An Analysis Of Lamb To The Slaughter

The speckled band and the lamb to the slaughter are both a comparison of two short stories from the murder mystery genre. The speckled band was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (in 1892 and was published in the following year). The lamb to the slaughter was written by the famous Roald Dahl (in 1953). Arthur was a Scottish physician and writer, he wrote a series of books featuring Sherlock Holmes and his side-Kick Dr. Watson. The stories were a big hit, the speckled band was also one of his adventurous chronicles. The lamb to the slaughter was a story written for older children and was also, satisfactory. Roald Dahl was an author and an intelligence officer –he was most famous for his great storytelling-His short stories are known for

Murder, one of the worst crimes a human could commit, is not taken lightly and most times the primary suspect is a male. In the 2 stories, “Lamb of the Slaughter”, and “The Landlady”, the reader learns just how murderous man’s counterpart can be. Roald Dahl, the author of these 2 stories, wrote “Lamb of the Slaughter” from the perspective of Mary Malony a loving housewife who gets terrible news, and wrote“The Landlady” from the perspective of Billy Weaver, a 17 year old businessman who stumbles across a Bed and Breakfast run by our next “Mistress of Death”. The reader will learn that even though these 2 stories are different in many ways, they still have plenty of similarities.

“Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are qualities of Gothic Literature. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Cask of Amontillado” both start at a point of not happiness but clam and mystery. “Lamb to the Slaughter” quickly turns from that tranquilized mood into depressing and doubtful when Mary kills her husband. Then in “The Cask of the Amontillado” even when that grim mood was not enough, it had to be more depressing when Montresor gets Fortunato drunk and later kills him. Thus, both “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Cask of Amontillado” has bites and pieces of Gothic literature. “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Cask of Amontillado” both have twisted and gloomy thoughts, and actions.

In the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter,” written by Roald Dahl, Dahl uses direct and indirect characterization to give us both realistic and improbable portrayals of characters, In addition to showing us the values and perspective of the characters. In this short story the author states, “This was her sixth month expecting a child.” (Dahl, 1). Direct characterization is when the author directly provides information on the personality or background on the character instead of indirectly revealing it through actions and speech. This quote obviously utilizes direct characterization by describing background information on Mary Maloney. Additionally, the fact that it was her sixth month expecting a child is direct characterization because we did not have to assume it through actions and speech, the author directly mentioned it in the first page. Not only does Dahl use direct characterization, but also indirect characterization. In the story the author states, “It’s probably right under our noses. What do you think Jack? And in the other room Mary Maloney began to laugh.” (Dahl 4). Indirect characterization is when the author reveals background and the personality of the character through thoughts and actions. In like manner, so does this quote. In this quote the author reveals the personality of Mary Maloney through her speech instead of directly giving us information. In this quote, Mary Maloney laughs at the death of her husband and we can assume that she is a cruel

In Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” , Mary Maloney murders her husband, a detective, after he declares that he is leaving her. Mary then has to cover her tracks or else she and her unborn child will be killed. Throughout the story, Mary’s character changes from loving wife to cold killer and back again based on her situation.

A tale of the unexpected is Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. The story has a twist in the tale ending in which a loving wife gruesomely murders her husband. Mr Patrick Maloney, a senior in the police force seemed a happy married man to his pregnant wife, Mrs. Mary Maloney. Mr Maloney comes home one night, shocking his wife with the news he is leaving her. Mrs. Maloney is in great shock, to a state that she kills her husband, with a frozen leg of lamb. In the end she gets away with it, unwittingly the police then destroy the evidence by eating the cooked lamb.

1. What point of view is “Lamb to the Slaughter” told from and why is that important?

“Popular Mechanics” by raymond carver and “lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl have similar short stories in many ways like for an example they had a husband and wife and they both had a baby in some way shape and form and in each short story they have something died because both people got into a fight. next

In the stories Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl and Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver both show how couples in distress leads to abuse and more extreme violence. It some extreme cases it can lead to death of a loved one. Lamb to the Slaughter and Popular Mechanics are similar because in both storys there is violence and unhealthy relationships. Also they are similar because the male leaves the household because of a divorce.

In my opinion, “lamb to the slaughter” is a good story to read because it is so meaningful. No one is perfect, Mary seemed to be a good wife, but she murdered her husband because he decided to leave her. Appearances are deceptive, she changed to another person. The way that she hide the murder weapon, the way that she act like a poor widow was so accurate. At the beginning of the story readers think of Mary as an innocent and ordinary wife. but even after Patrick tells Mary that he is leaving her she does not react violently right away. She calmly faces the situation and happily asks Patrick for dinner which he denies. At moment’s notice Bam! Mary hits Patrick in the head and ends up killing him on instant.

Authors use characterization to develop the actions of the characters. Like Mary’s actions in ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ by using different kinds of literature devices. Roald Dahl in "The Lamb to the Slaughter" uses characterization, imagery, and irony to develop the character of Mary so that the reader can understand what has occurred during the murder.

The story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl has many strong examples of literary elements and writer’s craft, most prominently dramatic irony, images, and symbolism. The author’s writing style focuses on many descriptive images. An excellent example of this is in the first paragraph of the story when the author describes the main character and setting. “The room was warm, and clean, the curtains drawn, the two lamps alight - hers and the one by the empty chair opposite… Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work… There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of her head as she bent over sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin- for this was her sixth month with child - had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger, darker than before” (1). This passage describes the comfort and warmth of Mary’s house and shows that this is one of her favorite times of the day, waiting for her husband to come home. From this description the reader can tell that this is an everyday occurrence and thus gives a sense of security and normalcy. This also hints that she is extremely loyal and dedicated to her husband. The passage also gives a physical description of Mary, making her seem delicate and innocent, which fuels both the irony and symbolism later in the story. Foreshadowing also heavily impacts the storyline of “Lamb to the Slaughter.” The

expected them to be. From what I saw of the wife I expected Patrick to

But that not what Saughter wanted to do so she had to state her opinion in a way she wouldn’t afind anyone. What her collogue have said talked her out her decision because she is a high-profile career woman and the young woman look at her as a role model of their future self. She took her coworker’s opinion and and made it into her own lets not talk about not having both but how to mange both.

Since starting over to have a better professional life, there are only certain professions where one can ‘have it all’. Slaughter expresses, “Should have perhaps been obvious: having it all, at least for me, depended almost entirely on what type of job I had” (p. 681). I chose the profession of teaching to have vacations, holidays and summers with my family without taking away from my profession. My husband also worked for the City of Wilmington. We both had to work to provide for our family and not choose one over the other. Slaughter is correct that one needs to find a balance because her essay is based on personal experience and how she felt toward the stereotypes of the past. In modern society, with the pressures of health and welfare