Mr. Watts faces multiple challenges in teaching young children who are desperate for a distraction from constant turmoil. One of these challenges is Dolores, Matilda’s fervent Christian mother, who strongly doubts the teacher and his syllabus.
She takes every possible measure to protect her daughter from the influence of the unfamiliar white man, going so far as to regularly visit the classroom. She goes to the extreme of stealing and concealing Dickens’ Great Expectations, resulting in great trouble when indigenous soldiers arrive in the village and discover Mr. Pip’s name engraved in the sand. By chance, it is Matilda who wrote his name, and her remorse leads her to understand her mother’s refusal to surrender the book as proof that Pip is a fictional character.
Believing that Mr. Pip is a secret agent who has been concealed from them, the redskins demolish the houses, leaving only smoldering remnants of Matilda’s previous existence. As the tension continues to rise, a band of insurgents arrives in the village to interrogate the sole remaining Caucasian, Mr.
Watts agrees to share his explanation over five nights, intertwining Pip’s life with his own. Matilda theorizes about why he stayed on the island with his wife after the other white people left. After his wife’s death, Mr. Watts reveals his story.
Watts contemplates leaving and gives Matilda an opportunity to leave the island as well. However, she is faced with a difficult decision – to choose between Mr. Watts or her mother. Before this dilemma can be resolved, the rebels retreat and the redskin soldiers come back. This time, the soldiers fatally injure Mr.
Watts, who is accompanied by Matilda’s mother, is taken away when her mother speaks up. Matilda is nearly raped, but her mother sacrifices her own life to protect her. After surviving the massacre of her village and losing her mother and Mr. Watts, Matilda becomes hopeless and loses her desire to live.
Matilda comes close to drowning, but she is saved by remembering Pip, who also narrowly escaped death. She clings to a log and is rescued by the fisherman who had planned to escape with Mr. Watts. Eventually, she arrives in Australia where she is reunited with her father and starts rebuilding her disrupted life.
The narrator acknowledges the truth about Mr. Watts, who modified both his personal story and the content of Great Expectations to offer an escape from reality for himself and the children. The narrator also shares her achievement in becoming a scholarly authority on Charles Dickens’ works, and ends her story by highlighting the ability of literature to provide comfort and relief during difficult periods.
