Literary Terms & Devices
What is the literary style that refers to the use of the grotesque, morbid, or absurd for darkly comic purposes that applies to “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
Dark Humor or Comic Horror
Who is the protagonist of the story?
Mary Maloney
What is the occupation of the criminal in this story?
Housewife (Mary)
What does Mary do when she gets home?
Creates a crime scene and calls the police.
What was Roald Dahl's profession?
An author
What literary device is used here, "...the two table lamps alight-hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, were two tall glasses, of soda water, and whiskey...."
Repetition
What cliche does Mary first appear to represent?
The 1950s Housewife Cliche
What is the climax of the story?
When Mary strikes Patrick in the head with the leg of lamb and kills him.
How does the 1950s housewife cliche (stereotype) help Mary when the police arrive?
They never suspect that Mary is the killer.
What did Roald Dahl do in World War 2?
He was a fighter pilot.
What is the main THEME of this story
Appearance versus Reality
"She would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come..." What does this qte tell you about Mary?
It implies that she loves her husband and is looking forward to his homecoming.
What is the first thing Mary does to create an alibi?
She puts the lamb in the oven.
The police believed the murder weapon was a …
heavy, blunt instrument like a metal club (spanner/cudgel)
How did Roald Dahl know Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond book series?
The served in the M6 as secret agents/spies for England
What literary device is played out when the police and the detectives eat the murder weapon?
irony
Patrick is not behaving like a loving husband with a pregnant wife. What does he do that is wrong?
He thinks only of his needs and is cruel, distant, does not speak TO her, but at her, he cheats on her and is leaving her.
What is the second thing Mary does do establish her alibi?
She composes herself and practices speaking to the grocer, Sam, in the mirror.
As they eat the lamb, one officer hesitates to eat all of the lamb. Charlie replies, “She wants us to finish it. She said so. Be doing her a favor.” How is this ironic?
Charlie think the favor is that she will not waste the food she took the time to cook. The reality is that she wants the entire murder weapon to be devoured. (Situational Irony)
What are three of Dahl's most famous book titles?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, James and the Giant Peach, The Magic Finger, Gremlins, Fantastic Mr. Fox, (Name three)
What is Third Person Limited Narrative?
The narrator alone sees inside the mind of the protagonist and tells the story from the perspective of a single protagonist, referring to the main character by name or using a third-person.
How does Dahl let the reader know that Mary is pregnant early in the story. (Give two examples of text evidence to support your thinking.)
Dahl writes, " Her skin - for this was her sixth month with child - acquired a wonderful translucent quality AND she makes her drink weaker than her husbands
What does Mary buy at the store after she’s killed Patrick?
Potatoes, peas, and cheesecake
What does the last sentence tell you about the real Mary. And in the other room, Mary Maloney giggled.
Mary is NOT the 1950s cliche of an innocent housewife. She is a cold, calculating and systematic person who successfully pulled off a murder AND got the police to eat the evidence!
What was Roald Dahl's first book?
The Gremlins. (Trivia Tidbit: It was made into a famous Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner, who played James Kirk in Star Trek.)