With the assistance of his benevolent Grandmamma (who hoists him up to things he can't reach, secretes him in her handbag, feeds andĬuddles him), he is able to outsmart nearly the whole adult world. He is tiny and crushable, but he is also fast and well-nigh invisible. A child may be smaller than all the witchy, horrifying adults, but he canĬertainly outwit them. This is the equation of childhood with mousedom. Under the surface of this deceptively simple tale, which whizzes along and is great fun to read, lurks an interesting metaphor.
Into a tiny mouse (with, however, the mind and language of a very bright child), and through his extraordinary bravery, he manages to save all the children of England from the same fate. His witches must be horrifying creatures to underline his hero's heroism. Of the ancient world, I can certainly see what Roald Dahl is up to here. In this book, witches are characterized as figures of horror - baldheaded, claw-fingered, toeless women, their deformities hidden beneath pretty masks, fancy wigs, white gloves and pointy shoes.Īlthough I have written a book arguing for the rehaĮrica Jong is the author of ''Witches.'' Her most recent book of poetry is ''Ordinary Miracles.'' bilitation of the witch as a descendant of the great mother goddess True nature of witches and then has the misfortune to be transformed into a mouse by the Grand High Witch of All the World - a horrifying creature with a bride-of-Frankenstein face concealed behind the mask of a pretty young woman. In his latest book, ''The Witches,'' a 7-year-old orphan boy, cared for by his Norwegian grandmother, discovers the ROALD DAHL knows every bit as well as Bruno Bettelheim that children love the macabre, the terrifying, the mythic.
November 13, 1983, Sunday, Late City Final Edition
The New York Times: Book Review Search Article
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