For example, instead of the narrator being one particular boy, we can almost think of him as an every-boy. Why on earth would the two main characters of a story (three, if you include The Grand High Witch) not have names? Well, it certainly makes them more adaptable. In fact, Grandmamma doesn't really have a name either, just a title. In case you haven't noticed, we keep calling our narrator 'our narrator.' This isn't because we want to remind you incessantly that he's the guy telling the story. As strange of a creature as she is, her difficulty with the language just makes her sound even more distant from what we know as readers. You might notice that English isn't her first language. 'You brrrainless bogvumper! Are you not rrree-alising that if you are going rrround poisoning little children you vill be caught in five minutes flat? Never in my life am I hearing such a boshvolloping suggestion coming from a vitch!' (8.34) It all adds up to sound something like this: She rolls her 'r's and uses 'v's for 'w's.

The Grand High Witch also has some peculiarities to her speech. (For more on this, check out 'Characters: The Narrator.') This might just tell us that we have a pesky narrator on our hands, but more likely, Roald Dahl is conveying his protagonist's curiosity. He asks a lot of questions about witches, about mice, about fishing bait – there is nothing too small for a question. Through the characters' speech, we're able to tell quite a bit about them. All of these things take some conversation time. Grandmamma and her grandson have some major planning to do. The Grand High Witch needs to convey information to her gaggle of followers.

The narrator needs to learn from someone (Grandmamma) what the deal is with witches. There sure is a lot of dialogue in The Witches, and for good reason. This is an image that, if nothing else, makes us remember that the witches are not human. They're deformed on the outside, which reflect their mean and messed-up insides: they're bald, have scabs on their heads, square feet, claws, and blue saliva. The witches' bodies are just plain revolting. Character Clues Character Analysis AppearanceĪppearance is most important when it comes to the witches.

The witches roald dahl characters