Matilda: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Since Matilda’s parents aren’t concerned about her education and regularly forget about her, they don’t put her in primary school until she’s five and a half. They enroll Matilda in Crunchem Hall Primary School, which is headed by “a formidable middle-aged lady” named Miss Trunchbull. Matilda is in the lowest class, which a young woman named Miss Honey teaches. Miss Honey is lovely, slim, and looks fragile—she’s “like a porcelain figure.” She’s also quiet and barely smiles, but every child adores her.

Miss Trunchbull, on the other hand, is “a gigantic holy terror.” She’s a tyrant and loves to frighten students and teachers. She marches everywhere and children who get in her way go flying. (The narrator warns readers to, if they meet someone like Miss Trunchbull in real life, climb a tree until the person goes away.)

Back in Miss Honey’s classroom, Miss Honey asks her students for their names and passes out their exercise books. Then, she warns the kids that while they’re at Crunchem Hall, they must take care around Miss Trunchbull. Miss Trunchbull demands discipline and deals “severely” with anyone who acts out. Then, Miss Honey says she’s going to teach her students as much as possible. This week they’re going to learn the two-times table and by next year, the students should know all their times tables. She asks if anyone already knows their two-times tables. Matilda puts her hand up and, when Miss Honey asks, recites the two-times table—all the way up to two times 16.

Miss Honey asks Matilda to stop, then she asks Matilda if she knows two times 28 and then two times 487. Matilda answers both problems instantly. Miss Honey continues to question Matilda on her times tables and then tells the class that Matilda is lucky—her parents taught her to multiply very well. Matilda corrects her teacher that nobody taught her; she just doesn’t find multiplication difficult. Matilda can’t explain her thinking, but she instantly has the answer when Miss Honey asks if she can solve 14 x 19. Again, Matilda can’t explain how she does this, just that she does.

Miss Honey is shivery; Matilda is obviously a genius. She lies and assures the other students that they’ll soon be able to do math as well as Matilda. Then, Miss Honey introduces a spelling lesson. She asks if any students can spell “cat.” Matilda, a girl named Lavender, and a boy named Nigel put their hands up. Then, Miss Honey writes, “I have already begun to learn how to read long sentences” on the chalkboard and asks if any of the students can read it. Nigel and Lavender are lost, but Matilda reads it perfectly. Matilda admits she can read most things, though she doesn’t always understand what things mean.

Miss Honey offers Matilda a book of funny poetry and asks her to read a poem. Matilda reads the poem without hesitation. She knows what a difficult word in the poem (epicure) means and knows that the poem is a limerick. Then, Matilda admits that she loves limericks but struggles to write good ones. When Miss Honey asks Matilda to recite one she wrote, Matilda refuses—she wrote one about Miss Honey, but it uses her first name. Finally, Matilda agrees to recite a limerick, which is about how pretty Miss Honey is. Miss Honey blushes happily, and other students praise Matilda’s poem.

Again, Matilda explains that she taught herself to read and has read every book in the public library. She says she liked The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but C. S. Lewis unfortunately doesn’t write funny books. Neither does Tolkien, and Matilda thinks children’s books should be funny—children aren’t serious like adults are. Miss Honey is astounded, especially when Matilda says she also loves Charles Dickens.