Lamb to the Slaughter

Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, instantly grabs a reader’s attention with its grotesque title, ensuing someone’s downfall or failure. The saying “lamb to the slaughter,” usually refers to an innocent person who is ignorantly led to his or her failure. This particular short story describes a betrayal in which how a woman brutally kills her husband after he tells her that he wants a divorce. She then persuades the policemen who rush to the scene to consume the evidence. This action and Patrick’s actions show the theme of betrayal throughout the story which Roald Dahl portrays through the use of point of view, symbolism and black humor.

One of Dahl’s most prominent styles used to highlight betrayal throughout the story is point of view. The point of view of the story is told in is third-person limited, meaning the reader only gets to read the thoughts of one character. That character was Mary Maloney, the main character and wife of Patrick Maloney. Hearing only one characters view of events can make readers opinions biased, meaning the feelings they feel towards characters are from the influence of Mary Maloney. The readers do not know what Patrick Maloney is thinking so it is hard for readers to sympathize him in the beginning of the story when he tells Mary he wants a divorce (Dahl). As one critic stated, readers are unable to see into his mind, he is immediately marked as the antagonist (Bertonneau). Another critic believed that having no knowledge of his motives made his actions seem inexcusable.

An additional view point of the story could be from a woman. A female reading Lamb to the Slaughter would most likely side with Mary Maloney. Dahl starts the story describing Mary’s behavior before her husbands’ arrival. She sits ...

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...ell written example of betrayal written with effective writing styles that draw in the reader and is an enjoying read.

Works Cited

Bertonneau, Thomas. "An overview of “Lamb to the Slaughter”." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

Dahl, Roald. "Lamb to the Slaughter." Lamb to the Slaughter and Other Stories. London: Penguin, 1995. N. pag. Print.

Levi, Claudia. "Roald Dahl: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

Piedmont-Marton, Elisabeth. "An overview of “Lamb to the Slaughter”." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

Warren, Alan. "Roald Dahl: Nasty, Nasty." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003.Student Resources in Context. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.