Short Story Lamb To The Slaughter

In the short story, called ''Lamb to the slaughter'' Mary Maloney is the protagonist. Her husband, Patrick Maloney is the antagonist. Mary Maloney is the main character, around whom the story circles. This makes her the protagonist. The protagonist suggests a positive quality and while many protagonists are the good persons or heroes, this is not always the matter: obviously, Mary's heroism is questionable to say that she is a good person or a heroe. The protagonist is simply the main character: Mary. We can say that Patrick is the antagonist because he is the one who opposes Mary. However, a reader could contend that Mary is the antagonist as well because she opposes Patrick and, or antagonizes him when he reveals that he is leaving her. But Patrick can't be the protagonist.

In the short story, called ''The Sniper'' the main character, the Republican sniper, is the protagonist. Because he is the main character which ''The Sniper'' is about who learns the grief of war. Also who carries this story to the end. The antagonist is the sniper, who fights against the Republican sniper, the main character by trying to kill him. The protagonist and the antagonist are two diametrically opposed characters.

The short story ''Lamb to the slaughter'' and the short story ''The Sniper'' have both different conflicts. In the short story ''Lamb to the slaughter'' Mary has a conflict. Her conflict is to protect her unborn child, no matter what. She is surprised at her ability to despatch her husband so quickly. But it's the though of the child inside her which concentrates her attention on covering up the crime. She first begins to consider the future for both.

''It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thin...

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...ught that everything is okay; she was pregnant, glowing, happy. She made meals for him and doesn't have any reason to suspect that he is unhappy. Then, he drops the bomb that and says he is leaving and to try no to make "any fuss...it wouldn't be very good for my job." This was an shocking betrayal for her. Ironically, she betrays his friends later, through her covering up of the crime.

In the short story ''The Sniper'' the main theme is division or partition. The other countries besides Ireland shows how bloody and painful this 'partition' of a country can me. India and Pakistan beared a bloodbath after the leaving of the British. Many families had members who took different views. This would have been shouted about in many a home and sons, fathers, grandads, uncles and mothers would come down a particular side - and not always the same one in any given family.