How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
In two large strides the Trunchbull was behind Eric's desk, and there she stood, a pillar of doom towering over the helpless boy. Eric glanced fearfully back over his shoulder at the monster. "I was right, wasn't I?" he murmured nervously. (13.85)
The Trunchbull seems to like it when she can scare people for maximum effect. She hasn't even touched Eric yet, but he knows she could hurt him at any moment. So of course he's fearful and nervous, not knowing when this pillar of doom will strike.
Quote #8
"Up to now," Miss Honey went on, "I have found it impossible to talk to anyone about my problems. I couldn't face the embarrassment, and anyway I lack the courage. Any courage I had was knocked out of me when I was young. But now, all of a sudden I have a sort of desperate wish to tell everything to somebody. I know you are only a tiny little girl, but there is some kind of magic in you somewhere. I've seen it with my own eyes." (17.14)
This is the real tragedy of the Trunchbull's abuse. She's so frightening, so awful, that she knocks the courage out of her victims, particularly those she has been abusing for ages. Miss Honey isn't not brave. It's just that any courage she may have had has been squelched by the evil Trunchbull.
Quote #9
"You shouldn't have done that," Matilda said. "Your salary was your chance of freedom."
"I know, I know," Miss Honey said. "But by then I had been her slave nearly all my life and I hadn't the courage or the guts to say no. I was still petrified of her. She could still hurt me badly." (17.69)
Even when Miss Honey should have had freedom from the Trunchbull—as an adult making her own money and starting her own career—she couldn't stand up to her. Both her memories of how the Trunchbull had hurt her in the past and her worry that the Trunchbull "could still hurt [her] badly" keep her from striking out on her own. That's some powerful fear right there.