Mary had a baby coming and she couldn't be more in LOVE with her husband, the detective, Patrick who one night, like any other, Mary was waiting for him to come and punctual as always, she heard the car parking and then her husband came in. Mary greeted him, poured him a scotch, Patrick finished his drink and then he told her that he was leaving her for another woman. Mary, who was so in love, said that he was too tired and they will have dinner at home which was unusual because they normally ate Thursdays outside, the shock of the news got Mary to simply turn around and go to get a leg of lamb from the cold room but when she came back, Mary did not know what she was doing and all of a sudden she hit her husband on the head with the leg of lamb which killed him. Mary needed an alibi because of the situation she was in, Mary acted normal with the salesman when she went out for groceries and then she walked home. When she arrived, Mary had already been thinking about how she would act but then seeing her husband on the floor but when it did happen it made her, without need for an act, neel besides him and cry. After her allarming phonecall to the police, they arrived and because of Patrick's job, Mary Maloney knew many of the detectives that came in. Then, she told the police her alibi which was then verified by Sam, the grocery worker. Then, the police were talking and agreing that there was no way Mary had done it. Mary had a plan, after realizing the lamb was on the oven she asked one by one to the detectives and police to have a drink and even though it was against the rules they were so tired that everyone got a drink. Then the lamb was ready and she begged for them to eat it with the excuse that she was too in shock to eat and if they didn't then the lamb would go to waste. They all ate the lamb and as they were finishing someone said that the weapon had to be there, probably right under their noses so Mary giggled in the other room. |
| The detectives eating lamb, asking where the weapon is while it is on their plates. |
In this story the author, Roald Dahl, makes an imagery example that enhanced the story. He gives the example when Mr. Maloney came in and how Mary felt of her husband being next to her.
" She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel-almost as a sunbather feels the sun-that warm male glow that came out of him to her when
they were alone together. " (Dahl 1)
In this quote Roald Dahl was trying to make his point clearer through examples. This part of the story was another way of saying that Mary felt safe around Patrick, warm. She felt protected by the "warm male glow". Mary was truly in love and after spending all day long alone, seeing her husband was a moment to relax and to enjoy. She could feel that Patrick had a way to make everyone around him stable, safe, in peace. I think it is because of his job as detective that he would eminate this warmth, but when he was around Mary it was different... or at least that is what Ms Maloney thought before he left her. The example described here talks about the powerful love that this woman had and even though her husband was never home, she still loved him so very much. Mr Maloney felt the love as a warm sun that touches the skin of the sunbather.
Mary Maloney really loved her husband. She loved him more than anything in the world and that is why she killed him, out of jealousy. In a way, Mary did feel mournings for Patrick and on the story when she went to get an alibi and returned home prepared to act as if she just found out the detective Patrick was dead she felt sorrow.
"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. All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her, and she ran over to him, knelt down beside him, and began to cry her heart out. It was easy. No acting was necessary."
From this quote I learned that Mary was probably mentally deranged. At first, she loved her husband and she needed him to survive. She needed him like a man needs water. Then, when she found out that her husband was cheating on her she acted in one of the few natural ways a woman would handle the situation. By ignoring it at first, she went to get dinner and all of a sudden her brain did something not only wrong and dumb but also something that in my opinion, only crazy people do. She killed her husband, she hit him really hard on the back of his head. But on this part of the story we do understand that love makes you do things you normally don't expect to do. It is good up to a certain point because killing someone out of love is madness but doing some thing cute that shows how you feel about someone else is very good. Like on the movie "easy A".
"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. All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her, and she ran over to him, knelt down beside him, and began to cry her heart out. It was easy. No acting was necessary."
From this quote I learned that Mary was probably mentally deranged. At first, she loved her husband and she needed him to survive. She needed him like a man needs water. Then, when she found out that her husband was cheating on her she acted in one of the few natural ways a woman would handle the situation. By ignoring it at first, she went to get dinner and all of a sudden her brain did something not only wrong and dumb but also something that in my opinion, only crazy people do. She killed her husband, she hit him really hard on the back of his head. But on this part of the story we do understand that love makes you do things you normally don't expect to do. It is good up to a certain point because killing someone out of love is madness but doing some thing cute that shows how you feel about someone else is very good. Like on the movie "easy A".
On this scene of the movie the characters gave a romantic gesture that was innocent and on the story "Lamb to the Slaughter" the wife commited a crime because she felt hurt. There are many ways to express our emotions but, in my opinion, on the story it was a way that only psicopaths try like Ms. Mary Maloney.
Overall, I think that through this story we learn many things. Roald Dahl teaches us about reactions. This means that we should always think before we act. This was an entertaining and suspensive story for me that I really enjoyed.
Works Cited
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