January 6, 2015

Lamb to the Slaughter

                   There was some weird tension between Mary Malonely and Patrick Malonely Thursday night after he arrived home from work. Mary Malonely quickly took notice of his strange actions after drinking a stronger drink than regularly, she knew something was up. After the husband decided to tell her some bad news Mrs. Malonely lost it and the end was coming for Mr. Malonely but nobody would know how. Mary not wanting to believe any of it, made it seem easy not to. She went about her ways as normal as possible ignoring his strange acts knowing he was hiding something. The author must have not let readers know what the news was on purpose but it is obvious it was not pleasant to the wife. 

                    Mary Maloney observant and defending of herself. She would not be taken for granted. The fact that she got away with her husband's murder brings out her intelligence. She also created the perfect alibi making sure she had someone to back her up on the idea she was not there when Patrick died. Patrick Maloney was honest but mean to for leaving his wife impregnated. There is no good development for his character because he was cut short. The plot twisted as soon as the lamb was in her hand. Dahl uses an allegory in order to get his stories a crossed and leaving room for readers to fill in their own story. There is also irony in the story when the police officers eat up the weapon used to kill Patrick which was funny. All of the characters in Dahl's short stories are not fully developed because of the time frame he has to tell it. 3.8/5