The Landlady Short Story

Billy a troubled neighborhood boy, effected Jeannette’s childhood. He was constantly trying to mess with her. One day when all the kids were out playing hide and seek Billy hid with Jeannette. He forced himself on her and said he “raped her”.

Caitlin loves Billy’s character even though he is homeless. Caitlin is fascinated with Billy’s character rather than what he has and his status. Caitlin is engrossed in Billy because he is clean. Billy keeps his clothes clean, himself clean and his carriage clean. In the passage Billy’s cave (p. 62).Caitlin says that his carriage is clean and warm. Caitlin is also attracted to billy’s character because he is not a normal hobo. Billy is smart, clean, polite and calm. In the passage Caitlin and mopping (p. 35).Caitlin says that Billy as ‘so calm’ when he exited McDonalds. This shows that Caitlin enjoys Billy’s company despite Billy not having any

Moments in Billy's life change instantaneously, not giving Billy a clue to where he will end up next. In one moment, he is sitting in his home typing a letter to the local newspaper about his experience with the Tralfamadorians, and in the next he is a lost soldier of World War II running around behind German lines aimlessly without a coat or proper shoes. He then became a child being thrown into a pool by his father and afterwards a forty-one year old man visiting his mother in an old people's home. In the novel, changes in time are made through transitional statements such as, "Billy traveled in time, opened his eyes, found himself staring into the glass eyes of a jade green mechanical owl." p.56 In the movie there is no such thing and different moments in Billy's life happen instantaneously. Because scenes are continuous as times change, the movie better displays the author's attempt to capture in the notion of being "unstuck in time." On the other hand, the novel does help the audience follow these time changes better by setting it up for the next scene, offering a background of Billy's experiences before they begin through these transitional statements.

The supernatural force finally compelled Billy to enter the front door and ring the bell. He was immediately confronted by the 'Landlady' as she answered the door 'at once'. The landlady invited Billy with a 'warm welcoming smile'. At the moment the landlady seems to be charming in order to get Billy's invitation to come in. Billy finds himself as being a lucky lad, to find a cosy house to stay in, whilst being isolated and inexperienced in Bath. Also the prices are cheap, which makes Billy to stay for certain. The landlady has a friendly appearance, gentle blue eyes with a round pink face that shows she's warm and caring, inviting Billy in this way makes him feel homely. Again the landlady uses her charm to determine Billy doesn't leave, by removing an egg for breakfast to lower his costs.

When Billy first met Old Bill in the early chapters of the book, it happened to be his birthday which he decided to celebrate with a bottle of beer. Billy describes old Bill as a man is his late forties with long messy hair and a grey beard stained with smoke. Old Bill gives Billy a bitter welcome to the Brendarat Hilton,(the train yard) and says "I've been here since March 2nd 1994. May your stay be as long if you wish." Then Billy shivers as he watches the sunrise. Seeing old Bill for himself makes Billy realise the real effects of homelessness, how a man in his forties can look 20 years older, how he is alone

about his dealings with Candy. In doing so, the nurse is able to get Billy to turn on the other

Not one to give up, she tells him that she knows he is missing someone but she does not want anything serious. She says that she only means to have fun and Billy

Another element, characterization, the way a writer reveals the personality of a character, showed how oblivious Billy was. “Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat, and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen” (pg. 62). As young businessman, this was most likely his first trip outside of his hometown. His current goal was to become the best businessman he can and focused his priority on briskness because he thought all successful businessmen were brisk in their actions. Too innocent to know otherwise, Billy focused all of his attention on being the best possible worker and let his life itself on the line. The characteristics of the landlady should also have given Billy a bit of a worry. “She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays” (pg. 64). Rather than noting the landlady as “extremely nice” or “very nice” Dahl chose to describe her as “terribly nice”. Billy was blinded by her kindness and didn’t see through the hidden threat.

and a suspected thief. Uncle Billy is a character that alters the upcoming events faced by the other characters.The

Billy is tough. He got into a fight with the kids at the town of Talequh when they starting teasing on his dogs.

Billy has lost a sense of love as death has faced him in the eyes once too many. Billy deals with his pain by turning to alcohol abuse, he cannot deal with his mourning, "Sometimes it's not as if they have died so much as that I myself have died and become a ghost." (43). From Dolores and Billy, the central theme is slowly revealed.

them of Billy's mum. I think the dad misses his wife so much that he

First, Billy claims that he has special inhuman characteristics that do not make any sense. Billy

In the beginning , Billy thought the landlady was ‘terribly nice’,which he was quite grateful to have such a nice landlady who give him a well-appointed service, but as the conversations go on, Billy was then frightened by her weird and creepy contents, he ‘sat there staring straight ahead of him into the far corner of the room, biting his lower lip.’ tells the readers that he’s begin to frightened and suspect landlady, foreshadowing the readers that she might be doing something that couldn’t be trusted by Billy.

Even though the gruesome, ghastly and demonic story known as “The Landlady” ends in a disturbing way, it portrays many characteristics about the protagonist, Billy. There are numerous ways to characterize Billy, a 17-year-old kid on his first business trip in the strange city of Bath, England. Billy begins his journey to a hotel known as the Bell and Dragon but stumbles to a halt when he sees a seemingly cozy bed and breakfast that catches his eye. For a few pages everything seems great; unfortunately for Billy, he has some flaws which ultimately lead to his shocking death at the hands of a demented landlady. These are curiosity, a tendency to miss important clues, and gullibility.