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Symbolism in lamb to the slaughter
Characterization, irony and symbolism in the lamb to the slaughter
Symbolism in lamb to the slaughter
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“All right, she told herself. So I’ve killed him” (Page 2). Imagine what that means. Why did she do it? How did she do it? Will she get away with it? All those questions are answered and more is revealed. In the book “Lamb To The Slaughter” by author Roald Dahl, it depicts the story of pregnant housewife Mary Maloney and how she copes with the knowledge her husband Patrick Maloney gives her. Mary Maloney's coping skills are not up to par though, so she precedes to murder her husband with a frozen leg of lamb. She then sets up an alibi and reports the murder. Her cover up was that the cops would eat the lamb, therefore discarding evidence and she would be scott free. This eventually happens and Mary is now riding alone with her unborn baby. …show more content…
Through the lenses of characterization and word choice this story has a clear theme to it, and that is, when one person becomes another person's whole world, chaos is bound to happen. The first lens to be looked at is characterization.
At the beginning of the story Mary is depicted as a run of the mill 1950s housewife, very dependent on her husband and only caring about him. “She moved uneasily in her chair” (Page 1), after not being allowed to do the work for her husband she felt uneasy, like she wasn't doing her job. By not being allowed to pamper him she has lost a part of her world. “Her eyes waited for an answer” (Page 1) shows how it's his choice and not hers. This ties into the theme because she has made Patrick her one and only, him and no one else. This obsession makes the loss of Patrick only worse. After Patrick broke the bad news “she did everything without thinking” (Page 2) which shows how much she cared for him. Without him she didn't care what was happening. After which she let instincts take over and she ended up hitting him upside the head with a leg of lamb. This ties directly into the theme when her world died, or her relationship, the chaos was a murder. “It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden” (Page 2), this excerpt shows how without Patrick to look after and idolize she was free to think for herself. This also can be considered chaos because she isn't doing what a typical women would. By thinking for herself it is a sort of independent chaos from every other women. Another way the theme is identified through this lens is her mind state. At the beginning of the story she is infatuated with Patrick, he …show more content…
is her whole world, her thinking is muddled and her actions predictable. It is almost as though she was in a haze of love, her actions were not her own. This all changed after the murder. “It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden” (Page 2) shows how she now thinks clearly. She's not dredged by the mindlessness of caring for an adult who needs no care, although this does not mean she is in the right state of mind. “As the wife of a detective she knew what the punishment would be. It made no difference to her. In fact, It would be a relief.” (Page 2) shows what can only be described as depression. She is most likely depressed at how her marriage turned out. Her mental state is even more questionable after she has the cops chow down on the lamb. “And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to laugh” (Page 4). Insane would be a good word to label her as she laughs about the ironic twist of having the cops who are looking for a weapon eat their only evidence. This all ties into the theme of how she became psycho insane after her whole world petered out. In the lens of word choice the theme can be found.
Throughout the story Patrick's dialogue was only a “Said”. He never got more emotionally provocative words. This shows the despondency he had for his wife. This sets the mood of a failing relationship were one of the two partners has no love while the other is giving their all. The fake love is the chaos and it is revealed to Mary when Patrick displays his news. Mary’s whole world was nothing but a person who didn't love her, who didn't care what happened to her. True chaos. Roald Dahl does a good way of hiding the underlying truth of their relationship through use of strong imagery when describing things. “The room was warm, the curtains were closed, the two table lamps were lit” (Page 1), this sets the mood as a romantic scene where everything is just right. “She loved the warmth that came out of him when they were alone together”(Page 1), this also sets the mood of love. She genuinely loved being near him and she got comfort from just being by him. This hides the fact that only one can feel this love. Love that is not actually being given. After Patrick informed her of his leaving “she couldn't feel anything but a slight sickness”(Page 2), in all reality she was not physically sick but mentally. This sets the mood of despair. It was chaotic for her to think all was fine and dandy, nothing could be farther from the truth. Nevertheless, the mood changes to one a little more upbeat. “Mary Maloney didn't know and she wasn't
prepared to take the chance”(Page 2). Shows initiative to not let the split destroy her. Promotes self confidence and provides apt ties into the theme because she was thrown into chaos all due to her cocky love. In conclusion Lamb to the Slaughter has the Theme, when one person becomes another person's whole world, chaos is bound to happen, which can clearly be defined when looking through the lenses of characterization and word choice. The dark humor of this story will not be forgotten nor the countless other oddities this story tells.
Mary has never been sick since she married Elton causing her family to disowned her and “she and Elton had quarreled the night before” (65). Mary’s husband is off at somebody else’s farm for the day, far from her and at home Mary is sick, alone, and miserable--her mood reflecting the weather. Berry tells us about their neighborhood of six small farms working together in fellowship and genuine camaraderie. Berry builds a setting in which Mary is happy and feels a sense of belonging which he juxtaposes with an insecurity wrought from sickness and doubt. Mary describes herself and Elton as each other’s half and even in quarrels, their halves yearned towards each other burning to be whole. Berry again juxtaposes, “their wholeness came upon them in a rush of light, around them and within them, so that she felt they must be shining in the dark. But now that wholeness was not imaginable; she felt herself without counterpart, a mere fragment of something unknown, dark and broken off” (79). There is a noticeable shift in Mary’s normal attitude as a result of her sickness and this is emphasized the emotional setting. In the physical setting, Berry uses the stove and the fire to limn her emotional setting, as she goes to bed the fire is burning low but she doesn’t have the energy to bring herself to rebuild the fire. When Mary wakes, Josie Tom has rebuilt the
Patrick would go home and ignore her when all she wanted to do was make sure he wasn’t hungry. Mary was so in love with him she would wait on the couch because she was anxious to see her husband. She was a very loving wife and would do anything for her
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...
.... 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?
It was a normal evening in the Maloney home. Mrs. Mary Maloney sat sewing, while waiting for her husband to return home after an involved day as a police officer. Around 5 o’clock Mr. Maloney returns home with shocking news and… Bang! …a leg of lamb hit over his head and Mr. Maloney falls to the ground dead. All evidence and theories, point to Mrs. Maloney being the killer of her husband, but why? Mrs. Maloney did not kill her husband out of anger after the recent marriage incident, but she did it as a result of mental anguish, self defense and trauma inflicted upon her by her husband. All these events explain exactly why Mrs. Maloney murdered her husband out of reasonable measures.
In Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary Maloney is put in this exact situation. Mary ends up killing her husband with a leg of lamb because of the news he told her. The question being asked is Mary Maloney a psychopath or is she just a normal housewife driven to extreme measures?. She waited eagerly for her husband to come home from work, she truly cared about him she didn't really have to act, she also looked so upset when the policemen were talking to her, so those reasons make it clear that she was a normal housewife.
To illustrate, in the author’s words, “Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven?” (Dahl, p. 324) In this quote the author proposes that Mary deceived the detectives into eating the murder weapon. This quote models the author’s use of character development as Mary went from the beginning of being good-natured and honest to deceitful. This brings the immoral evolution of Mary out. Moreover, the author plainly asserts, “And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.” (Dahl, p. 324) In this quote, the author describes how Mary laughed as the detectives ate the murder weapon. This quote reminds the reader that Mary is now “innocent” in a different sense than she was in the beginning of the story. “Perfect”, unaware, self-sacrificing, wife Mary is gone. Revealed to the readers is wicked, manipulative murderer
All of Roald Dahl’s stories seem to be brimfull of irony and wry humor, and “Lamb to the Slaughter” is no different. Mary Maloney, a pregnant, but cheerful woman is very much in love with her husband and we certainly don’t expect her to be of any trouble. It’s shocking enough to learn that her husband, who seems such a nice guy, is cheating on her and plans to move out. This changes the expectation of the story right off the bat, and we feel a compassion for the poor woman. We’re not sure how she’s going to cope with this news, especially since she’s six months pregnant with his child. So when she acts rather compulsively and strikes him over the head with the leg of lamb that was going to be his supper, we really are shocked. She’s acted
After she heard the news she convinces herself that he (Patrick) is still alive, she also speaks to herself/ practices her speaking to sound ‘normal’, and it shows how she felt about getting away with it. Mary Maloney was over tasked with the keeping of the house and being a doting wife to her husband, all she had going in her life was looking after her husband. Mary only wanted to be there for her husband, wanting to be with him no matter the problems they might have. Mary refused to see that her relationship was in rambles. To make her husband happy she took on as many tasks she could, along with keeping their marriage together as it was slowly falling apart. “Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked”. (Oliver Wendell Holmes,
One of these moments is when she has a talk with Mark Fossie and decides to go back to “normal” in order to make him happy. Her moral nature motivates this action, and it says about her that she truly cares about Mark. In the end, her unstable personality overrides this moment of emotional weakness and goes back to what she was becoming. Mary Ann undergoes a drastic moral and emotional change through a gradual process. The girl that arrives at Vietnam wouldn’t have been able to hunt and kill without a second thought, much less enjoy it. Maybe it was in her character all along, it was just never challenged, but in the end all of this does happen. Mary Ann is a round character, and she has a complex temperament. She starts off being a sweet and loving girl that every soldier grows fond of. Then she ends up being crazy about killing, and obsessed with Vietnam. Yet, in this transition, she is still in love with Mark Fossie, but unlike when she got there, her motivation now isn’t
In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Dahl highlights how the the truth is closer than you think. Mary Maloney is reactive when she finds out her husband wants to put an end to their marriage. After she finds
Would you kill the husband you love, to save your unborn child? Would you deceive yourself and those around you; to save your unborn child? In Roald Dahl’s short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the protagonist, Mary Maloney is a very dynamic character. She has a dual nature since she is very cunning yet very caring, making her the perfect murderer along with the perfect mother. Firstly, she is very deceitful and has the ability to easily cover up her lies. Not only that, Mary is a very clever character who always makes the most intelligent choices. Lastly, the woman is very dutiful, caring and is very aware of her responsibilities as both a wife and a mother. Therefore all of these characteristics make Mary Maloney a very dynamic character
...e oven?” (Dahl 4) Mary was very manipulative and sinister because she knew exactly what she was doing; she wanted the officers to eat up all of the lamb so that there would be no evidence of the murder weapon that she used to kill. As the officers were eating up all of the lamb, Mary was very happy and giggling while she was listening to the officers eat up the lamb, she was never grieving about the loss of Patrick and just wanted to kill him and cover up the evidence so she will not be caught.
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 ...
When the police arrived they try to understand and figure out how Patrick has been killed. But unluckily the officers can not notice Mrs. Maloney was the killer. At the end of the book Mary Maloney giggles when the officers said, “Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack?” (Dahl 18). Throughout the beginning, Mary Maloney seemed like a nice caring wife but what Patrick said caused her to do a crime. At that point, Mary knew she got away she eliminated the evidence and managed to escape. Mary laughing shows readers that the killing of her husband was not important to her at all. Therefore the theme of this story is to not trust everybody.