The Power of Love isn't just about loving someone - it's about using that to change someone's life! It could be a small thing or something huge but either way, it's using it for good. This was hard, at first, to choose a book and then I asked around and came back to the book I almost used last month oddly enough.
Anyway, back to this month! I decided on a character from the book Matilda by Roald Dahl. Miss Jennifer Honey plays a pivotal role in Matilda's life and used her gift of love to help protect the children she teaches.
I suppose I should give a brief summary of who Miss Honey is. She is the niece of Agatha Trunchbull, the headmistress of the school where she teaches and lost her mother when she was two-years-old while her father died when she was just five. This left her in the custody of her wicked aunt. Eventually, she managed to break free but lives, at least at the start of the story, in a small basic cottage.
Miss Honey teaches the smaller children, the ones just starting school, and it's obvious from the start that she cares deeply about the children - even loves them. She takes time with the children and teaches them in a way that helps them. Miss Honey is mild-mannered and will instantly jump to defend the children when Miss Trunchbull claims they don't know anything. Mostly, the children fear Miss Trunchbull and that is the reason why they get questions wrong when asked.
It's really when Matilda arrives that Miss Honey's loving and caring side comes out more. Determined to do the best for the gifted girl, the teacher approaches her aunt and asks if Matilda could be moved into the top year group where she should be. The Headmistress doesn't believe her, but that doesn't stop Miss Honey going around asking the teachers of the oldest year to give her books for Matilda to work through.
Miss Honey also then goes to see Matilda's parents and they don't believe her. Matilda's parents don't care about their daughter and I believe that makes Miss Honey more determined to do the best for Matilda. Again, I believe this is to do with how much she loves the children she teaches, almost as if they were her own children. She feels the need to protect them and nurture them, treating them for who they are.
There is a particular chapter, The Weekly Test, that sticks in my mind because it shows how much Miss Honey is willing to stand up for the children she teaches. Miss Trunchbull teaches every class once a week and in this particular lesson, the Headmistress shows just how much of a brute she is. Miss Honey instantly tries to get her to let go of the children when she is holding them up by their ears or by their hair. It is another moment where Miss Honey shows that she is willing to face her tyrant of an aunt to protect the children she loves and cares about.
After learning of Matilda's ability to move objects with her thoughts, commonly called telekinesis, Miss Honey invites Matilda to her small cottage where she tells of her own story of losing her parents. In the end, she reveals that her aunt is the Headmistress. Matilda decides to help her by using her powers to get Miss Honey her house back.
From that moment on, Matilda is a welcome guest at Miss Honey's house until the fateful day that Matilda's father is outed as being involved with stolen cars. Matilda runs to Miss Honey's house telling her what's happening and the teacher instantly rushes with the little girl back to the Wormwood house. It is in that moment that Miss Honey shows just what the power of love can do when she agrees to take Matilda in so she doesn't have to go on the run with her family as they don't want to face the consequences of her father's actions.
That one moment could possibly sum up Jennifer Honey throughout the whole book. She used the power of love within her to protect the children she taught from a tyrant. Then, in the end, she saved a remarkable child from neglection in a way that that shouldn't be (and usually isn't) possible from a teacher.
See you next month,
Adele x