Lamb To The Slaughter

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“Lamb to the Slaughter” Summary “Lamb to the Slaughter” is a short story written by Roald Dahl set in the 1950s at the Maloney household. Mary Maloney was married to a man by the name of Patrick Maloney, who was a dutiful police officer. She was expected to have her first child coming soon. The story started off innocently with her husband coming home; however, he had seemed strangely moodier than usual and even fetched himself a stronger alcoholic drink. Mary ignored these anomalous behaviors, and attempted to enlighten her husband’s mood. Patrick urged Mary to sit down, since he had an important matter he wanted to discuss with her. In the bluntest, yet comforting way he could, Patrick stated that he was in love with another woman. This …show more content…
As she planned her alibi, her first move was to head out to the grocery store. She was greeted by Sam, a grocer, and tried to maintain normal facial expressions and voice tones in order to deceive him. She came home telling herself she must remain composed and act natural. Marry called for her husband’s name as if he were still alive, only to be greeted by his dead body. Briskly, Mary made a mess in her own home to make it appear as if an intruder had come into the house. A few minutes later, she called the police with a frantic voice saying her husband, Patrick Maloney had been killed. Police officers arrive at her house, one being Jack Noonan, an acquaintance of Patrick’s. To Jack, Mary’s story of how she found Patrick’s body made him feel sympathy towards her, not suspicion. They investigated the crime scene and concluded some sort of heavy, blunt object had damaged Patrick’s skull. In gratitude of the policemen’s consolation, Mary decided to serve them supper- the cooked leg lamb. The officers could not refuse her request and ended up eating the leg lamb for supper. As the policemen talked among themselves about the murder case, Mary giggled maliciously in the other

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