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Bethany Hermelin

Carter
AP Lit
24 October, 2013
Short Story Analysis of Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
Prompt: How is tone established through symbolism and other literary
devices?
Roald Dahls short story, Lamb to the Slaughter, has an ironic tone.
Symbolism, imagery, and dark humor are used to portray the tone.
Dahl directly uses symbolism to portray irony through the title. A lamb
is a symbol of innocence and peace, and slaughter is a symbol of violence
and guilt. The title is ironic because the two subjects are complete opposites
of each other, but in this story they go hand in hand. The title also is a
symbol of the main character, Mary Maloney. Mary has been a loving,
peaceful and a devoted wife her entire life, but when her husband reveals
some shocking news, Mary slaughters him with a leg of lamb by beating
him in the back of the head with the limb. After Mary kills him, she proceeds
to put the lamb into the oven to cook dinner for the two of them. Mary
decides to go to the grocery store, and when she comes back she calls out
her arrival to her husband and goes upstairs to greet him but finds him dead
Comment [H1]: Times New Roman 12 pt font
Comment [H2]: Word Choice: complete each
other/compliment each other
Comment [H3]: Redundant, take out the a
and starts to sob. She continues to call the police and explain that somebody
must have entered her home while she was away and killed him. Her actions
represent the innocence of a lamb. Even though she committed a violent
crime, she claims to believe she did not commit the crime because she has
been an innocent person her whole life. The title also symbolizes the
husband, Patrick. Patrick comes home after work and has his usual drink. He
had to share some news with his wife, hoping that she would not be angry.
He was too innocent to think that everything would go perfectly, including
his wife not beating him to death.
Dahl also uses imagery to portray irony in the story. When Mary slams
the leg into her husbands head, she decided to dispose of the evidence by
cooking the leg. Dahl writes, She carried the meat into the kitchen, put it
into a pan, turned on the oven, and put the pan inside. Then she washed her
hands, ran upstairs, sat down in front of the mirror, fixed her makeup, and
tried to smile. (Dahl 2). Later on when the police arrive, they searched the
house and decided that if they found the weapon, they would be able to
determine who killed Patrick. Jack Noonan, a family member and coworker
of Patrick, states, Its the old story, get the weapon, and youve got the
murderer. (Dahl 4). The irony is established through the imagery because
the leg was the evidence, but the evidence has been destroyed because it
was cooked and later on eaten, so there will never be a clear murderer.
Comment [H4]: Lambs leg, or limb
Comment [H5]: smile (Dahl 2).
Comment [H6]: remove
Comment [H7]: murderer (Dahl 4).
Comment [H8]: remove
Black humor may be the most significant literary device used in this
short story to establish irony. Thats a big bar the murderer must have
used to hit poor PatrickThats why the weapon should be easy to
findWhoever did it, he cant carry a weapon that big around with
himPersonally, I think the weapon is somewhere near the houseIts
probably right under our noses, and in another room, Mary Maloney began
to laugh. (Dahl 4) The police officers are eating the lamb that Mary had
prepared for them while they are having this conversation. Irony is
established in black humor through this dialogue because the evidence is
literally under the police officers noses, and they end up eating the
evidence. The final sentence describes Mary laughing at the irony of the
situation. That last sentence contains the most black humor in it because of
the irony.
Lamb of the Slaughter is filled with irony through symbolism,
imagery, and dark humor. Roald Dahl successfully made this short story
intense because of irony. Without the irony, symbolism, imagery, and dark
humor, the short story would be uneventful and Dahl would not be as
successful as he is. The literary devices also keep the story upbeat and
interesting.
Comment [H9]: laugh (Dahl 4).
Comment [H10]: Add another paragraph and
add to the thesis statement about TONE. The tone is
ironic and fast paced.

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