Dahl published a highly embellished account of his war escapades in Colliers magazine in 1942, and started writing regularly after that.

2.  A REVIEW OF THE STORY

This story begins with the most innocent of domestic scenes. Mary Maloney, a housewife in her sixth month of pregnancy, is waiting for her husband to return home. It is a Thursday night, and they usually eat out. When Patrick Maloney does come home, he is strangely moody and takes a stronger drink than usual. Mary tries to divert him with the usual domestic comforts but to no avail. Patrick asks her to sit down, announcing that he has an important matter to discuss with her. Though the reader is never told, it is clear that Patrick is going to divorce Mary. He ends his speech by saying that he will see that she is provided for and that he hopes that there will be no fuss because it might reflect badly on his position in the police department.

The announcement that she will lose the man around whom her world revolves puts Mary into a daze of unbelief. Instead of arguing with Patrick, she goes on as if nothing has happened, hoping that this will somehow cause her problem to go away. She prepares to make supper and goes down to the deep freezer. She chooses a frozen leg of lamb for the meal. Moving like a somnambulist, she walks into the living room. When Patrick tells her that he does not want dinner, Mary moves behind him and hits him over the head with the leg of lamb.

Patrick falls to the floor with a crash, and this brings Mary to her senses. Mary realizes that she has killed Patrick, and though she is willing to take the legal consequences, she fears for her unborn child, who might die if she is executed. Her mind is now working clearly, and she devises an elaborate deception for the police. She prepares the leg of lamb and puts it in the oven. She then goes to her room and gets ready to go out. As she does so, she rehearses the conversation that she will have with the grocer, trying to get the voice tones and facial expressions as close to normal as possible. This deception is put into operation. She goes to the grocery and uses the exact words that she has rehearsed, so that the whole scene at the grocery appears to be the everyday act of a wife picking up food for her husband’s dinner and chatting with the grocer. She then returns home, telling herself that she must remain natural and to expect nothing out of the ordinary when she enters the house. Thus, when Mary does arrive, she calls out to Patrick as if he were still alive. Her shock at actually finding Patrick’s body is almost completely unfeigned, as if she really did not know that she has already killed him.

Mary then calls the police and reports that Patrick Maloney has been killed. Two police officers, one of whom is Jack Noonan, arrive at the house. Both men are familiar to Mary, who knows most of Patrick’s friends on the police force. They begin the investigation into Patrick’s murder by recording Mrs. Maloney’s story about going out to get food for supper and coming back to find Patrick’s body. Noonan, completely taken in, comforts Mary, asking if she would rather go to her sister’s house or stay with his wife. Mary, however, stays throughout the investigation. When a doctor and other specialists arrive to examine the body, the police conclude that Patrick was killed by a blow to the head with a blunt instrument, probably made of steel.

The police begin searching the house for the murder weapon but with no success. Mary asks Noonan for a...

3. THEMES
Betrayal:

Patrick’s betrayal of his marriage drives the rest of the story’s plot, leading to both his wife’s betrayal and that of his colleagues. When he leaves his wife, Patrick betrays not only the love Mary has for him but also the unborn child she is carrying and their private domestic life together.

Eating and food:
Much of “Lamb to the Slaughter” is occupied with eating and food. At the beginning of the story, food is closely linked to domesticity and marriage. Mary’s repeated attempts to feed Patrick demonstrate not only her affection for her husband but also the role she plays as homemaker and housewife. Similarly, Patrick’s refusal to eat Mary’s food is a rejection of that affection and foreshadows his rejection of the domestic life Mary has built around him. Even after Patrick’s death, food still is (or appears to be) associated with marriage. After Patrick tells Mary he is leaving her, food becomes a literal and figurative weapon. In the literal sense, food is weaponized when Mary kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, which is said by the narrator to be as effective as a “steel club.” Metaphorically, food also works against the other policemen, as they never suspect that Mary’s frozen meat could be used as a weapon, and they begin to eat the evidence for which they have been searching all night.Just as the weaponization of food is both literal and metaphorical, so too is the motif of consumption.
Roles reversals:
Dahl subjects his characters to various reversals in their traditional roles. Most prominent of these role reversals is that of Mary Maloney, whose act of murder defies the policemen’s assumptions about her and about the culprit. By physically attacking her husband, with a club-like weapon no less, Mary subverts gender stereotypes and takes on the traditionally male role of violent attacker and murderer. Her quick thinking and ability to deceive others causes the policemen to sympathize with (and to some extent infantilize) her as if she were a victim, despite the fact that she is actually the murderer.
Gender and mariage:
Throughout the short story, Mary Maloney is firmly situated in a patriarchal society—that is, a system in which men hold more power than women politically, socially, and economically. Historically, women have been often consigned to the private sphere of domestic life, as they were deemed by men to be intellectually and emotionally unfit for the public sphere outside of family and home life. Men, on the other hand, were able to move through both spheres
4.Discussion points where everybody can contribute.

do you think that anyone is capable of covering 
up a murder like this?
will she have regret?
what was the first feeling you felt when you kill someone?
who could she felt after that?
do you think that anyone can kill someone?
will she still be the same woman after that day? 
Did she hide it very well or do the police work poorly?

5.Grammar analysis with examples from the story and explanation.
" He told her, had been killed by a blow on the back "
we use passive forms to talk about actions, events and procceses when the action, event or process is concidered more impotant than the agent ( the person responsible for the action). in this case the agent which is the killer came in second place giving importance to the 
the murder weapon which is more relevant than the killer who is unknown.
 6.Vocabulary analysis with examples from the story and explanation.
Blissful: extremely or completely happy

“For her, this was always a blissful time of day”

Loosely: in a way that is not firmly held attached

“She loved him fot he way het sat loosely in a chair...”

Strides: an important positive development 

“... or moved slowly across the room with long strides”

Shoved: to push someone or something forcefully 

“...turned the oven on high, and shoved inside”

Weary: feeling of showing extreme tiredness

“The four men searching the rooms seemed to be growing weary, a trifle exasperated”

Premises: the land and buildings owned by someone, specially by a company.

“...but on the other hand he may have thrown it away or hidden it somewhere on the premises” 

Sloppy: careless and unsystematic 

“... their voices thick and sloppy because their mouths were full meat”

Awkwardly: hard to do or deal with

“They stood around rather awkwardly with the drinks in their hands...”

Belched: to allow air from the stomach to come out noisily through the mouth.

“On of them belched” 

2- A review of the story:
The story revolves around a conventional family. Mary Maloney, the loving wife of respected police officer Patrick Maloney. It has a very old-fashioned mood and despite of its really short length the story manages to amuse us a lot. Readers might be slightly disturbed by her behaviors, but that is the point; it makes all that foreshadowing pay off.
Roald Dahl uses tension, surprising contrasts and twists to create an engaging short story. Tension adds the idea of macabre and allows the story to develop at a steady pace, resulting in a very good employment of dramatic irony and that keeps on escalating until the end of the story, and that ending is satisfying. 
It is completely amusing, and ironic, how Mary utilizes her gender role to cover up the murder of her husband. Men are traditionally seen as the violent ones, while women are too weak hearted. In addition, when the police officers arrive at the scene, the readers know what happened, but the police officers do not, resulting in a very good employment of dramatic irony. Manages to incorporate mild feelings of dread with dark humor in the end.

Mary Maloney is firmly situated in a patriarchal society (a system in which men hold more power than women politically, socially, and economically). Her marriage is a perfect example of gendered hierarchy, as her entire life revolves around that of her husband. While Patrick works in the public sphere as a detective, Mary stays at home in the private domestic sphere, working on her sewing and eagerly awaiting his return “after the long hours alone in the house.” Once her husband arrives, all of her energy is devoted to anticipating his needs. Fulfilling the duties of a stereotypical housewife, Mary, demonstrates her affectionate submission by performing various domestic tasks for her husband (for example, hanging up his coat, making him drinks, offering to fetch his slippers and make supper) despite the fact that she is six months pregnant and Patrick barely acknowledges her efforts.
After Mary murders her husband, then, she is able to escape suspicion partly because of her cleverness and partly because the police officers hold traditional, patriarchal views of women as caregivers incapable of violence or deceit. The detectives consider “impossible” the idea that Mary has deceived them all as well as Sam, the grocer.

Mary’s weapon of choice, a leg of lamb, subject to role reversal in the story and symbolizes her transformation. The lamb often portrayed as a gentle, sacrificial creature. However, once Patrick Maloney decides to leave his marriage, the lamb then becomes a tool for violence. This is can also be seen in the ironic wordplay of the story’s title, “Lamb to the Slaughter”: Mary’s sudden violence renders Patrick the figurative “lamb” to be slaughtered, while the frozen leg of lamb is literally the instrument of slaughter.

Much of “Lamb to the Slaughter” is occupied with eating and food. At the beginning of the story, food is closely linked to domesticity and marriage. Mary has repeated attempts to feed Patrick demonstrate not only her affection for her husband but also the role she plays as homemaker and housewife. Similarly, Patrick’s refusal to eat Mary’s food is a rejection of that affection and foreshadows his rejection of the domestic life Mary has built around him. Even after Patrick’s death, food still is associated with marriage, as Mary attempts to maintain the façade of domestic bliss by establishing her alibi of buying Patrick’s food from Sam, the local grocer.
After Patrick tells Mary he is leaving her, food becomes a literal and figurative weapon. In the literal sense, food is weaponized when Mary kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb.

Patrick’s betrayal of his marriage drives the rest of the story’s plot, leading to both his wife’s betrayal and that of his colleagues. 
When he leaves his wife, Patrick betrays not only the love Mary has for him but also the unborn child she is carrying. Mary commits her own betrayal by killing her husband. Mary calls the police, maintaining a façade of innocence and manipulating the police officers to inadvertently commit a betrayal of their own. The police officers unknowingly betray both their former colleague and their profession by drinking whiskey on the job and by eating the evidence.

·         Why is the title of the story important? What does it mean? 

·         How does Mary's behavior in the grocery shop contradict what has happened earlier in the story? Why is her visit to the grocery shop an important piece of the story?

·         Do you think the murder was "premeditated" or a "crime of passion" and why? 

·         How did Mary feel after she killed her husband in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?

·         How does Roald Dahl portray the character of Mary Maloney in the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter"?  

·         Would you call this murder a perfect murder? If so, why?  

·         How do Mary’s feelings about killing her husband in the beginning compare to her feelings at the end of the story?

 

·         A trifle

To a small degree somewhat. “The four men searching the rooms seemed to be growing weary, a trifle exasperated”.

·         Acquire

Come into the possession of something concrete or abstract. “Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child-had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before”.

·         Amber

A hard yellowish to brownish translucent fossil resin. “When he came back, she noticed that the new drink was dark amber with the quantity of whiskey in it”.

·         Awfully

In a terrible manner. “Would they mind awfully of she stayed just where she was until she felt better”.

·         Awkwardly

In a clumsy manner. “They stood around rather awkwardly with the drinks in their hands, uncomfortable in her presence, trying to say consoling things to her”.

·         Belch

Expel gas from the stomach. “One of them belched”.

·         Bent

Stooped (used of the back and knees). “The drop of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil”.

·         Bewilder

Cause to be confused emotionally. “She lowered herself back slowly into the chair, watching him all the time with those large, bewildered eyes”.

·         Bewildered

Perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements. “She lowered herself back slowly into the chair, watching him all the time with those large, bewildered eyes”.

·         Blink

A reflex that closes and opens the eyes rapidly. “She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding the ridiculous piece of meat tight with both hands”.

·         Blissful

Completely happy and contented. “For her, this was always a blissful time of day”.

·         Blunt

Not sharp (used of a knife or other blade). “Her husband, he told her, had been killed by a blow on the back of the head administered with a heavy blunt instrument, almost certainly a large piece of metal”.

·         🤬

A narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall. “She could hear their footsteps on the gravel outside, and sometimes she saw a flash of a torch through a 🤬 in the curtains”.

·         Clink

A short light metallic sound. “He didn’t answer, so she bent her head again and went on with her sewing; bet each time he lifted the drink to his lips, she heard the ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass”.

·         Clinking

Like the light sharp ringing sound of glasses being tapped. “He didn’t answer, so she bent her head again and went on with her sewing; bet each time he lifted the drink to his lips, she heard the ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass”.

·         Clock on

Register one's arrival at work. “It began to get late, nearly nine she noticed by the clock on the mantle”.

·         Congeal

Solidify, thicken, or come together. “While she was talking, crying and talking, Noonan discovered a small patch of congealed blood on the dead man’s head”.

·         Console

Give moral or emotional strength to. “They stood around rather awkwardly with the drinks in their hands, uncomfortable in her presence, trying to say consoling things to her”.

·         🤬

A thin crisp wafer made of flour and water with or without leavening and shortening; unsweetened or semisweet. “Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com “Anyway,” she went on, “I’ll get you some cheese and crackers first””.

·         Crackers

 “Anyway,” she went on, “I’ll get you some cheese and crackers first.”

·         Daze

Confusion characterized by lack of clarity. “It didn’t take long, four or five minutes at most, and she say very still through it all, watching him with a kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word”.

·         Drain

Emptying something by allowing liquid to run out of it. “He lifted his glass and drained it in one swallow although there was still half of it, at least half of it left”.

·         Exasperate

Make furious. “The four men searching the rooms seemed to be growing weary, a trifle exasperated”.

·         Extraordinary

Highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable. “It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden”.

·         Frown

A facial expression of dislike or displeasure. “He had finished the second drink and was staring down into the glass, frowning”.

·         Frowning

Showing displeasure or anger. “He had finished the second drink and was staring down into the glass, frowning”.

·         Giggle

Laugh nervously. “And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle”.

·         Glance

Take a brief look at. “Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come”.

·         Gut

The part of the alimentary canal between the stomach and the 🤬. “That’s the hell of a big club the gut must’ve used to hit poor Patrick,” one of them was saying.

·         Hesitating

Lacking decisiveness of character. “There was a good deal of hesitating among the four policemen, but they were clearly hungry, and in the end they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and help themselves”.

·         Hum

Sing with closed lips. “Therefore, when she entered the kitchen by the back door, she was humming a little tune to herself and smiling”.

·         Lean

Incline or bend from a vertical position. “He paused a moment, leaning forward in the chair, then he got up and went slowly over to fetch himself another”.

·         Lop

Cut off from a whole. “She sat down before the mirror, tidied her hair, touched up her lops and face”.

·         Mantle

A sleeveless garment like a cloak but shorter. “It began to get late, nearly nine she noticed by the clock on the mantle”. “What were the laws about murderers with unborn children?”

·         Pan

Shallow container made of metal. “She carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved t inside”.

·         Parce

A wrapped package. “She put the parcel down on the table and went through into the living room; and when she saw him lying there on the floor with his legs doubled up and one arm twisted back underneath his body, it really was rather a shock”.

·         Patch

A small contrasting part of something. “While she was talking, crying and talking, Noonan discovered a small patch of congealed blood on the dead man’s head”.

·         Pea

A leguminous plant of the genus Pisum with small white flowers and long green pods containing edible green seeds. “Yes, and I think a can of peas.”

·         Placid

Calm and free from disturbance. “Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child-had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before”.

·         Reject

Refuse to accept or acknowledge. “Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all”.

·         Ridiculous

Incongruous or absurd. “She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding the ridiculous piece of meat tight with both hands”.

·         Sew

Create (clothes) with cloth. “The drop of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil”.

·         Shove

Come into rough contact with while moving. “She carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved t inside”.

·         Sip

Drink in sips. ““No.” She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink, and she could see little oily swirls in the liquid because it was so strong’. 

·         Slam

Close violently. “When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few moments later, punctually as always, she heard the tires on the gravel outside, and the car door slamming, the footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock”.

·         Sledgehammer

A heavy long-handled hammer used to drive stakes or wedges. “The doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a sledgehammer.”

·         Slop

Deep soft mud in water or slush. “She told how she’d put the meat in the oven-”it’s there now, cooking”- and how she’d slopped out to the grocer for vegetables, and come back to find him lying on the floor”.

·         Slopped

Very drunk. “She told how she’d put the meat in the oven-”it’s there now, cooking”- and how she’d slopped out to the grocer for vegetables, and come back to find him lying on the floor”.

·         Sloppy

Lacking neatness or order. “The woman stayed where she was, listening to them speaking among themselves, their voices thick and sloppy because their mouths were full of meat”.

·         Smash

Hit violently. “The doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a sledgehammer.”

·         Smashed

Very drunk. “The doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a sledgehammer.”

·         Sob

Weep convulsively. ““I think so,” she sobbed”.

·         Spanner

A hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt. “Would she mind having a look around to see if anything was missing-a very big spanner, for example, or a heavy metal vase”.

·         Steel

An alloy of iron with small amounts of carbon. “She might just as well have hit him with a steel club”.

·         Sway

Move back and forth. “She stepped back a pace, waiting, and the funny thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds, gently swaying”.

·         Swing

Change direction with a swinging motion; turn. “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and 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”.

·         Swirl

Turn in a twisting or spinning motion. “She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink, and she could see little oily swirls in the liquid because it was so strong”.

·         Tearful

Filled with or marked by weeping. “When the sergeant returned the second time, she looked at him with her large, dark tearful eyes”.

·         Tinkle

Make or emit a high sound. “Then she walked over and made the drinks, a strongish one for him, a weak one for herself; and soon she was back again in her chair with the sewing, and he in the other, opposite, holding the tall glass with both hands, rocking it so the ice cubes tinkled against the side”.

·         Tome

A large and scholarly book. ““Jack,” she said, the next tome Sergeant Noonan went by”.

·         Torch

A light usually carried in the hand. “She could hear their footsteps on the gravel outside, and sometimes she saw a flash of a torch through a 🤬 in the curtains”.

·         Touch up

Alter so as to produce a more desirable appearance. “She sat down before the mirror, tidied her hair, touched up her lops and face”.

·         Translucent

Allowing light to pass through diffusely. “Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child-had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before”.

·         Trifle

A detail that is considered insignificant. “The four men searching the rooms seemed to be growing weary, a trifle exasperated”.

·         Tune

A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence. “Therefore, when she entered the kitchen by the back door, she was humming a little tune to herself and smiling”.

·         Twist

Cause an object to assume a curved or distorted shape. “She put the parcel down on the table and went through into the living room; and when she saw him lying there on the floor with his legs doubled up and one arm twisted back underneath his body, it really was rather a shock”.

·         Twisted

Having an intended meaning altered or misrepresented. “She put the parcel down on the table and went through into the living room; and when she saw him lying there on the floor with his legs doubled up and one arm twisted back underneath his body, it really was rather a shock”.

·         Vas

A tube in which a body fluid circulates. “They didn’t have any heavy metal vases, she said”.

·         Whisper

Speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords. ““I’ll get the supper,” she managed to whisper, and this time he didn’t stop her”.

·         Wrap

Cloak that is folded or wrapped around a person. “It was wrapped in paper, so she took off the paper and looked at it again”.

 

Role of women and gender: The story is situated in a society where women stay home all day, clean cook and take care of the kids, while men go out, work and bring home the money. We can see Mary Maloney is the stereotypical housewife, and her whole life revolves around her husband. She is very submissive and constantly trying to please him.  Apart from this, after Mary murdered her husband, the police officers didn’t suspect she was  the one to blame because women are usually seen as loving, sweet and innocent creatures.

Betrayal: The main theme present in the story is betrayal. At the beginning we can notice that Mary truly does love her husband, so why does she end up killing him?

Patrick’s betrayal of his marriage drives to the story’s plot. When he tells her that he is leaving her, she feels betrayed, what causes her to lose control and kill him. However, Mary betrays her husband too when she kills him.

The violence of devotion: 

Mary's impulsive murder comes in the wake of her husband's announcement that he is abandoning her and their unborn child. She is so devoted to her husband, that  the fear of loosing him ends up making her become violent. Apart from this, the decision to cover up the murder is not only driven by the need to protect herself, but rather by maternal devotion because she wants to protect her baby. 

Mistaken identities: In this story we can see how many of the characters end up doing things we would have never expected them to do. From the beginning, we see Mary as a model housewife. We believe she is sweet, innocent and  harmless, but she proves otherwise at the end. Her husband on the other hand, appears to be short tempered and strong, , but he ends up being the victim. 

Irony: We can see a lot of irony on this story. For example, the fact that the detectives are looking for a murder weapon as they eat it. The title “ Lamb to the Slaughter” is also an irony itself, because we expect Mary to be the innocent and naive lamb, but she ends up being the opposite. Besides, the murder weapon is, in fact, a frozen leg of lamb.

The phrase 'like a lamb to the slaughter' actually has a long and distinguished history in biblical and English literature, and you might've even read it yourself somewhere. If so, you recognized that it's generally used to describe a situation into which a person blindly enters without any knowledge of the inherent danger. The same could be said for certain folks in Roald Dahl's short story 'Lamb to the Slaughter.' The story's title also works as a dark double entendre, a word or phrase used in a way that conveys two meanings, of its eventual outcome.

The story opens on Mary Maloney, who's waiting patiently but eagerly for her husband, a police officer, to get home from work. When he finally does arrive, Patrick Maloney silently takes the drink his wife has prepared for him, and even makes his own stronger second one.

It's Thursday, and the couple usually dines out on those evenings, but Mary recognizes Patrick may be too tired, so she offers to prepare dinner, despite her advanced pregnancy. Patrick seems agitated by his wife's insistence on being useful and asks her instead to listen to what he has to say. He proceeds to tell her, though he never states it explicitly, that he's planning on leaving her.

In a total state of shock, Mary continues to go about making dinner, heedless to Patrick saying that he's going out. Coming to the first piece of meat in the basement freezer, a leg of lamb, she takes it upstairs for dinner. She finds Patrick facing away from her in the den, and without a single thought, clubs him in the back of the head with the leg of lamb, killing him instantly.

Suddenly realizing the severity of her crime, Mary quickly goes about covering it up. She puts the lamb in the oven and goes to the local grocer to buy vegetables to complete the dinner. After returning home and 'finding' her husband dead, she calls the police, who are also friends of the family. They arrive promptly and investigate.

Tired and confused from their investigation, Mary pleads tearfully with the detectives to let her finish the dinner she was preparing. Out of pity for the new widow, they concede. While enjoying the lamb, the men discuss the case, each of them convinced that the murder weapon, which has yet to be found, is 'probably right under (their) noses.'

Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916, to November 23, 1990) was a British author who penned 19 children's books over his decades-long writing career. In 1953 he published the best-selling story collection "Someone Like you". He published the popular book James and the Giant Peach in 1961. In 1964 he released another highly successful work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was later adapted for two films.

Roald Dahl's parents were Norwegian. As a child, he spent his summer vacations visiting with his grandparents in Oslo. When Dahl was four years old, his father died.

The young Dahl received his earliest education at Llandaff Cathedral School. When the principal gave him a harsh beating for playing a practical joke, Dahl's mother decided to enroll her rambunctious and mischievous child at St. Peter's, a British boarding school, as had been her husband's wish.

After Dahl graduated from Repton in 1932, he went on an expedition to Newfoundland. Afterward, he took a job with the Shell Oil Company in Tanzania, Africa, where he remained until 1939.

Lusting for yet more adventure, in 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force. After training in Nairobi, Kenya, he became a World War II fighter pilot. While serving in the Mediterranean, Dahl crash-landed in Alexandria, Egypt. The plane crash left him with serious injuries to his skull, spine and hip. Following a recovery that included a hip replacement and two spinal surgeries, Dahl was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he became an assistant air attaché.

Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990, at the age of 74. After suffering an unspecified infection, on November 12, 1990, Roald Dahl had been admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.

In 1953 Roald Dahl married the American actress, Patricia Neal, with whom he had five children. They divorced after 30 years, and he later married Felicity “Liccy” Crosland.
 

2. A review of the story: 

Lamb to the slaughter is a far-fetched story that revolves around Mary Maloney, the loving wife of respected policeman Patrick Maloney. Life is a paradise for the couple until one day when Patrick announces that he is leaving Mary. Mary kills Patrick and does her best to cover up her crime. Roald Dahl uses tension, surprising contrasts and twists to create an engaging short story.

Tension is an integral technique used by Dahl in "Lamb to the Slaughter" that helps to create a more interesting story. Tension adds the idea of frightening.

Dahl is also clever in the way that he creates tension and engaging by attaching the part when Patrick is sitting with Mary, just before he breaks the news, where the time travels tremendously slow and there is an uncomfortable silence between Mary and Patrick. This shows that there is something not right and that there is tension between the couple. The overall effect of the tension is a key reason for my enjoyment of this story.

The surprising contrasts that Dahl uses throughout the story keep the reader interested in the plot. Dahl builds up images from what different characters say, think and act. These images are then quickly destroyed, making the whole story very ironic. 
Ironically, Patrick is killed by his dinner, and when the policemen are discussing the murder weapon and say, "Probably right under our very noses". When in fact the murder weapon is under their noses and they are eating it and doing so, they get rid of any evidence that may lead to finding the murderer. 
At the start of the story Patrick is described as being a very loving and caring husband from what Mary says, including, "She loved the intent, far look in his eyes". But the reality is that Patrick is rather selfish by deciding to leave his six-month pregnant wife.

This story is full of unexpected twists. The first major twist is when Mary "...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".
This pushes the plot of the story in a completely new direction showing how Mary reacts to the situation. This other side of Mary shows how devious she is and how she can wrap people around her finger, convincing the police that she has no idea about the earlier incidents. There are many other smaller plot twists including the sudden change in Mary's attitude from a loving wife to a cold-hearted murderer. How the plot develops makes the reader want to read on and find out how things will fall into place as the twists eventually make the story fit together nicely.

3. Themes:

Throughout the short story, Mary Maloney is firmly situated in a patriarchal society—that is, a system in which men hold more power than women politically, socially, and economically. Historically, women have been often consigned to the private sphere of domestic life, as they were deemed by men to be intellectually and emotionally unfit for the public sphere outside of family and home life. Men, on the other hand, were able to move through both spheres, enjoying the comforts of domestic life provided by wives and mothers while interacting with the political and economic institutions of the public arena.

Dahl subjects his characters to various reversals in their traditional roles. The most prominent of these role reversals is that of Mary Maloney. By physically attacking her husband, with a club-like weapon no less, Mary subverts gender stereotypes and takes on the traditionally male role of violent attacker and murderer. Her quick thinking and ability to deceive others causes the policemen to sympathize with (and to some extent infantilize) her as if she were a victim, even though she is the murderer.

Much of “Lamb to the Slaughter” is occupied with eating and food. At the beginning of the story, food is closely linked to domesticity and marriage. Mary’s repeated attempts to feed Patrick demonstrate not only her affection for her husband but also the role she plays as a homemaker and housewife. Similarly, Patrick’s refusal to eat Mary’s food is a rejection of that affection and foreshadows his rejection of the domestic life Mary has built around him.

Patrick’s betrayal of his marriage drives the rest of the story’s plot, leading to both his wife’s betrayal and that of his colleagues. When he leaves his wife, Patrick betrays not only the love Mary has for him but also the unborn child she is carrying and their private domestic life together. At the sudden breakdown of her marriage and the world she built around Patrick, Mary commits her betrayal by killing her husband.

4. Discussion points where everybody can contribute:

Grammar: perfect tenses 
Present Perfect : have/has + 3rd column 
Eg: -“I’ve got something to tell you”-
-“ I’ve thought about it a good deal”-

Past perfect: subject pronoun + had + past participle + predicate

Eg: -“She’d become frantic with grief and horror”-
-“And when it was all wrapped and she had paid(...)”-

Future Perfect: will have/shall have + past participle 

Eg: -“ It’ll be cooked just right by now”-

6. Vocabulary analysis with examples from the story and explanation:

Vocabulary: (ways of looking )
-Goggle: look with amazement
 -Examine: observe, check out
-Scrutinize: examine carefully for accuracy
-Gaze: a long fixed look
-Watch: keep one's eyes fixed on something
-Stare: look at something for a long time with the eyes wide open
-Gawk: stare impolitely
-Gape: look at something with one's mouth open
-Scan: look quickly at something without careful reading
-Glance: have a quick look at something
-Glare: stare angrily or fiercely
-Peer: look very carefully, as if not able to see well
 Eg: -“ Now and again she would glance up at the clock(...)”-
-“She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink”-

Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916 to November 23, 1990) was a British author who penned 19 childrens books over his decades-long writing career. In 1953 he published thebest-selling story collection Someone Like You and married actress Patricia Neal. He published the popular book James and the Giant Peach in 1961. In 1964 he released another highly successful work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was later adapted for two films. Over his decades-long writing career, Dahl composed 19 children’s books. Despite their popularity, Dahl’s children’s books have been the subject of some controversy, as critics and parents have balked at their portrayal of children’s harsh revenge on adult wrongdoers. In his defense, Dahl claimed that children have a cruder sense of humor than adults, and that he was merely trying to appeal to his readers. Dahl first established himself as a children’s writer in 1961, when he published the book James and the Giant Peach, a book about a lonely little boy living with his two mean aunts who meets the Old Green Grasshopper and his insect friends on a giant, magical peach. The book met with wide critical and commercial acclaim. Three years after his first children’s book, Dahl published another big winner, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A quirky, solitary businessman, Willy Wonka, has been holed up alone inside his fantastical chocolate factory until he releases five golden tickets inside the wrappers of candy bars. Winners — including the poor little boy Charlie Bucket, who doesn’t have much to eat — are awarded a visit. Some critics have accused Dahl of portraying a racist stereotype with his Oompa-Loompa characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The story is about Mary Maloney, a pregnant woman who admires and take care of his husband Patrick. Everything begins when Patrick arrives home from work, and Mary notices how he was being mean to her and treating her in a very cold and strict way. When Patrick tells her the reason why he’s acting that way (Which involves another woman and him leaving her). Mary at first act as it everything was alright until her true colors are shown, when in a flash she kills him with the leg of a lamb she was going to cook that night. Mary was a very smart woman, and prepared everything to look like as if she wasn’t home when the accident happen, putting the lamb in the oven and going out to talk to one of her neighbors. When she calls the police, they didn’t find anything unusual, but they were very worried cause they didn’t know what the “man” used to kill him. Mary then persuaded them to stay and eat the lamb, making the only piece of evidence that could lead to her disappear.

Jealousy and how Mrs Maloney transformed her love towards her husband in hate and suspicion, when he declared (indirectly in the story) that he loves another person and that he wants to leave her.

 Gender and marriage: This short story is writted in a period of time where the women is doomed to a domestic life, while the men had more social, political and economical power. This theme means that the life of the women revolved around her husband, in contrary, the men had the opportunity to work. Besides, in that time, the women was criticized if they didn´t have a husband or were abandoned.

 Betrayal: Without doubts, the idea of a women killing her husband is a clear symbol of betrayal, in which, Mary, who was the person that should take care of Patrick, finished murder him. We can point the idea that Mr Maloney betrayed his wife with somebody else, however, the story doesn´t gives details about if he did it or not.

Role reversals: In that time, it was really imposible that a women could kill a man,taking into account that a women didn´t do such act of violence, that is why, Mary was a guilty stranger, in which, the policemen had doubts.

1) Do you believe Mary had already plan the murder? What makes you say that?

2) Was Mary lucky to not be discovered? or was it exactly as she planned?

3)what is the significance of the tittle “lamb to the slaughter” in this story?

4) Is the scene at the local grocer an important key to the story?

5) Did Mary feel remorse after killing her husband?

Past perfect continuous: if she went about her business and acted as thought she hadn’t been listening.

 In this case it was used this tense to describe the cause of something in the past before another action.

Past continuous:  she wasn’t really watching at him…. 

In this case this tense was used to describe that someone was doing at a particular time 

Present continuous: but I am taking a chance on it this time 

In this case this tense is used to explain the idea that something is happening at this moment. 

Choke down -PHRASAL VERB -to eat or drink something with difficulty because you do not like it or because you are ill or upset

Chug- VERB- to drink all of something, especially beer, without stopping

Down- VERB- to drink or eat all of something quickly

Drink to -PHRASAL VERB- to wish for health, happiness, or success for someone or something, then lift your glass and drink from it

Drink your fill –PHRASE-to keep eating or drinking until you are not hungry or thirsty any more

Force down -PHRASAL VERB- to eat or drink something even though you do not want to

Glug- VERB -to drink something quickly

Gorge –VERB- to drink so much of something that you cannot eat or drink any more

Gulp –VERB- to swallow drink quickly in a way that shows you are very hungry

Gulp –NOUN- a quick swallow of a large amount of a drink

Guzzle –VERB- to drink a lot quickly and with great enthusiasm

Neck- VERB- to drink something very quickly

Nurse- VERB- if you nurse a drink, you drink it slowly over a period of time

OD –VERB- INFORMALHUMOROUS to drink, or do too much of something

Overdose –VERB- INFORMAL to eat, drink, read, watch etc too much of anything

Put away -PHRASAL VERB- INFORMAL to drink a lot of something

Quaff –VERB- MAINLY LITERARY to drink something quickly or with a lot of enjoyment

Sample- VERB- to taste a small amount of food and drink in order to see what it is like

Sip –VERB-to drink in small amounts

Sip- NOUN- a small amount of liquid taken into your mouth

Slurp- VERB- to make loud sucking noises as you drinks something

Sup –VERB- to drink something slowly taking small sips

Swig –VERB-INFORMAL to drink something from a bottle, can, glass etc carelessly and in large amounts

Throw back- PHRASAL VERB- to drink something quickly, usually swallowing it all at once

Toss back -PHRASAL VERB-to drink something, usually alcohol, quickly, swallowing it all at once

Wash down -PHRASAL VERB- to drink something after putting food or medicine in your mouth, especially so that you can swallow more easily