Literary Devices in The Witches
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
A World in Which Witches ExistThe most important thing to remember about the setting of The Witches is that we are not in our own world. Instead, we are in a fantasy world where witches exist. We h...
Narrator Point of View
The entire story of The Witches comes from our nameless narrator. He speaks in the first person because he is, after all, telling a story that has happened to him. Once in a while, especially towar...
Genre
It's not too hard to figure out why The Witches qualifies as children's literature: it's written for children. In fact, the narrator even points this out. Right at the beginning, he tells the reade...
Tone
"I don't believe it!" could pretty much be our narrator's motto. He is amazed by everything that he hears and sees. This makes sense, especially for the readers, because we're talking about a world...
Writing Style
All Work and No Play Would Make Roald a Dull BoyRoald Dahl is nothing if not playful, and we see this most clearly in his writing style. Basically, he likes to make up words. Some of our favorites...
What's Up With the Title?
Well, this title is pretty self-explanatory. Let's put it this way: If you totally forgot your homework assignment to read this book and then the teacher called on you to ask what The Witches was a...
What's Up With the Ending?
This is a classic case of "Will there be a sequel?" (There's not, unfortunately.) Although the witches of England are defeated in The Witches, there is still a world full of them left to conquer. W...
Tough-o-Meter
The Witches isn't a particularly tough book to follow. There aren't any plot twists, confusing characters, or philosophically deep thoughts. Everything's pretty straightforward, and the book even h...
Plot Analysis
REAL WITCHES ExistAll caps. Don't forget it. In the introduction, we find out that there is such a thing as real witches. Our narrator prepares us for a world where witches exist and, to make matte...
Trivia
Roald Dahl based the character of Grandmamma on his mom (not his grandma). Like Grandmamma, Dahl's mom loved to tell stories about bizarre creatures (source).The Witches was adapted into a stage pl...
Allusions
There are only two shout-outs in all of The Witches, and both are timeless references, meaning they could have been written even in the 1800s and still would have been understood. For that reason,...