Term Paper

The Savior of Matilda,
Her Mom, Mr. Watts a Story
Jason Burchett

Fiction and reality are important aspects of a person’s life; a well-rounded person must understand both reality and fiction. Lloyd Jones uses reality and fiction in his novel Mister Pip to shape a young girl, Matilda, who lives on a war torn island in the southern Pacific in the 1990’s. She learns how important stories are in her life through two people, her Mom and her teacher Mr. Watts. As the story progresses there is a “battle” between Matilda’s mom and Mr. Watts over the idea of fiction and reality that teaches Matilda about hope and in the end saves her life.
Mr. Watts is the only white man left on the island after the war starts. He takes on the responsibility of teaching the children on the island. He has two methods of teaching the children: the first is bringing adults from the island to tell stories or explain practical skills to the students; the second is by reading Great Expectations by Mr. Dickens. Mr. Watts teaches the students about a fictional story and Pip in 19th century England. He teaches the children the importance of having an imagination and the importance of literature. He shows Matilda she can escape into a world of fiction even despite the horrible things are happening around her. “At some point I felt myself enter the story… I wasn’t identifiable on the page, but I was there, I was definitely there.” (46-47) Mr. Watts teaches Matilda that there is a way to escape reality imagination and literature. This helps her keep her sanity through the blockade and the war, as well as gives her a place to go. Stories also give her a way to survive the mundane days and fear filled days she is living on the island.
When the Red Skin Soldiers come to their village and destroy all of the villagers items, Mr. Watts teaches the children an important lesson about imagination. Since Matilda had written Pip’s name in the sand, they think Pip is a real person on the island, which they cannot find. This causes them to get angry and burn all the villager’s property and houses. After this the children go back to school where they are taught an important lesson by Mr. Watts about imagination and fiction. Mr. Watts says: “We have all lost our possessions and many of our homes,’ he said. ‘But theses losses, severe though they may seem, remind us of what not person can take away, and that is our minds and imaginations.” (123) Mr. Watts shows Matilda that even thought all her property was lost and destroyed, she still had something, and it was more important than her property. This gave Matilda hope for a better time, and helped her survive her time on the island.
Mr. Watts teaches Matilda how to save herself when things in life seem bleak. He is able to give her a friend, and another world she can escape to. He also shows her how to hope for better times. “What did I hope for? Just hope itself, really but in a particular way. I knew things could change better because they had for Pip.” (51) The story of Great Expectations gave her hope on the island, the courage to survive the ordeal, and become a better person.
Matilda’s Mom is the opposite of Mr. Watts. She believes real things are important, and there is no reason to look to fiction. When she finds out that the children are learning about a “fake” person (Pip) she becomes hostile towards Mr. Watts and Pip. To counter Mr. Watts she tries to teach Matilda about her family tree, and makes her write the names of her ancestors in the sand. Matilda does this next to where she had written Pip’s name in the sand. When her mother finds this she becomes livid. “What was the point of sticking the name of a make-believe person next to her kin?” (76) Matilda’s mom believes there is no reason to look to fiction; and does not understand the point of reading a story that does not teach you a practical skill.
Matilda’s Mom goes to the class to tell the students there are things more important in life than fiction. She tells them about real things like her faith, and how to predict the weather by looking at crab holes. When she is done, “…she gave him (Mr. Watts) an unfriendly nod to show she was finished with us, and swept out of the class into the afternoon furnace…” (45)
When the Red Skin Soldiers come to the village and see Pip’s name in the sand, they think Pip is a real person. When the children tell them he is a character from a book they want to see the book as proof. The book cannot be found because Matilda’s mom stole it. The soldiers burn all the property and houses of everyone in the village. Matilda realizes she is stuck in the battle her Mom created and knows she will have to choose between reality and fiction. “I knew that orphaned white kid and that small, fragile place he squeezed into between his awful sister and lovable Joe Gargery, because the same space exist between Mr. Watts and my mum. And I knew I would have to choose between the two.” (47)
Matilda finds out she will be taken off the island with her Mom and Mr. Watts. She is scared her Mom will not want to come and she will have to make a choice. But the night before she is supposed to leave the Red Skin Solders come back to the village. Mr. Watts had called himself Pip and they thought he was lying to them earlier, so they kill him in a gruesome manner. When they ask if anyone saw the murder no one at first replies because they know what will happen to them. Then Matilda’s mom speaks up and says, “Sir. I saw your men chop up the white man. He was a good man. I am here as God’s witness.” (205) When Matilda’s mom says this she is able to save Mr. Watts dignity and after they try to rape Matilda she sacrifices herself to save her daughter.
The next day Matilda is caught in a flash flood. She is swept away by the river. She grabs a log and starts calling it Mr. Jaggers, because Mr. Jaggers saved Pip, and the log was saving her. “Better to cling to the worldliness of Mr. Jaggers than the slimy skin of a water soaked log. I couldn’t talk to a log. But I could talk to Mr. Jaggers.”(216) Yet the log was not really her savior. She had two saviors, Mr. Watts and her Mom. Mr. Watts was able to save her from her own mind and the boredom and fear that comes when one is stuck on an island during a war. Her mom was able to literally save her from the Red Skin soldiers when they threatened to rape Matilda.
Mr. Watts and Matilda’s Mom both say similar things, and have the same goal; they just do it in different ways. Matilda’s Mom says: “Stories have a job to do. They can’t just lie around like lazybone dogs. They have to teach you something.” (86) Mr. Watts and Matilda’s mom believed the same thing, but they both looked at it differently. They both understood the importance of a story. Mr. Watts understood that a fictional story could save you from the reality you are in and give you hope. Matilda’s Mom looked at this idea more literally. She believed a story needed to have an obvious point or lesson. She knew the importance of things being real, and in then end was able to save Matilda where Pip had failed.