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Homework Help: English: Books, Novels & Plays: Lamb To the Slaughter
by Sharon Macleod
"Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl is a very dramatic short story. It is ace! A character who changes a lot is Mary Maloney. In the story she is in love with her husband but then he breaks the terrible news to her that he is having an affair. She murders him from shock. She tries to get away with murder by creating an alibi.
At the start of the story Mary was a very boring character. Her life revolved around her husband. This shows when dhal says "Each minute gone by would make it nearer to the time when he would come home." She obviously does not have any one or anything else to care for. She is a slave for him. She already has "Two tall glasses, soda, water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the thermos bucket." He hasn't even come home yet and she has already running around after him. She wants to have everything perfect for him coming in but the thing is Patrick won't even notice that she has gone to any bother.
She was dieing to for him to come in. this is very noticeable when the author says, "she began to listen, and a few moments later, punctually as always, she heard the tyres on the gravel outside, and the car door slamming, the footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock." She notices everything he does as he is coming in.
My first impression of Patrick is that he doesn't love her nearly as much as she loves him. I thought this because when he eventually comes in the door she jumps up and said "Hullo Darling." He replied to this simply with "Hullo." He isn't as happy to see her as she is to see him. He doesn't deserve her. He uses her.
Mary Maloney goes down to the freezer in the cellar to collect the supper. He didn't even want any supper but she was convinced to do something for him. Anything. She grabs a leg of lamb and carries it upstairs. She was carrying it "Holding the thin bone-end of it with both hands." When comes in he is standing staring out of the window. He says to Mary "don't make supper for me, I'm going out." This is when she cracks and her personality changes. She realises that he is going to see his fancy woman. She kills him by "swinging the frozen leg of lamb high in the air and bringing it down as hard as she could on the back of his head."
I am very pleased that Mary had got rid of the terrible lazy sod! She may now look after herself and the baby as she is 6 months pregnant. I know this because dahl uses the phrase "For this is her 6th month with child." You have to think whether this means that she has a 6 month old child or whether it means that's she is 6 months pregnant. I came to the conclusion that's he is 6 months pregnant as there is no mention of a baby child in the rest of the story.
Mary creates an alibi. She uses Sam from the butchers shop as an alibi. The way she does this is that she gets him thinking it's a normal night. She practises her voice in a mirror to check if she sounds normal rather than I have just killed my husband! She says "Hullo Sam." When she goes down to the butchers this is when she creates an alibi. She says to Sam "Patrick's decided he's tired and doesn't want to eat out tonight.2 he says to Mary Maloney "Then how about meat Mrs Maloney?" she answers quite smartly by saying "I've got meat, thanks. I got a nice leg of lamb from the freezer." This is really funny. As it is cooking in the oven. Even though it is actually a murder weapon.
Mrs Maloney has changed a lot throughout the story. In the beginning of the story she is a skivvy for Patrick and she takes all of his nonsense and the way he treats her. At the end of the story Mrs Maloney has changed a lot. She is becoming more independent of herself and of the baby but at the same time she is becoming a criminal! Cold hard criminal! She is nothing like herself at the beginning of the story.
Mrs Maloney has managed to fool the police. She skilfully gets rid of the murder weapon in a very clever way. When she comes in from the butchers she phones up the police and explains to them what has happened. All of the police officers are also upset because Patrick was a police officer and this was all his friends. They come round to the house very quickly to support Mrs Maloney. They interview Mrs Maloney all night asking her all sorts of questions. Later on one of the officers informs Mrs Maloney that the "Oven of yours is still on and them meat is still inside." She sounds very pathetic when she convinces the boys to eat the meat. She says "Here you all are, and good friends of dear Patrick too, and helping to catch the man who killed him. You must be terribly hungry by now because it's long past supper time, and I know Patrick would never forgive me, god bless his soul, if I allowed you to remain in his house without offering you decent hospitality. Why don't you eat up the lamb that's in the oven? It'll be cooked just right by now." The police officers are hesitating to try to look polite but really they are all absolutely starving inside. After a little persuasion the officers go onto the kitchen by there selves to eat the meat.
There was a lot of irony in this short story. One of the times when there is irony is when one of the policemen says "It's the same old story; get the weapon and you've got the man." The reason there is irony in this statement is that it isn't a man that killed Mr Maloney at all! It was the person they would least expect it to be. One of the very ironic things about this story is that Mary killed the person she loved the most! Sean Lund 2005. my favourite ironic part of the story is when the police officers are discussing the job and 1 of them says "You know the murder weapon, I bet it's in this very house. Right under our very noses." As he is saying this they are all sitting chomping away on the murder weapon!
I think this story is very good and it is a pity it's only a short story not a full length story to read all about. I think I would enjoy this very much if I could read a longer version of it. This is the best short story I have ever read! I don't think I'll get a better 1!
Homework Help: English: Books, Novels, and Plays
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