The Landlady Setting

Roald Dahl once said, “I am only 8 years old, I told myself. No little boy of 8 has ever murdered anyone. It's not possible.” Author Roald Dahl teaches the readers in “The Landlady” to not judge a book by its cover and that appearance is not reality. The setting of the story is shortly after The Second World War in a small English city called Bath. Billy Weaver is travelling on a business trip to Bath. He stumbles across a cosy-looking bed and breakfast; this is where the mystery begins. The hotel’s cheap price and friendly look tempt him to stay there. Billy, like many other people in the world, is hooked into buying something due to its cheap price. In the short story, The LandLady, Author Roald Dahl teaches the readers to never judge a book

He left small, suspicious details about the setting to let the readers infer that something is definitely off. For example, “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away”. (Dahl 5) Billy had no suspicion of the lady at the hotel and what he saw was a friendly lobby with a dog and a parrot,which were good signs. Billy soon realized that the animals were actually dead and stuffed. Thereafter, the room changed in Billy’s opinion from being friendly to becoming terrifying. Billy had decided to stay at the boarding-home due to the friendly environment. After his opinion of the environment changed, Billy should have packed his bags and left right

“Left?” she said, arching her brows. “But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here. Mr Temple is also here. They’re on the third floor, both of them together.” (Dahl 4) “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds....” (Dahl 5) These two quotes, readers can foreshadow that the Landlady must have killed the two guests and stored their bodies in the third floor. The readers can also infer that Billy will get killed by the Landlady. The faintly-almond tasting tea must have contained cyanide, a poison with a slight bitter-taste of almonds. This is petrifying because no one expected the Landlady to be