Figurative Language In The Landlady By Roald Dahl

What do people usually do after somebody has died, bury them or stuff the body to preserve them? In the story, “The Landlady” a 17-year-old businessman, Billy Weaver, came to a city called, “Bath” and stumbled on a sign that said, “BED AND BREAKFAST.” Hypnotized by the sign suddenly Billy went into the boarding house, rang the bell, and immediately a lady appeared. Roald Dahl uses sensory details, and figurative language to manipulate the mood of the text in the story, “The Landlady.”

The plot manipulates the mood of the story by using sensory detail. Billy gets kind of an eerie feeling as him and the landlady who is in her forties are walking up the stairs. In the text, it states, “her blue eyes traveled slowly all the way down the length

of Billy’s body, to his feet, and then up again.” This is evidence of how sensory detail manipulates the mood of the text because it shows how sight is being used give off a slightly creepy feeling. Another reason how the plot manipulates the mood of the story by using sensory detail is by using touch. This is illustrated in the text when it says, “The back was hard and cold, and when he pushed the hair to one side with his fingers, he could see the skin underneath, grayish black and dry and perfectly preserved.” At last, the plot manipulates the mood of the story by using sensory detail by taste. In the text, the author states, “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it.” Sensory detail manipulates the plot, since the landlady is creepy to Billy, the weird taste of bitter almonds in his tea would make him kind of suspicious.
Another way the plot manipulates the mood of the story is by using figurative language. Billy first walks into the house and presses a bell. As the text states, “But this dame was like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell—and out she popped! It made him jump.” Figurative language manipulates the mood of the story because this quote uses a simile, and it shows how she was waiting for his arrival so anxiously. Secondly, the plot manipulates the mood of the story by figurative language using hyperboles. The text states, “The old girl is slightly dotty…” This quote uses figurative language because to Billy the landlady is crazy and strange. In addition, the plot manipulates the mood of the story through figurative language using metaphors. To illustrate in the text it says, “The air was deadly cold and the wind was a flat blade of ice on his cheek.” From this quote figurative language is used because Billy didn't actually mean a blade of ice he just meant it was very chilly.
As previously stated, the story, “The Landlady” manipulates the mood of the text using sensory details and figurative language. In the end, a lesson can be learned and that lesson is just to spend a little more money, that way you won't killed and get stuffed!