Bruce Bogtrotter is an overweight boy from Roald Dahl's book Matilda. He steals a slice of Miss Trunchbull's cake and is punished by being forced to eat a whole 18 inch chocolate cake in front of the whole school.
Appearances
Matilda
Book
In the book, Bruce is 11 years old and overweight. He only appears in the chapter "Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake." Bruce is called up by Miss Trunchbull and accused of stealing a slice of her personal chocolate cake. After a moment, she decides to punish by forcing him to eat a whole 18-inch cake, pretending to be kind. He does extremely well in the task, but Miss Trunchbull grows angrier, possibly because she's hoping to dispose of the boy and her plan is failing. Bruce is nearly stuffed when he has one more slice to eat, but the other children cheer him to finish and in the end, he succeeds. At the end, Bruce is so full that his button-up shirt is too tight for his fat belly and he is unable to move. Furious that her scheme failed, Miss Trunchbull smashes him on the head with the platter, but this doesn't hurt him because he is so full of cake.
1996 film
In the film Bruce is still 11 years old and overweight. He lives on the same block as Lavender, his role is extended slightly he appears at the end to throw cake in Miss Truchbull's face, and helps the children in Miss Honey's class catch the newt for Miss Trunchbull's drink. He is shown to be quite intelligent in this scene. After the chocolate cake Miss Trunchbull hits Bruce on the head with the plate smashing it much like in the book. This doesn't bother Bruce, after this Bruce is dragged away out of the hall and his fate is unknown after this he is either let off, or most likely put in Chokey. Bruce finds the chocolate cake task very hard and needs cheering on at the end by the others. Bruce was portrayed by 12 year old Jimmy Karz.
Onstage Musical
Bruce's role is extended enormously. Bruce is the biggest male child's role available he has many lines in songs and scenes. Bruce has an amazing singing voice as proved in song Revolting Children. In the show Bruce is very skinny, and is the same age as Matilda and in Miss Honey's class. He does the cake task very well, until the last verse when he starts to struggle until Matilda says "Come on Bruce do it!" There is a song "Bruce" to the cake scene. Afterwards Bruce is taken to the Chokey for suceeding but doesn't get hit over the head with a plate.