Lamb To The Slaughter Mary Maloney Essay

Mary Maloney killed her husband, In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” Roald Dahl describes Mary Maloney’s reaction to her husband's news. Mrs. Maloney shows very atypical, clever and manipulative skills throughout the story but more so after having killed her husband. The author Dahl wrote this short story in the 1950’s when women were expected to be housewives after working in the place of men. Men were now back from world war II and they expected to be well treated by their wives. Not every women got out of the workforce though and not every women went back to being the same housewife, Mrs. Maloney shows a perfect example of this. Patrick Maloney came home from work to his wife Mrs. Maloney, who was already waiting for him. Patrick came home doing unusual things with signs of exhaustion and stress. He took his drink in one sip, something he’d never done before. Mary Maloney offered to change the plans and make supper at home instead of going out. Patrick motionless and …show more content…
“It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden” (Dahl, 1953). Mrs.Maloney was able to immediately think of a genius plan to not get caught and it actually worked. Anthony Bernardo states in his analysis “Mary becomes a deliberate and clear thinker. She now artificially creates her alibi for the murder by consciously returning to her innocent state before Patrick’s death” (Bernardo, 2004). Mary Maloney was smart enough to get a fake piece of evidence in her favor. Mary Maloney might have been unconsciously thinking but her thinking was straight and clear, she made no mistakes. She didn’t cry until she was back from the store and cops arrived, this made her story far more believable because her tears were real. Mary’s cleverness allows her to get through the murder without a suspicion. Even though Mrs. Maloney’s reactions helped her get away with murder, her reactions were not typical of that of a wife in the