Witch Week reference to Lowood School from Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre", although in "Witch Week" the miserable conditions of the school are often used for comic effect. In almost every version of the book published, the class the story focuses on has a different name, according to the age group the publishers were aiming the book at the time. For instance: Early in 1992 the science fiction writer Orson Scott Card reviewed reissues of several Diana Wynne Jones novels. He wrote concerning "Witch Week": Thus it is that underneath what seems to be rather low comedy—brooms that demand to be taken riding
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle against Jaggery, Charlotte has changed by the end of the novel into an authentic version of herself, not merely reflecting what society expected of her. Avi felt the ending where Charlotte rejects her family was a choice for freedom and an essential element of the overall story. He also identified Jaggery as a protagonist in the story and felt the book served as an implicit criticism of capitalism. However, by the end of the novel the only non-working class person alive, Charlotte, also becomes the Captain thus suggesting a preservation of the class system even while gender roles have been