Examples Of Emotions In Lamb To The Slaughter

Lamb to the Slaughter conveys the changing in emotions throughout the characters and their actions or dialogue. The changing of emotions in literature is a pivotal factor in the story. Lamb to the Slaughter is a great example of the characters emotions and how they contribute to the overall meaning of the text. Specifically, Mary Malone and her husband, Patrick, contribute their emotions that will lead the story to its end. Mary’s character changes her emotions quite clearly after the climax of the short story. However, Patrick’s emotions aren’t as easily affected by the plot of the story. To start off, the main character, Mary Malone, takes on her daily routine which mainly is just waiting for her dear husband Patrick. Mary seems very clingy to her husband in the start of the story considering “She loved the warmth that came out of him when they were together” (Dahl 1). Although Mary gives this desperate, clingy vibe, she swiftly changes to almost the exact opposite of that. She begins her change with going into denial after the horrible news presented to her by Patrick. Dahl includes in his story that “Perhaps, if she acted as though she had not heard him, …show more content…
Firstly, Patrick comes home to his clingy wife, Mary, as he always does, which most likely led to the news given by Patrick to Mary. Dahl presents Patrick’s character to be somewhat passive-aggressive, “Sit down… Just a minute, sit down” (1). Patrick also reveals a quite unresponsive emotion towards Mary, his own wife. For example, Dahl shows us that “Her eyes waited to an answer, a smile, a nod, but he made no sign” (1). Dahl put this emotion into Patrick to furthermore advance the plot so that it wouldn’t be as much as a surprise when Patrick gets whacked in the head and makes no signal of