How Does Mrs Maloney Build Suspense In Lamb To The Slaughter

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Rage sometimes makes people do things they normally wouldn't. In the short story “Lamb to The Slaughter” written by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney is told by her husband that he is leaving her. She is shocked, but not that upset. She wants to get back at him, so she murders him. She needs to make a believable alibi, so she goes to the grocery store and then comes back and acts like she didn’t know he was dead so that the police were more likely to believe her. Roald Dahl builds suspense through showing the dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Maloney, when Mrs. Maloney kills Mr. Maloney and while the police are investigating the home. The author builds suspense through the dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Maloney. The dialogue is shown when Mr. Maloney gets home and Mrs. …show more content…

Mrs. Maloney is expecting Mr. Maloney and she is waiting for him and ready to serve him when he gets home. In the end, Mrs. Maloney realizes that maybe it isn’t so bad that he is leaving her and that maybe she didn’t really love him that much. Roald Dahl shows suspense before and after Mrs. Maloney kills Patrick. It is specifically shown right when she is about to hit him with the leg or lamb. This part is suspenseful because it keeps us on our toes, and keeps the reader intrigued by the story and wanting to keep reading to see what happens. “At that 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. ‘So I’ve killed him’” (45-49). Mary wants to kill Patrick because she just found out that her husband is leaving her and she is upset, but also she realizes that she may not love him that much. After Mary kills Patrick, she realizes that she will need an alibi, so she tries to convince herself that he isn’t dead. Suspense is built when the police get called and they start questioning Mary and when the police are eating the leg of

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