Origins
The first draft of the novel introduced Matilda's character from the point of view of her parents, misleadingly portraying her as "just plain rotten" to highlight the misplaced priorities of Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood.
It has also been reported that the character of Miss Honey began as a well-intentioned alcoholic whose misdemeanors repeatedly had to be covered up by Matilda from the attentions of her headmistress. Likewise, the headmistress of the initial drafts was not a specifically villainous character.
Read more about this topic: Matilda (novel)
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)