Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Roald Dahl's The Witches. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
The Witches: Introduction
The Witches: Plot Summary
The Witches: Detailed Summary & Analysis
The Witches: Themes
The Witches: Quotes
The Witches: Characters
The Witches: Symbols
The Witches: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of Roald Dahl
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Historical Context of The Witches
Other Books Related to The Witches
- Full Title: The Witches
- When Written: 1980s
- Where Written: England
- When Published: October 1983
- Literary Period: Contemporary
- Genre: Children’s Novel, Fantasy
- Setting: Norway and Bournemouth, England
- Climax: The Grand High Witch and the English witches are all turned into mice and slaughtered.
- Antagonist: The Grand High Witch
- Point of View: First Person
Extra Credit for The Witches
Challenging Works. Not infrequently accused of misogyny for its treatment of its (always female, always evil) witches, The Witches has been subject to frequent bans and was number 22 on the American Library Association’s list of frequently challenged books in the 1990s.
Wade-Dahl-Till. Dahl suffered a brain injury during his career as a Royal Air Force pilot and his son, Theo, suffered one as an infant when he was struck by a car. Dahl worked with the neurosurgeon treating Theo (Kenneth Till) and a friend who was a hydraulic engineer (Stanley Wade) to perfect a device designed to drain fluid and alleviate swelling in patients with brain injuries. Although Theo had recovered before the device was perfected, it went on to save the lives of thousands of children around the world.