Verbal Communication In Matilda

Matilda is a young girl who possesses the power of telekinesis. In this film, she uses her abilities to not only protect her friends from Miss Trunchbull, but as well as herself from her crude parents--Harry and Zinnia Wormwood. In my paper, I will discuss the several different types of communications that are displayed within this film, and how they had personal effects on the characters. Matilda is a film that represents one’s inner strength and how to use said strength to stand up for one’s self. As stated in Elizabeth Kiefer’s article, Revisiting Matilda, Two Decades After Its Release, “ … sometimes the underdog can stand up to her oppressor and succeed. And sometimes, against all odds, she wins and gets exactly what she's always wanted.

In the beginning of the film, Matilda was portrayed as being very young, but very independent. As a five year old, Harry and Zinnia left Matilda by herself every morning, forcing her to make her own breakfast and lunch. When Matilda turned five, she began walking herself to the local library. With each visit, Matilda would check-out more and more books. Her love for books was anything like her family. Matilda valued education because learning was her escape when her parents neglected to pay attention to her or show her affection (study.com 1). The Wormwoods did not believe in intelligence or education, however, so when Matilda began reading, her father did not approve of it. This disapproval was expressed when Harry took the book Matilda had been reading--Moby Dick-- and tore it in half. When asked if she could start school, the Wormwoods laughed in her face. They told Matilda she was not old enough due to her being only four years of age;on the contrary, however, she was actually six and a half years old. This scene ultimately showed how independent Matilda truly was, due to her parents’ ignorance. Another example of nonverbal communication within this film is when Michael, her brother, decided to throw a carrot at her face. In return, she used her telekinesis to turn the carrot around and go directly into his

This created a listening barrier between Matilda and her parents several times within the film. The first time this occurred was when she came home late from school and saw two men sitting in a car across the street from her house. She then proceeded to tell her mother there were cops watching the house; however, her mother did not believe her because they told her they were speedboat salesmen (tv tropes). Towards the end of the film, it was proved that the so called “speedboat salesmen” were actually FBI agents. The second time this happened was when Matilda came home very late from school one night because her classmate, Bruce, was forced to eat a giant chocolate cake in front of the entire school. When she gave this explanation to her mother, regarding her late arrival from school, she told her to quit lying and proceeded to ignore