Mary Cloney In Roald Dahl's Lamb To Slaughter

Maloney expresses how much she cares for her husband. She waits for him to get home from work, and literally counts down the minutes before she gets to see him again. Furthermore, a whole paragraph is devoted to Mary’s affections: “She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel – almost as a sunbather feels the sun – that warm male glow that came out of him when they were alone together. She loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in a door, or moved slowly across a room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they rested on her, the funny shape of his mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it off.” As you can see, Mrs. Maloney was totally and utterly infatuated with Mr. Maloney , which is shown through repetition – she started three sentences in a row with “she loved.” Alas, Mr. Maloney did not feel the same way, a fact painfully obvious to everyone but his wife. For example, Mary tries to dote on him – she tries to get him another drink, his slippers, and cheese and crackers. All of which he refuses. Mrs. Maloney also even tries to make him dinner. She says, “If you’re too tired to eat out, it’s still not too late. There’s plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer, and you can have it right here and not even move out of the chair.” He doesn’t say anything whatsoever to that: “her eyes waited

She lifted it out, and looked at it---a leg of lamb “ (Page 2). The fact that Mary Maloney can’t even feel herself doing anything, corresponds to how shocked she is. As a matter of fact, that is when her consciousness of her action momentarily fades away. She cannot accept the fact that her beloved husband would betray her like this, but in a way, the introduction to the story already tells us that their relationship isn’t strong and loving. Also, Mary is shown to have picked the very first thing she found, which was a lamb leg. This proves that she had no intention of premeditating a weapon beforehand, but instead used whatever she could find to let out her emotions. In addition, pregnant women are more emotionally unstable and because of that Mary Maloney couldn’t handle the stress of the news her husband told her. The final quote that proves her temporary insanity is, “She stepped back, waiting, and the strange thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds. Then he crashed onto the carpet. The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped to bring her out of the shock… It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast. As the wife of a detective, she knew what the punishment would be…In fact, it would be a relief. On the other hand, what about the baby ” (Page 2)? Not only did she regain her consciousness, moments after her husband’s death, but she also

Mary begins the story as a doting housewife going through her daily routine with her husband. She is content to sit in his company silently until he begins a conversation. Everything is going as usual until he goes “ slowly to get himself another drink” while telling Mary to “sit down” (Dahl 1). This shocks Mary as she is used to getting things for him. After downing his second drink, her husband coldly informs her that he is leaving her and the child. This brutal news prompts the first change in Mary, from loving wife to emotionless and detached from everything.

Mary Maloney is a sympathetic character because she covered up Patrick’s death to protect her baby. All of the tricking and deceiving she did was to save her unborn child from what could have happened as a result of her actions. She did not know what the laws were for murdered with unborn babies and she did not want to find out. Dahl states, “ What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill both-mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? Mary Maloney didn’t know. And she certainly wasn’t prepared to take a chance” (3). Mary’s number one concern was for her baby. She did not want

At the beginning of the story, Mary Maloney loves and adores her husband, this does not last very long. Dahl uses simple but strong sentences to portray the killing of Patrick Maloney “At the point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.” This illustrates Mrs. Maloney walking without any hesitation, killing her beloved husband and this also exemplifies the ultimate transformation of Mrs. Maloney from her calm behavior to being over dramatic. Another detail that this phrase demonstrates is that Patrick is so focused in his thoughts that he doesn’t sense his wife walking up towards him. Dahl reveals this unexpected transformation of Mary Maloney through her actions and thoughts. Another phrase that exemplifies Mrs. Maloney’s change in character is when she thinks to herself, after killing Patrick, “‘All right,’ she told herself. ‘So I’ve killed him.’” This illustrates Mrs. Maloney’s impeccable life, or what she conceives to be her life is demolished. At this point of the story, Dahl uses direct and indirect sentences to develop the protagonist and to show the complete transformation of Mrs. Maloney and brings her to

Maloney now had to go through the stress of covering up the evidence that she murdered her husband. Mr. Maloney decided to call the friends that they were supposed to go out with and tell them that Mr. Maloney was awfully too tired to go out that night. She then went to the market to get peas and dessert and told the clerk the same statement she had mentioned to their friends. When she arrived home, and called the police in a frantic voice. When the cops arrived, Mrs. Maloney sobbed into the detective arms and asked if her husband was dead, then told him the story of going to the grocery store and coming back to find him on the floor dead and lifeless.

Being seen as conventionally attractive can lead to a specious appearance of likability and trustworthiness. Expressions such as “it is the prettiest ones that break your heart” or “it is the ones you least expect that betray you” permeate conversations and shape perceptions. It seems that appearance plays a large role in the way people are initially perceived. This may seem unfair to those not genetically gifted, but it can be used to one’s advantage. As Stephen King put it, “the trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” Similarly in “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Roald Dahl asserts that the apparently innocent are often underestimated. Dahl expresses this through his portrayal of stony calmness with which Mary Maloney kills her husband and through the irony in her ingenuity covering it up.

Throughout the entire story, Mary is a very interesting character. She faces many issues in dealing with her husband’s news that he is leaving her. She reacts based on her instincts and kills her husband and this shows her cold heartedness. In the end she has to create an alibi to cover up her devious crime in which she has to manipulate the police into eating the evidence. Mary is a very unique complex character and she has, through her actions conducted a devious crime in which she will be proven innocent. Through the use of Many Maloney’s character, as well as irony and suspense, the author was able to maintained the interest of the reader throughout the entire short story.

Mary replied saying “‘I’ll get it!’ she cried, jumping up, ‘Sit down,’ he said”. I think Mary Maloney didn’t necessarily need to be watching her husbands’ every move, she needed to relax in his presence and not be concerned for him. In this instance she flew out of her chair, I can’t comprehend why she needed to be on top of every one of his needs. Sure, Mary Maloney loved her husband – but there was no urgency to care for every single little thing he ever did or needed, especially at that moment. Mary needed to loosen up around Patrick and not be so star

The wife Mary Maloney was a devoted house wife at the beginning of the story. One example is that she had the whiskey ready for her husband right when he got home. Mary had it ready for him because she wanted him to be relaxed and calm. Another example is that she was extremely nice to him and really anxious. She kept asking him if he wanted another drink or if he wanted something to eat like a snack before they go

She cleverly and quickly thinks of and alibi by going grocery shopping immediately after the murder. While going grocery shopping, Mary Maloney still acts normal: “It wasn’t six o’clock yet and the lights were still on in the grocery shop. ‘Hullo Sam’, she said brightly smiling at the man behind the counter” (Dahl 14). She uses her knowledge on murders from her husband to create a good alibi and makes sure she has everything needed to create a good alibi like the time and normal facial expression, proving her intelligence. Furthermore, Mary Maloney is also intelligently able to completely get rid of the weapon she used to kill her husband by feeding the lamb to the police.

Harper’s Publishing Magazine, 1953. ] This pivotal moment in the text shows her rollercoaster of emotions, the stark change from grief to calm. Her inner narration through the story where she tells herself that nothing is wrong shows her spiraling into insanity. And this can be shown at the end where “…in the other room, Mary Maloney began to laugh.”

To start off, it can be clearly seen from the short story that Mary Maloney is guilty. She makes a conscious effort to make sure she reacts as if she has not committed this crime in the text “Lamb to Slaughter” she says, “If she finds anything unusual or terrible when she got home, then it would be a shock and she would have to react with grief and horror.”(Dahl 383) By her stating this it shows that she knows she is guilty and that she killed her husband. The main reason I chose this quote was that it shows that she knows what she is talking about and that she has to act like this otherwise she will be caught and

It all starts off with Mary Maloney waiting for her husband to come home from work. Patrick works as a detective. As she prepares for Patrick to get off work, it states, “She merely wanted to satisfy herself that each minute that went

Have you ever wondered how it feels to be emotionally hurt? “Lamb of The Slaughter” by Roald Dahl was published in 1953. This story is about a husband and wife in which the husband wants a divorce. The wife begs to differ. In the story, Lamb of The Slaughter, Roald Dahl’s style can be describing as detailed and is developed through word choice, dialogue, and imagery.