Aunt Spiker is James' aunt, Sponge's sister, and one of the two main antagonists from James and the Giant Peach. It is unknown whether Spiker and Sponge are the sisters of James' father or mother. She is portrayed by Joanna Lumley.
Personality[]
A dominating, cruel, malicious, and thoroughly repulsive lady, who derives a sadistic pleasure in manipulating and tormenting young James, who she and her sister Sponge see as nothing more than a slave. Assumably the older of the aunts, both she and Sponge are vain, each singing praises of their imagined beauty while they are in fact repulsive, but each attacks the other's repulsiveness. James never hears either aunt laugh out loud during his three years with them. She meets her end when she is crushed to death as the giant peach rolls over her. In the 1996 film, she and Sponge survive being crushed by the peach and pursue James to New York. However, James finally stands up to them and ties them up with the Spider's thread. The police then take them away.
Aunt Spiker shows herself to be infinitely worse in the film, as she actually attempts to kill James with a fire axe when he stands up to them in the climax.
Physical Appearance[]
"Aunt Spiker, on the other hand, was lean and tall and bony, and she
wore steel-rimmed spectacles that fixed onto the end of her nose with a clip. She had a screeching
voice and long wet narrow lips, and whenever she got angry or excited, little flecks of spit would come
shooting out of her mouth as she talked." Spiker is described as tall and thin - almost emaciated - with steel glasses.
Trivia[]
- Both the novel and the film never specify whether Spiker and Sponge were the sisters of James' dad or James' mom. However, considering that in the film they insulted James' dad, it is possible that they were sisters of James' mom at least in the film canon, though they also mocked about her, albeit not so bad like they did with his father. Another explanation could be, also, that they are actually James' great-aunts, especially considering that they are depicted to be old in the book.
- She is portrayed in the film by Joanna Lumley.