The Witches

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What images are commonly associated with the word “witch”? What characteristics and behaviors are often associated with witches? List 5-6 familiar stories in which a witch plays a role. What comparisons can be made between their characterizations? Explain.

Teaching Suggestion: Students might join a partner or small group to brainstorm titles of literary works in which witches appear. Depending on the level of the class, students might review or be introduced to connotation as a literary term, then confer as a class or in small groups on whether “witch” is positive or negative in connotation. Groups may readily agree that the connotation is largely negative, but opportunities for critical thinking exist in discussing examples to support this negative connotation, ranking the comparative negativity, and examples that defy this connotation (e.g., Glinda the Good Witch of the South in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series). While the idea of historical and literary witches may represent a range of descriptions, Dahl defines a witch in this novel in a specific manner: a woman who despises children. These women are able to change their appearances in order to hide their witch-like characteristics and assimilate into society. Dahl presents the actions and activities of witches in a monolithically evil way, without nuance to the characters, which contributes to the dichotomous relationship of Good Versus Evil.

Regarding critiques of the novel, Dahl made comments in his life that were antisemitic, and some audiences believe that The Witches is an example of his dislike and discrimination for the Jewish community; this critical lens might be considered with certain student groups.

• History explores the “History of Witches.” (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing without teacher guidance due to mature content and imagery)
• Journalist and historian David M. Perry argues in this 2021 opinion that the representation of witches in Dahl’s novel is an antisemitic allegory to Jewish stereotypes in “Why I Hope My Kids Never Read Roald Dahl.” (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing due to mature content and sensitivity)

Short Activity

In addition to The Witches, author Roald Dahl wrote numerous novels and short stories for children and adults. Working in small groups, select one of Dahl’s novels or stories to review and briefly summarize for the class. In your presentation, consider the following questions:

• Who are the main characters?
• What is the setting?
• What is a brief summary of the plot?
• What are some of the themes that Dahl includes in the story?

In particular, does Dahl appear to address the theme of The Importance of Family, Teamwork, and Love; Good Versus Evil; or Appearances and the Fluidity of Identity in your chosen story? If so, how?

After each group presents their summary, determine as a class which shared theme seems to have the strongest representation across Dahl’s works.

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Activity invites students to explore Dahl’s works in conjunction with the themes represented in The Witches. Depending on the level and background of the class, this Short Activity may work best if appropriate titles are pre-selected and assigned.

• History shares information on Roald Dahl’s upbringing; the article mentions the titles of several of his works.
• This 2016 in-depth article from Smithsonian Magazine discusses both Dahl’s background along with his motivations for writing. (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing without teacher guidance due to mature content and reading level, sensitivity, and complexity)

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

Consider the idea of Good Versus Evil. Do you believe that most situations can be characterized as either one or the other? To what extent are there “gray areas” in life? In your rationale, use real-world, historical, or literary examples to support your ideas.

Teaching Suggestion: In the novel, Dahl expresses the relationship between good and evil in a dichotomous way: The good characters are the narrator and his grandmother because they want to defeat the witches, while the evil characters are witches because they want to remove children (along with purity and innocence) from the world. After providing a chance for readers to respond in a journal entry, students might extend this topic to a consideration of Good Versus Evil in storytelling based on any literary examples they named. For example, they might determine the types of stories in which the line between good and evil is more clearly drawn (fables, legends, fairy tales) and those in which the delineation is more complex (modern MG and YA stories with more three-dimensional protagonists and tasks complicated by dilemmas or flaws).