Mary Maloney: Lamb To The Slaughter

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

The main character Mary Maloney is a devoted housewife that turns into murderer throughout the story. Mary Maloney was a normal wife but, throughout the story she changed drastically. In the short story Lamb of the Slaughter Mary Maloney’s actions and feelings throughout the story change as a result of the events in the story.

Realizing she needs to do something she thinks of a alibi. She goes to the grocery store and invites the cops over for dinner. They eat the evidence leaving her off the

Mary Maloney proves to be extremely intelligent and very deceiving, which leads her to not only be an effective murderer but a strong actress as well. In the first place, by using her intelligence, she is able to escape away with murder, showing that she is a very effective murderer. Firstly, she is shown killing her husband with a frozen piece of lamb, “Mary leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his Maloney simply [walks] up behind him and without any pause she [swings] the big frozen head” (Dahl 4). Obviously, knowing that the police is going to show up and search for the murder weapon, Mary kills her husband with a frozen piece of lamb. When Mary kills her husband with an edible item that can later serve as a delicious meal, her talent of being really smart is displayed clearly and is evidence of her intelligence.

In the short story “Lamb To The Slaughter” written by Roald Dahl, the protagonist Mrs. Maloney, shows change in many aspects of her life. These aspects include her overall feelings toward her husband, main motivations to keep living and moving forward, social status, and her outward appearance. By undergoing these changes, Mrs. Maloney can be identified as a dynamic character.

First and foremost, Mary Maloney had over reacted to her husband's news. This was not the typical overreaction with whining and crying. Mary maloney had killed her husband. In the story Mary maloney receives bad news from her husband. Mary then goes downstairs to grab a leg of lamb for dinner but instead of making it, she smashed it on

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

Baloney isn’t made from lamb Did Mary Maloney temporarily go insane and kill her husband? Did Mary Maloney knowingly tamper with evidence after she killed her husband? Did Mary Maloney know of the consequences of her lawless action? Mary Maloney was an evil criminal knowing full and well what she was doing was wrong when she was covering up her evil deed and possibly even when she killed him.

From what I apprehended from the story, I am confident that Mary Maloney is insane. My explanation as to why I think Mary Maloney is psychotic is as followed. First off, on page 1 the author illustrated the way Mary Maloney felt in the presence of her man. “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 the room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they rested on her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness.” I used this quote to justify that Mary Maloney is bizarre because in my point view, what kind of wife observes and speaks of her husband in such a way? I do not think typically hear women identify every single characteristic of their significant other, showing that Mary Maloney is not sane.

She knew exactly how to use the fact that she was a wife in order to get away with the crime she committed, which is why you should never judge a book by its cover. Roald Dahl evolves the character of Mary Maloney in, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” through her personality traits, her role as a protagonist of the short story, and her development

Dahl’s protagonist in “Lamb to Slaughter”, Mary Maloney, displays her deceitful nature when her husband comes home from a long day of work. Mary kills Patrick with a frozen leg of lamb after he informs her that he wants a divorce. Immediately thereafter, she goes to the store to purchase vegetables. This is the beginning of her deceit. Mary clearly does not need vegetables. Her trek to the store is her way of creating an an alibi. This adds another layer to her deception. Here, she engages in a conversation with a seemingly familiar clerk, Sam. She informs him that Patrick “decided he’s tired and doesn’t want to eat out tonight” (Dahl 3). This gives Sam the impression that her husband is still alive when in all actuality, he is dead. She has added yet another layer to her level of deception. Mary’s deception has no limits. She eventually deceives herself into thinking she did not murder her husband. She convinces herself that she is “not expecting to find

tive words to show your first impressions of Mary Maloney. Mary Maloney is portrayed as the ideal housewife because she greets her husband at the door to take his coat to hang it in the closet. Additionally, she fixes drinks for themselves, makes dinner, and seems to love her husband dearly. Mary seems very calm and content.

Literary elements and writer’s craft are essential to a well written story that gives understanding and meaning to the readers. Authors use these elements to add deeper meaning to a story that otherwise is as dull and same as the rest. The short story Lamb to the Slaughter is about a wife who kills her husband and then tries to cover it up. The Leap, another short story, is about a girl who is telling stories about her mother’s life. Both short stories portray and utilize literary elements and writer’s craft but Lamb to the Slaughter uses them more effectively and clearly.

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

Mary is very manipulative in that she is able to create the character of the poor, pregnant wife, whose husband has just been murdered. She is able to convince the police to take pity on her, to mix her a drink and then to even eat the evidence, the leg of lamb that she has left in the oven. "Why don’t you eat up that lamb that is in the oven" (Dahl, p. 17). Mary realizes that if the police find the evidence she will go to jail. Her quick thinking and manipulative character results in the police officers eathign the evidence and therefore she cannot be charged of this crime. These actions show the complex character that Mary Maloney truly is.