Introduction to heroine speech.

‘Occasionally one comes across parents who are not what we expect good parents to be, who show no interest at all in their children, and these of course are far worse that the doting ones. Mr and Mrs Wormwood were two such parents. They had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda, and the parents looked upon Matilda in particular as nothing more than a scab. A scab is something you have to put up with until the time comes when you can pick it off and flick it away. Mr and Mrs Wormwood looked forward enormously to the time when they could pick their little daughter off and flick her away, preferably into the next country or even further than that.’(Page 4)