How Does Roald Dahl Use Direct Characterization In Lamb Of The Slaughter

Roald Dahl, author of “Lamb of the Slaughter,” uses various literary devices to develop the main characters. First he uses imagery to give the reader a better picture of Mr & Ms.Maloney’s characters. Second he uses direct characterization to tell us more about the main characters.Finally he uses conflict to bring the story together and to develop the frustrated mood of Patrick Maloney so the reader understands that something is wrong. Dahl uses imagery and direct characterization to develop the what Ms.Maloney sees in Patrick Maloney in this quote “almost As a sunbather feels the sun - that warm male glow that came out of him(pg152).”Ms. Maloney's thoughts about her husband are very distant when it comes to the picture she paints in her head about their marriage. First, The use of imagery helps to tell us how Ms.Maloney’s vision of her marriage to her husband is not as it may seem. “She laid aside sewing, stood up and went forward to kiss him as he came in (Pg1p3).” Every day Mr.Maloney comes home and she greets him with a kiss and makes drinks for him and her, in her mind she is a very loving wife and cares about him very much. Another example is when seeing Mr.Maloney comes home and she sees him she thinks “She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel - almost as a sunbather feels the sun - that warm …show more content…
“She carried it upstairs, holding the thin bone-end of it with both her hands, and as she went through the living-room, she saw him standing over by the window with his back to her, and she stopped(pg2p32).” She doesn't know what to think and how to handle herself . All the sudden she reached her breaking point and had enough.“Without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head(pg2p33).” In her mind that was the way to go and went on with her