“Lamb to the Slaughter,” by Roald Dahl



“Lamb to the Slaughter,” by Roald Dahl

Discussion Questions

1. Fill out a character wheel character analysis for Mary Maloney.

Character Wheel

A Graphic Organizer for Character Analysis

2. Fill out a character wheel for Patrick Maloney.

Character Wheel

A Graphic Organizer for Character Analysis

3. Draw inferences about what Patrick Maloney tells his devoted pregnant wife.

|What do we KNOW about what Patrick tells Mary? (There is clear |What do we NOT KNOW about what Patrick tells Mary? (There’s not |

|textual support for each of these conclusions.) |enough textual support to confirm or contradict these |

| |hypotheses.) |

| | |

|-He will give her money and see that she is looked after. |-Why is Patrick leaving? |

| |-Does he not want the baby? |

|-He doesn’t think the news is a big deal |-Is there someone else? |

|-“…there needn’t be any fuss” |-Will he still be involved in Mary’s life? The baby’s life? |

| | |

4. What does Patrick Maloney say to Mary that causes her to snap, bring the frozen leg of lamb down on the back of his head?

Patrick tells his wife that he will be leaving her.

5. Is Mary Maloney’s murder of her husband premeditated or spontaneous? Explain your answer.

Mary’s murder of her husband is premeditated because it was not a thought out, developed plan. Upon hearing the news from her husband, “…everything was automatic now…” She was in a state of shock when she swung the leg of lamb over her husband’s head.

6. What is Mary Maloney’s motive for trying to get away with murder?

Page 4 of the text, paragraph 3. After murdering her husband, Mary accepts her actions. However, once she starts thinking about it, she does not know what would happen to her child. Would it be taken? Killed? Jailed with her?

7. Why does Mary Maloney go to the grocery to shop for a meal she does not plan to serve?

She goes to the storie so that she can have an alibi for the murder of her husband.

8. How can you account for Mary Maloney’s shock and grief when she returns home to find Patrick’s body on the floor?

She believed that she was serving dinner when she came home, so when she saw her husband lying on the floor, she was in shock and emotionally responded by bawling and hysterically crying.

Hint: Before answering #8, CONNECT: Is it easy to believe something that turns your world upside down – a shocking new reality that replaces the world as you knew it? Does it seem like a dream at first? If you’ve had an experience like this, give an example.

9. How does Mary Maloney get the police to help her dispose of the murder weapon?

She serves them the leg of lamb for dinner, thus disposing of any evidence that the police could connect to the murder.

10. Fill in the blanks from the policemen’s dinner conversation which closes the story.

One of them belched.

“Personally, I think [the murder weapon is] right here on the premises.”

“Probably right under our very _____noses______. Want do you think, Jack?”

And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to _______giggle_________.

11. Why do you think Roald Dahl made Patrick Maloney a policeman instead of an architect or a banker, for instance?

Contributes to the irony of the piece.

Hint - Break this down into two questions:

a. How is being a detective’s wife a help to Mary Maloney?

She knows how crimes are treated/investigated; she is able to identify the loopholes in the system.

b. How does the fact that the detectives knew both Patrick and Mary Maloney affect their investigation?

They were “kind” to her the entire time during the investigation. They might not be able to look at the investigation objectively.

12. Roald Dahl means for his readers to identify with Mary Maloney, to be on her side, and to giggle with her while the investigators munch on the murder weapon. List strategies Dahl uses to make Mary Maloney a sympathetic character (and Patrick Maloney an unsympathetic one)?

➢ Mary is pregnant and her husband is leaving her.

➢ She is a loving, dedicated, and devoted wife; while her husband is portrayed as coldhearted, unkind, and uncaring.

➢ She is portrayed as the victim the entire time.

13. Does Dahl’s strategy work for you? Did you want Mary to get away with her husband’s murder? Why or why not?

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What is character’s PROBLEM?

What

are character’s

QUALITIES?

What

does character

WANT?

What are character’s BIG IDEAS?

What are character’s FEARS?

CHARACTER

CTER

What does character VALUE?

Mary Maloney

What is character’s PROBLEM?

What

are character’s

QUALITIES?

What

does character

WANT?

What are character’s BIG IDEAS?

What are character’s FEARS?

CHARACTER

CTER

What does character VALUE?

Patrick Maloney

She can’t get caught for her husband’s murder; she needs to get away with the crime.

To stay happily married/together with her husband.

Caring, loving, genuine, kind, obsessive.

She will be caught for the crime; her child will go to jail/killed/taken from her

Protagonist/Major

-Pregnant

-Husband is leaving her when she is six months pregnant

Child

Marriage

Relationship with husband

He doesn’t know how his wife is going to handle the news of the divorce; as a result, he dies.

He wants a divorce/ to leave his wife.

Selfish, self-centered, cold, heartless, unemotional, distant from his wife

That his wife’s reaction to his news will impact his job/rank at work.

-Murdered by his own wife

-Doesn’t seem invested/interested in his wife/marriage anymore

-Reputation

-Job

-Money

-Rank at work.

Minor

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