Ronald Dahlia's Criticism of Modern Society - Book Report/Review Example

Matilda finds an emotional escape by reading books. Her parents, however, fail to recognize that Matilda’s intellect was far above her years. They expressly oppose the idea of any books in the house, emphasizing that she should follow her brother's example of investing all the time in television. Through this fictional portrayal of parenting in the contemporary world, Roald Dahl directs the attention of the audience to this grave and largely unnoticed issue. Family, the basic unit of society is fundamental in nurturing children in order to prepare them for future roles.

Unfortunately, today’s modern families are failing to fulfill this obligation. This quote highlights how parents nowadays are engrossed in their own lives, with little interest and attention towards children. It reflects the adverse effects of technological developments in the majority of households. Today, child abuse and neglect has become a serious menace to society. This can be solely attributed to a change in parental preferences. In today’s age, modern inventions such as televisions, computers, and cell phones have become an imperative component of everyday life.

By and large, people fail to establish healthy and beneficial use limits for these inventions. Not surprisingly, time completely drained in such useless pursuits has resulted in a dramatic decline in the relative importance of relations of all sorts. Family structures collapse as modern inventions replaces parents. Matilda’s parents pay no attention to her needs and only castigate her further for developing habits different from theirs such as reading books. Mr. Wormwood constantly denounces her for wasting her time in books as evident from this quote.

Similarly, Mrs. Wormwood also explains to her daughter how brainy girls dedicated to studying lose out to the beautiful ones. Through such quotes, Roald Dahl points out the new superficial criteria of modern society that define somebody’s worth. Although, education was the driving factor behind modernity today the very same thing is considered useless without wealth and power. Books have been substituted by futile pursuits such as television, internet, video games, cell phones, and the like.

Unlike the previous centuries, an intelligent and well-read child ranks lower than the one who can narrate popular television programs. Therefore, it can be concluded that this quote and the entire story, in general, depict Roald Dahl’s criticism of modern society.