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Examples Of Foreshadowing In Lamb To The Slaughter

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All horror stories have similar components and moving parts that make it a horror story. Though not every horror story has the same characteristics as others, there are key parts in every story that help identify one story as horror or not. The short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” by Roald Dahl, includes characteristics of foreshadowing, suspense, and strong emotions. “Lamb to the Slaughter” has the horror quality of foreshadowing. This creates a past sense in a story, that events happened because of a reason, and to point to future events. In paragraph 41, Mary Maloney has just broken up with her husband, and didn’t want to believe that it was real, that she was breaking up with her husband. “Lamb to the Slaughter” states, “All right then, …show more content…

The excerpt had stated that her husband was standing with his back to her, and that Mary was holding the piece of lamb meat like a mallet of some kind. As aforementioned, Mary wasn't in the right mind after knowing her husband was leaving her, causing the reader to infer that Mary would injure her husband. “Lamb to the Slaughter” has many other ways it tucks right into the horror genre. Subsequently, many horror books find a way to instill fear in the readers, using the effect of suspense, “Lamb to the Slaughter” utilizes this to get the reader nervously apprehensive of every small detail to come. Apparently, this can be seen in paragraphs 10 and 11. “‘Tired darling?’ ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’m tired.’ And as he spoke, he did an unusual thing. He lifted his glass and drained it in one swallow although there was still half of it, at least half of it, left.” As Mary Maloney figures out more strange details about her husband, the reader’s suspense grows, as it is unknown why the husband is acting in such a

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