Lamb To The Slaughter Compare And Contrast

The idea of stories and storytelling has been around for a long time. Stories are often meant to entertain the reader. However, stories are not always about happy things. Two stories that are examples of this include “The Way Up to Heaven” and “Lamb to the Slaughter.” These two books contain several similarities as well as several differences to one another.

“The Way Up to Heaven” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” contain several similarities including; the wife having a motive, both wives manage to have an alibi for themselves and, both contain the murder of the husband in an unconventional way. In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mrs. Maloney murders her husband with a frozen lamb leg. In “The Way Up to Heaven” Mrs. Foster uses an indirect method of murdering the husband by allowing him to be trapped in an elevator. Mary Maloney’s alibi was that she was at the grocery store during the time of the murder. As for Mrs. Foster, she was able to cover up her involvement in the murder by claiming that the elevator was broken and needs to be fixed. Both these women's reasons behind murdering their husbands were caused by the husbands themselves. Mrs. Maloney killed her husband because, she was 6 months pregnant and the he gave her showed her that he only was worried about himself.

Mrs. Foster’s motive for murdering her husband was his constant want to irritate her by being late for things and taking his time. In the end, both women were driven by so much hatred caused by the husbands resulting in them snapping and committing the crime.

Although these stories end in the same way, there are many ways they differ from each other.

These differences include; “Lamb to The Slaughter” containing a much more interesting plot line than “The Way Up to Heaven,” what was used as a murder weapon, and how the women killed their husbands. In “ Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mrs. Maloney's used a frozen lamb leg to smash the back of the husband’s head resulting in his death. She got rid of the murder weapon by allowing the police to eat the weapon. However, in “The Way Up to Heaven,” Mrs. Foster discovered that her husband was stuck in the elevator right before she leaves for six weeks and decides to allow him to be stuck for those weeks resulting in his

death.

These are only several ways in which “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Way Up to Heaven” differ and are similar to each other. Although dark, these stories are very entertaining. These two stories reveal how affecting one’s emotions could result in a desired or undesired result. In the case of these stories, how the husband treated his wife lead to a desired result for the wife but not for the husband. These stories show how important it is the be careful when marrying someone.