Comparing Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band I am comparing two short stories "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl and "The Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. " Lamb to the Slaughter" is a modern 20th Century novel as apposed to "The Speckled Band" which is pre-twentieth century. "The Speckled Band" is a typical murder mystery with everything you would expect it to have. First of all a victim and a villain, a detective, an eerie setting, suspects, a murder weapon, red herrings, a side-kick and a motive. "Lamb to the Slaughter" on the other hand is more modern and follows a different storyline but still entices the reader. It does this by Dahl's black humour and the atmosphere he creates. Dahl allows us to participate in the story straight away. Roald Dahl creates an atmosphere of mystery and suspense in the story by the way he sets the scene in the first paragraph where he is telling us what is in the room and where it is. He creates atmosphere when he says "Now and again she would glance up at the clock." Roald Dahl builds up the tension by making it seem that she is going to get caught; he keeps us hanging on in suspense. I didn't guess the policeman were going to eat the lamb because at the start and all the way through the story I thought that Mrs Maloney would be the one to be killed not her husband who happens to be a policeman. This sets the scene and engages with the reader by making it seem like you are there. Dahl describes the setting, the lonely atmosphere of the room and house. Atmosphere is created right from the start when he says "The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn" in the fi... ... middle of paper ... ...end of the story using Watson. I didn't find it credible to believe he could keep a snake in a safe and for it to live off milk and that the snake could have been charmed. Nobody knew that he had had the snake sent to him which is a bit far fetched. The stories are of two very different murders; personally I prefer "Lambs to the Slaughter". It is unpremeditated; a spur of the moment and the wife didn't get caught. "The Speckled Band" is planned and the Dr got caught. In "The Speckled Band" everything is explained at the end but in "Lamb to the Slaughter" we don't know what happened to Mrs Maloney. We are left to speculate and this is a more satisfactory ending I believe. It leaves the reader thinking of what will eventually happen to Mrs Maloney and whether she does get caught or her scheme isn't found out.
He tells the family that a girl has committed suicide and that in one way or another they are responsible. Mr Birling was responsible for sacking the girl from his factory. Sheila Birling was responsible because she got the girl sacked from a shop where she works. Eric Birling was seeing her but the broke it off, and Gerald Croft was having an affair with her
This adds to the reader’s sympathy because he didn’t provoke the man’s attack and did nothing to deserve what happened to him. He was punished despite being completely innocent. Though the snake does not pose a direct threat, he is an extremely powerful creature and a great asset to the beauty of nature. He “felt no necessity of getting out of anybody’s path,” showing his confidence in himself. Though he is confident, he is not arrogant. He does not cower at the sight of the man, nor does he try to threaten him. He simply stands his ground confidently, waiting for the man to dictate his next move. This trait of the snake causes the reader to respect him and appreciate his position of power, reinforcing their sympathetic feelings. The snake’s death was slow and painful, and the author described all of the gruesome details in order to further affect the reader. The man himself admits that “it was a nasty sight”. First, he hacked about in the paper bag bush until he “dragged
In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney, doting housewife pregnant with her first child, commits a heinous crime against her husband. After he tells her that he is leaving, she become distraught and strikes him in the head with a leg of lamb. Afterwards, Mary...
Preliminarily, had been established that Mrs. Maloney was the murderer of her husband Mr. Maloney. Despite this, it was for good reason, as it was due in part to mental anguish. This can be concluded by the reactions and behaviors Mrs. Maloney presented in Dahl’s eyewitness account. To start, Mrs. Maloney was headed for the store at around 6 o’clock. Why would she continue to act even if her husband is dead? “Hello, Sam,” she said brightly, smiling at the man in the shop. “Good evening, Mrs. Maloney. How are you?” “I want some potatoes, please, Sam. Yes, and perhaps a can of beans, too. Patrick’s decided he's tired and he doesn't want to go out tonight,” she told him. … “Anything else?” The grocer turned his head to one side, looking at her. “How about a dessert? … How about a nice piece of cake?” … “Perfect,” she said. “He loves it.”” This quote, from Dahl’s account, shows that she obviously cannot completely function mentally. She murdered him, then went and bought him cake. At this point, she is very confused about herself and the events that occu...
Having to take your anger out on someone isn’t fair or good, especially if you’re being killed with frozen lamb. Based on everyone’s understanding, when you kill someone you’ll have to pay the price and consequences. Apparently this lady didn’t. But are we sure she’s going to marry another man and kill him too? In “Lamb to the slaughter”, I’m going to be talking about Mary Maloney and how madly crazy she is.
The point I am trying to prove here is, Sykes would always want to scare Delia with a snake, the first time it was with the bull whip and the last night Sykes put the snake in the soap box to scared Delia to death. Little did Sykes know Delia had faced her fears and learned how to overcome of the snakes. Towards the end of the story when Sykes was supposed to be the master of catching Snakes, the rattle snake makes a transparent sound and bites Sykes. He wanted to scare Delia lifeless but his plan back fired on him.
head. She might just have hit him with a steel club.' As you can see,
Sacrificed yet worshipped, killed and praised, meek but great; Christians first associate this thought with Jesus Christ himself, as he himself died for our sins one week after being praised for being so great. However, that isn 't what I was referring to. I was talking about sheep and lambs. However, the only real difference between the two is a age gap. Lambs are truly sheep, but less than one year old. Sheep are lambs that grown up past a full year (Sheep 101: Sheep Terms). Lamb is also the name of the meat that is scavenged from killed lambs, while mutton is the name of meat of killed sheep (Sheep 101: Sheep Terms). In addition to their meat, their wool is also a remarkable feature of them, providing them warmth, can be harvested from them
An additional view point of the story could be from a woman. A female reading Lamb to the Slaughter would most likely side with Mary Maloney. Dahl starts the story describing Mary’s behavior before her husbands’ arrival. She sits ...
reports that he’s holding a snake; the next man, who is holding one of the large tusks, insists
.... Maloney would leave to be with the other women. This thought though, became a reality for Mary Maloney. Mary Maloney has testified to happening to “stumble across” a will, which mentioned Mary Maloney receiving three quarters of Patrick’s fortune if he were to pass away. Being the wife a detective, Mary Maloney new how to plot a scene. First she would murder Patrick, receive his fortune to care for the unborn child, never have to face him again after he said to her face that he loved another women and had been having affairs with her. Secondly, she would need to dispose of the murder weapon secretly, and create an alibi that would testify for Ms. Maloney. Thirdly, pretend that it was all a dream and that it never happened. Sadly, it was an incredibly easy task for a clever woman such as herself. How is it that money is what shapes our world but also destroys it?
snake.(There were many other ways that the snake could have been removed from the farm
With people wanting understanding over their lives, they can be deceived easily, just like Eve from The Book of Genesis. This religious story of the first sin has given the snake as well known face of evil and a untrustworthy character.
Bravery was revealed all throughout The Snake Charmer and to Joe Slowinski “... to be afraid: It just wasn’t in his nature.” (James 13). Periodically throughout the book, Slowinski experiences scenarios of great stupid, but extreme, bravery. An example of this is his constant use of bare snake wrestling, not using his snake grappling hook. Surprisingly so, even with a snake bitten infected right hand, Joe “...still managed to catch another Copperhead, left handed.” (52). Joe Slowinski was a brave man, even if it came at the worst of times, such as the time he “... absentmindedly thrust his right hand into the sack to extract a snake…” (8) which ultimately lead to his sad, yet ironic death.
Alex keeps coming back to his snake after his nights on the town, and his first