The Witches赏析.doc

The WitchesPublished in 1983SYNOPSISRoald Dahls The Witches tells the story of a brave young boy and his Norwegian grandmother as they battle Englands witches.Witches absolutely detest children. To a witch, a child smells like dogs droppings. And now the Grand High Witch is planning to get rid of every child in England - can anybody stop them?The Witchestells the story of a brave young boy and his Norwegian grandmother as they battle against Englands child-hating witches. It continues to feature in lists dedicated to the scariest childrens books more than 30 years after it was first published. Especially around Halloween.When he was a child himself, Roald Dahl used to spend every summer holiday with his family in Norway, where he was inspired by bedtime stories of witches and magic. He wrote about these holidays inBoy: Tales of Childhood. It is also said that the grandmother inThe Witcheswas partially inspired by Roalds own mother. Roald dedicated the book to his wife, Liccy.A film version of the story, starring Angelica Huston as the witches leader The Grand High Witch,was released in 1990. The main difference between the film and the original story is the ending - in the book, there is no spell cast to change the boys state back to what it was before the witches found him. The film also gives its central character the name Luke, whereas in the book we dont find out the name of either the boy who narrates the story or his grandmother.In 1983, the year it was published,The Witcheswon three awards: The New York Times Outstanding Books Award, The Federation of Childrens Book Groups Award and The Whitbread Award.Boy:Like many of Roald Dahls young heroes and heroines, he is resilient, resourceful and, above all, brave. His reaction when he discoversThe Grand High Witchs terrible plan against the children of England is to do all he can to stop them - even after he gets some first-hand experience of Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker.She is certainly a brave and formiddable character. A retired witchophile, its her warnings to her grandson that keep him alert to the dangers posed by the Witches. When his brush with The Grand High Witch leaves him forever changed - although not in the film version - she doesnt flinch. Together, they manage to outsmart not only all the English witches but even The Grand High Witch herself.Witches are all pretty scary. They live in plain sight, disguised as normal women, but their hatred of children (who smell to them of dogs droppings) is all-powerful. Beneath their wigs and gloves and badly-fitting shoes, they are itching to get rid of any child unlucky enough to cross their path.And The Grand High Witch is the worst of them all. She is, asGrandmothertells hergrandson, their ruler. She is all-powerful. She is without mercy. All other Witches are petrified of her.So, when The Grand High Witch descends on the same Bournemouth hotel where the boy is staying with his retired witchophile Gran