On top of this, he allows himself to be lowered down the outside of the hotel building by his grandmother. Once the boy has become a mouse, everything seems larger to him. "Miles below me, the children playing on the beach were the size of beetles" (130) (Simile) Using the simile "like a trumpet" calls attention to just how loud and jarring the unwelcome sound was. Just when the reader thinks the boy has gotten through the witches' meeting without being discovered, one of the witches smells him and yells out for everyone to stop moving. "Her shrieking voice echoed through the Ballroom like a trumpet" (103) (Simile) "He jumped as though someone had stuck a hatpin deep into his bottom" (97) (Simile)ĭahl uses a good deal of figurative language to describe what it looks and feels like to be transformed into a mouse, since it is already such a fantastical thing to imagine. She often uses very vivid and figurative language in her speech, especially when being mean to her fellow witches or speaking about children. Though her accent turns the word "worms" into "vurms," The Grand High Witch is great at insults. "You are a heap of idle good-for-nothing vurms!" (66) (Metaphor) His fear was immediate and very physical, causing his whole body to feel extremely cold. With this metaphor, Dahl describes how the boy felt when he realizes that the women in the room with him were all witches.
For many children it may be daunting to see page after page of purely just text.Buy Study Guide "My blood turned to ice" (57) (Metaphor) This made reading The Witches a lot more appealing than if it were just block text. There are a variety of emotions felt with every paragraph but the way that the humour is incorporated in with the excitement, fear and danger is superb.Īnother factor which adds to the enjoyment of this book is the way in which the text is laid out simple and larger than your average novel. The way that she is written is so convincing and the way other characters react to her, with the utmost fear and admiration is hilarious to follow. My personal favourite is the Grand High Witch.
From the snotty nosed hotel owner, to the fat kid that never stops eating. The excellent imagination of Roald Dahl certainly makes the plot and characters very convincing, especially for those readers who are too young to know that those type of witches do not exist, although I can not be one hundred percent sure after reading this masterpiece.Īlong the way we meet some magnificent characters. To describe the story as powerful may be an exaggeration in terms, the story however is extremely enjoyable, and I do believe that all sorts of children of different ages would agree.
Even though he is a mouse for the last three quarters of the book, a plan is concocted with his grandmother to destroy all of the witches and save the British children from extinction. She catches the child ear wigging and turns him into a mouse, with the help of a secret potion he did however hear their plans to destroy all the children of England before this cruel incident.
The story revolves around a grandmother and her grandson who have been unfortunate enough to stumble upon an annual meeting of witches at a hotel, hosted by the ever terrifying, Grand High Witch'. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the story unfold, meeting all of the characters and learning for myself just how far the imagination can be stretched. That interest stayed with me right up until the last page. This book was an absolute pleasure to read, from the offset it catches your interest with its vivid description of the witches that you will meet later on in the story, told as though they could be sat right next to you as you are reading. Published by, Jonathan Cape Ltd, Thirty Two, Bedford Square, London.
0 kommentar(er)
