair products in the bathroom. He goes to wash the dye out and commands his wife to make an appointment with her hairdresser, so he can dye his hair back to black. When he is out of the room, Matilda’s mother tells Matilda that “men are not always quite as clever as they think they are.”

Chapter 7: Miss Honey

Matilda goes to school for the first time. Her teacher is Miss Honey, who is nice and adored by her students. The frightening Headmistress of the school, Miss Trunchbull, is the opposite. Miss Honey warns her students that they should always obey Miss Trunchbull, who insists on strict discipline. Miss Honey then asks if the students know any multiplication tables. Matilda answers a series of multiplication problems correctly. The last few are very difficult. Miss Honey thinks that Matilda is probably a child genius. Miss Honey then asks how much the students can read, and Matilda impresses her again. Matilda reads a difficult sentence on the blackboard and a poem from a book. Matilda even knows that the poem is called a “limerick.” Miss Honey is amazed. Matilda recites a limerick to the class that she has made up about Miss Honey. The limerick is about Miss Honey’s beauty. When Miss Honey asks what else Matilda has read, Matilda says that she liked C. S. Lewis and Tolkien very much, but that their books didn’t have enough “funny bits.” She also tells Miss Honey that she likes Charles Dickens. Before Miss Honey can react, the bell rings, ending the class. 

Chapter 8: The Trunchbull

Miss Honey leaves the classroom and heads for Miss Trunchbull’s office. Miss Trunchbull is described as not having any of the qualities that would make someone a good Headmistress: fairness, sympathy, understanding. Miss Honey tries to tell Miss Trunchbull about Matilda. Miss Trunchbull recalls that she bought a car from Matilda’s father and found him trustworthy. She also remembers that he told her to watch out for Matilda, because she was always causing problems. Miss Honey disagrees and says that Matilda is a genius, but Miss Trunchbull doesn’t believe her. Miss Honey argues that Matilda should be moved up to the highest grade level in the school. Miss Trunchbull thinks that Miss Honey is just trying to get rid of Matilda. Miss Trunchbull tells Miss Honey that “all children remain in their own age groups regardless of ability.” This makes Miss Honey sad, but she is not defeated. She promises herself that she will find a way to help Matilda.

Chapter 9: The Parents

Miss Honey gives Matilda senior class books on subjects like algebra and geometry. Miss Honey decides that she should visit Matilda’s parents. She goes to Matilda’s home in the late evening, so that Matilda will be asleep. When Mr. Wormwood answers the door, he is annoyed that Miss Honey has interrupted his television show. She explains who she is and that she wants to talk about Matilda. Mr. Wormwood tells her that it is a great inconvenience. Miss Honey tells him that he should not be a parent if he thinks that watching television is more important than talking about his daughter’s future. Mr. Wormwood is shaken by this and allows her in. Mrs. Wormwood objects to interrupting her television show and tells Miss Honey that men are not interested in brainy girls. She goes on to compare herself to Miss Honey, pointing out that she, herself, is married and comfortable while Miss Honey is single and a teacher. Miss Honey tries to tell them that Matilda could go to university, stressing the value of a doctors and lawyers. When she realizes the Wormwoods will never agree with her, Miss Honey eventually gives up and leaves.