Lamb to the Slaughter

17/12/2012

 
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So, what did you think of this story?

Comment on Dahl's characterisation of Mary Maloney.
Can you comment on the irony in the story?
Talk about Dahl's use of foreshadowing? How does he create tension? 
What/where is the crisis?
Andrew. K
17/12/2012 01:26:48 am

i thought the story was brilliant. the characterisation really started to make astonishing atmosphere and the irony was soooo good because they all though it was a man but actually it was the wife

Jack Merriman
17/12/2012 01:43:42 am

Dahl makes Mary seem like a very nice character and we instantly warm to her and we also feel that Patrick deserved what he got.

Dahl's foreshadowing comes into place when Patrick takes the drink in one gulp and has no soda water with his drink.

Dahl creates tension with short sentences like "A frozen leg of lamb"

The crisis is when Mary murders Patrick and she needs to clear up edvidence so she isn't arrested


On a different note I knew this story was familiar when I read it, I remembered that the story was told in a podcast I listen to, here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJGbmKtn-8Y&list=ELtxezC9k0rGc&index=35

Ethan Z
17/12/2012 02:54:44 am

What i think of Lamb to the Slaughter, is that it was a nice read. The author played on our emotions, so that it was not sad that the husband died... we felt he deserved it. I thought that the plot was well thought out also. Through out the story we wondered if the police would find out that the wife murdered the husband. At the very end she got away with it, but it had a nice taste of irony also. The detectives thought the weapon that murdered him could be right under their noses, which in fact , it was.

Ethan Z
17/12/2012 03:07:59 am

I forgot to talk about how the author used foreshadowing and the crises of the story. So how the author used foreshadowing in, Lamb to the Slaughter, is when the husband was still alive, he talked about the wife not hating him for saying what he was about to say. Also another example of the foreshadowing in the story is when she rehearsed in front of the mirror to make sure she looked normal. it was a clue to show that she was going to go into public and that she needed to not show even a hint of suspicion toword her.

The crises of the story is that th husband is dead and she was going to jail. It was fine for her to go to jail, but the baby would be killed also.

Eline.dv
17/12/2012 04:04:37 am

I thought the story was a little bit weird but very well written .It was a bit like searching for hidden messages behind words. I think the way Dahl writes Mary Maloney is as a sweet caring woman and very obsessed with her husband .I think she killed her husband because she does so much for him and he doesn't really appreciate it.
There are a couple of ironic points to this story.
In this story, the husband, Patrick Maloney, is killed like a lamb,he totally trusts his wife Mary and is completely unaware of his doom, but the title is also ironic because it is actually a frozen leg of lamb that is used to slaughter the husband. This point is funny in an ironic way because the reader knows that the leg of lamb was used as a murder weapon, but the police unwittingly eat the evidence when the killer serves the roast leg of lamb to them. I think Dahl is very good at creating tension like when the husband tells Mary something we dont know what ,which creates tension. The crisis is that she actually murdered her husband and she lies about everything and she acts completely normal about it.

Luke rogers
17/12/2012 04:37:07 am

Mary Maloney is person how likes to please her husband. Mary in the story likes to ask questions to her husband but likes to do it quickly and snappy, but does it anyway. The irony in the story is catchy as the reader you know what's happened but the people in the story don't know what has happened. The crisis in the story is that Mary has killed her husband because he wants to leave her.

Heather M
17/12/2012 02:51:10 pm

Roald Dahl makes Mary Maloney out to be a lovely kind loving woman. But as the story goes on, the reader finds out that she is not so loving after all. Actually she is quite sly.

The story becomes very ironic to reader because only the reader and Mary Maloney know the true story and the police and detectives don't.

Ronald Dahl creates tension by his use of language and the words he uses. He also can creates tension where it is very difficult to create tension in a story.

Kim o'hare
17/12/2012 03:42:04 pm

1. I really enjoyed reading this story and I like the way they never thought it was Mary.
2. Marys character is a bit strange, she acts like a servent and she really does try to please him all the time

Kim o'hare
17/12/2012 03:45:55 pm

3. Dahls foreshadowing is very good he uses It a far few times. Like we knew that Patrick wanted to tell mart something before she knew.
Dahl creates tension by using foreshadowing and the use of very strong words

oisin mccay
17/12/2012 06:16:36 pm

I like the way Dahl describes Mrs Maloney as having ''translucent skin, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their placid look, seemed larger and darker than before''.
I like the irony of the police thinking that the killer wasa man. Ilike the way that in the last line the detective says that the weapon is ''probably under their noses''.

David Stribblehill
17/12/2012 06:22:39 pm

It is ironic how the detectives are eating the murder weapon while saying that it is probably right under their noses.

sophie
17/12/2012 06:32:51 pm

I thought the way Dahl's characterisation of Mary Maloney was very interesting and well writen so it made you feel for her and once the murder is done that you still think she is a bit right and smart with how she firsts trys to hide from it even though it was a terrible crime. The irony of the story was quite evil and I first felt that it was right infront of the detective's eyes but then I began to think that they knew how much Mary adored her husband and that it would not start off as obvious as I thought.Dahl creates tension by making the sentences short and not having so much direct speech. The crisis is when Mary murders her husband and doesn't want to be killed because then her unborn child would die with her.


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