The narrator also cautions the reader or listener that their own teacher might be a witch, bringing the world of the book into the reader's reality. For example, in the very first chapter, a big deal is made out of the difference between witches in fairy tales and the "REAL WITCHES" (1) in this book. Dahl tries to convince the reader of this fact as well. Crucial to the story is the boy's acceptance of witches as real. Beliefīelief is thematized and questions in a variety of ways in The Witches. In line with the seeming rejection of adults and adulthood running through Dahl's books, the boy is just fine dying before he ever has to enter that realm of life. Since he is not even 8 years old, living only 9 more years means he will never reach adulthood, even as a mouse. Furthermore, the boy tells his grandmother after they return to Norway that he is glad he only has around 9 years left to live because he doesn't want to live without her. When contemplating whether it is better to be a human or a mouse, the boy decides that it is better to be a mouse because it is very dangerous to be a person-one may die of illness, an accident, or in war. Though the boy is never given a name, and so is known only through his gender and age, "the boy," his parents' untimely death causes him to age quickly and confront scary, deep ideas of life and death. Even without direct provocation, witches' main goal is to cause children harm, and though they do not care to harm adults, they do not care about the adults they harm in the process.Ĭhildhood is important to the story in another sense as well, namely through the boy's lost childhood.
The grandmother does not say anything about where witches come from, so it seems that they never have childhoods themselves instead, they are portrayed as the ultimate adults, hating everything about children and childhood from their smells to their pets to their games. He often also positions adults and adulthood as the antagonist(s) in the books, and The Witches is no different. Children and childhoodĭahl seems to enjoy writing books both for children and about children, as evidenced by his many successful books that have children as the protagonists. Jenkins, who hardly says anything even when told that her son has become a mouse-or incredibly fearful and shrill, like the many women who scream and yell whenever a mouse appears. Women are generally portrayed as either quiet-like Mrs. The witch tries to lure him down from the tree by showing him a snake, much like the story of the garden of Eden, again making women seem dangerous, evil, and sinful.įurthermore, normal human women are shown throughout the book, especially during the boy and Grandmother's stay at the hotel. Dahl also uses an allusion to Eve and the garden of Eden during the boy's first encounter with a witch. The issue of gender in the story goes beyond witches. Others feared the presentation of the witches promoted a rebellion against all adults, not only females" (Oliver). Many adults, fearing the perpetuation of sexist order, protested The Witches. The Witches was published in 1983 when second-wave feminism was robust and prosperous, fighting issues of unofficial inequalities and sexist structures. Even though males are ghouls, they are not half as evil as the female witch however, such strong reactions against the female-only witches were due to the time of release. In "Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble: a critical look at the controversy over The Witches, Elizabeth Oliver analyzes early reactions to Dahl's novel, writing of the above quote, "This statement does split the sexes, and provides readers with the viewpoint of evil only inhabiting the female sex. But neither of them is half as dangerous as a REAL WITCH" (3). On the other hand, a ghoul is always a male. But the fact remains that all witches are women. "I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most of the criticism the book has received on the topic is due to Dahl's definition of witches as women. Gender is an incredibly important aspect of The Witches, and has led to continued criticism of Dahl and of the work, despite its popularity and success as a children's book.
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