The Witches Literary Elements

Children's fiction

England and Norway

First-person, told by an unnamed 7-year-old boy

Fantastical

Protagonists - the boy and the grandmother; Antagonists - The Grand High Witch and all witches

The witches of England have a plot to turn all of the children in England into mice, and the boy and his grandmother want to stop them.

The witches turn into mice at dinner.

The boy's grandmother tells him that English witches love "to mix up a powder that will turn a child into some creature or other that all grown-ups hate" (30), foreshadowing the plot to change children into mice.

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The title and content of the chapter "Metamorphosis" may allude to Kafka's famous story; there are arguably religious allusions throughout the book, especially regarding Eve, the snake, and the garden of Eden during the boy's first encounter with a witch.

Roald Dahl's books work to create a vivid, magical, and, in this case, creepy world for the reader. Much of the novel's imagery focuses on people's appearances, especially the witches and the boy's grandmother.

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