Mary Maloney's Lamb To The Slaughter

Lamb to the Slaughter Informal Writing Assignment A short story is a piece of fictional writing usually fewer than ten thousand words and can be finished in one sitting. Through the short stories read in class, I believe that Mary Maloney of “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl had the most difficult problem, but successfully solves the dilemma in the end. As well, if I were in Mary’s position, I would have some tips to guide her in her crazed state. In this short story, a pregnant Mary Maloney is caught up with an unintentional murder of her husband. Through this, Mary Maloney develops this crazy state of mind where at first she seems to understand and accept the fact that she’ll have to go to jail. Shortly afterwards, she realizes that if she is to spend the rest of her life in jail, her baby would be born in a jail cell and like any mother would, she attempts to protect her baby and herself. Mary Maloney has the most difficult problem since she killed her husband and her baby’s …show more content…
First, she calms herself down and goes to the mirror and practices what she will say to the grocer when she acts like she has not gone home yet to find her husband dead. Also, this way Mary has a time witness to confirm that she was cheerful and normal and unknowing of her husband’s misfortune. Then, when she goes home and finds her husband dead, she frantically calls the police for them to come visit the crime scene themselves. When the officers first arrive, Mary is not cleared as a suspect. She overhears the officers saying that when they find the weapon, they will find the murderer. Mary sets out to persuade the officers into believing that she is very upset over Patrick’s death, and urges them to eat the leg of lamb. Mary is successful and watches as the police devour the murder weapon causing her husband’s end. She and her baby have not to worry about spending the rest of their lives together in prison