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11. Writing Home
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Authority and Hypocrisy
Beauty and Imagination
Growing Up
English Nationalism
Summary
Analysis
Matron, a large and strict woman, is in charge of the dormitory floor at St. Peter’s. Whenever a student breaks a rule while in the dormitory, she can send them to the St. Peter’s Headmaster’s office to be caned. Roald recalls how Matron stands at the top of the stairs to listen as the Headmaster beats rule-breaking boys. Feeling homesick on his first night at St. Peter’s, Roald rolls over in bed to face the Bristol Channel, where Llandaff sits across the water. For the rest of his time there, he always sleeps facing his family, which brings him comfort. In Roald’s first term at St. Peter’s, a boy named Tweedie starts snoring loud enough for Matron to hear. She comes into the room angrily and fills Tweedie’s mouth with soap as the other boys watch. Tweedie’s mouth fills with suds and he starts to choke, but Matron only rebukes him coldly and leaves.
In many ways, Matron is similar to Mrs. Pratchett. Although Matron is clean and orderly while Mrs. Pratchett is dirty and loud, Matron’s voyeuristic enjoyment of the young boys’ suffering echoes Mrs. Pratchett’s encouragement of Mr. Coombes during Roald’s first caning. Matron’s role as a dormitory caretaker and nurse for the St. Peter’s students could make her something of a surrogate mother to boys under her care, but she couldn’t be less like Roald’s own warm and forgiving mother. The contrast makes Matron’s abuse of authority seem almost “unnatural,” and it heightens Roald’s distrust of school authority and longing for home.
Themes
