Transcript Slide 1
Author Roald Dahl ◦ 1916-1990 ◦ British Novelist ◦ 5 Children Wrote for adults and children Wrote: ◦ James and the Giant Peach ◦ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory What is Mary Maloney doing when the story begins? What is Patrick Maloney’s reaction to his wife’s attentative behavior when he gets home? What can we assume that Mr. Maloney’s tells his wife? What is her initial reaction to the news? What does she decide to cook? When Mrs. Maloney returns upstairs with the frozen meat, what does she do? At this point after the murder, what is her primary concern? How does Mrs. Maloney establish an alibi? In your opinion, when Mrs. Maloney returns home and “finds” her husband dead on the floor, are her tears real? How does Mrs. Maloney manipulate the police? What is the most important aspect of Mrs. Maloney’s manipulation. Does Mrs. Maloney get away with murder? ABSOLUTELY! The police officers eat the only piece of evidence! Plot Exposition Climax ◦ The quiet home ◦ Detective points out lamb is cooking in oven. ◦ Mary sewing Falling Action Narrative Hook ◦ Detectives eating the ◦ Patrick leaving lamb. Mary Resolution Rising Action ◦ Detectives eating the ◦ Mary hitting evidence. Patrick over the head with a leg of ◦ Mary giggling lamb Point of View “Lamb to the Slaughter” Narration 3rd Person Limited -Mary is telling the story Conflict Internal ◦Needs to save unborn child External ◦Mary vs. Patrick ◦Mary vs. Detectives Characters Mary ◦ Protagonist ◦ Wife ◦ Murderer Patrick ◦ Husband ◦ Detective ◦ Victim Jack Noonan ◦ Detective O'Malley ◦ Detective Sam ◦ The grocer ◦ Alibi Mary Maloney’s Identity Mary Maloney’s identity changes throughout the story. What are her two identities? When does she change from one to the other? Critical Evaluation To what extent did Roald Dahl make you feel sympathetic towards the character of Mary Maloney in his short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” ? Sympathy for Mary – Key Points ♠ Her obvious ability as a homemaker. ♠ Her appearance ♠ Her pregnancy ♠ Her love for her husband ♠ The way she looks after him ♠ Patrick’s cold manner ♠ His decision to leave her particularly while pregnant ♠ The callous /selfish way he tells her. ♠ Her concern for her unborn child. ♠ Sympathy about her nightmarish situation ♠ Admiration for her presence of mind (alibi / getting rid of the murder weapon) Unsympathetic Characteristics of Mary Maloney – Key Points ♦ Too “smothering” of Patrick ♦ Doesn’t seem to listen to him properly. ♦ Lives only to serve him – doormat? ♦ Violently kills Patrick ♦ Deliberately sets out to decieve police (alibi / murder weapon) ♦ Begins to giggle Indirect Characterization shows things that reveal the Speech personality of a character. There are five different methods of Thoughts indirect characterization: What does the character say? How does the character speak? What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and feelings? Effect on What is revealed through the others character’s effect on other toward people? How do other the characters feel or behave in character. reaction to the character? Actions What does the character do? How does the character behave? Looks What does the character look like? How does the character dress? Direct Characterization tells the audience what the personality of the character is. Example: “The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.” Explanation: The author is directly telling the audience the personality of these two children. The boy is “patient” and the girl is “quiet.” Literary Focus Irony: Detective’s actually eat the evidence they are looking for. The three types of irony Dramatic irony - A situation in which the audience knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know Dramatic Irony: This occurs when the audience knows what is going to happen to the character but the character does not. Verbal irony - A contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant (Sarcasm). “Fine day for a picnic” – said during a rain storm Situational irony - A contradiction of expectation between what might be expected and what actually occurs often connected to a fatalistic or pessimistic view of life Dark Humor Dark humor is the use of the grotesque, morbid, or absurd for darkly comic purposes. Dark humor became widespread in popular culture, especially in literature and film, beginning in the 1950s; it remains popular toward the end of the twentieth century. Dark Humor The image of the cheerful housewife suddenly smashing her husband’s skull with the frozen joint of meat intended for his dinner is itself darkly humorous for its unexpectedness and the grotesque incongruity of the murder weapon. Dark Humor There is a morbid but funny double meaning, too, in Mary’s response to her grocer’s question about meat: “I’ve got meat, thanks. I got a nice leg of lamb from the freezer.” Dark Humor She did indeed get a leg of lamb from the freezer, and after she used it as a club, she found herself with a rather large portion of dead meat on her living-room floor. Dark Humor Also darkly funny is the grocer’s question about what she plans to give her husband “afterwards,” that is, for dessert. From Mary’s point of view, Patrick has already gotten his “just desserts,” and there will be no more “afterwards” for him! Dark Humor The ultimate example of dark humor in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is, of course, the spectacle of the policemen and detectives sitting around the Maloney kitchen table, speculating about the murder weapon while they unwittingly devour it. Setting The setting is symbolic: Its domestic primness implies Mary’s having bought into a rather boring version of middle class happiness. Symbols The frozen leg of lamb is also symbolic and indeed constitutes the central symbol of the story. The piece of meat is already a token of violence: an animal traditionally viewed as meek and gentle slaughtered for carnivorous consumption. Symbols The notion of a lamb, moreover, resonates with biblical symbols, such as the scapegoat mentioned in Leviticus, the ram that substitutes for Isaac in the tale of Abraham and Isaac, or Jesus himself, “the Lamb of God.” But Dahl’s story reverses the connotation of these biblical images. Themes BETRAYAL Patrick Maloney’s unexplained decision to leave his pregnant wife. This violation of the marriage-vow is obviously not the only betrayal in the story, however. Mary’s killing of her husband is perhaps the ultimate betrayal. Her elaborately planned alibi and convincing lies to the detectives also constitute betrayal. Themes IDENTITY At the level of popular psychology, Dahl makes it clear through his description of the Maloney household that Mary has internalized the middle class ideal of a young mid-twentieth-century housewife, maintaining a tidy home and catering to her husband; pouring drinks when the man finishes his day is a gesture that comes from movies and magazines of the day. IDENTITY Mary’s sudden murderous action shatters the image that we have of her and that she seems to have of herself. Dahl demonstrates, in the deadly fall of the frozen joint, that “identity” can be fragile. IDENTITY Once she shatters her own identity, Mary must carefully reconstruct it for protective purposes, as when she sets up an alibi by feigning a normal conversation with the grocer. IDENTITY Dahl appears to suggest that, in essence, human beings are fundamentally nasty and brutish creatures capable of precipitate and bloody acts. IDENTITY Then there are the police detectives, who pride themselves on their ability to solve a crime, but whom Mary sweetly tricks into consuming the main exhibit. Their identity, or at least their competency, is thrown into doubt. Themes LOVE AND PASSION At the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mary Maloney feels love and physical passion for her husband Patrick. She luxuriates in his presence, in the “warm male glow that came out of him to her,” and adores the way he sits, walks, and behaves. LOVE AND PASSION Even far along into her pregnancy, she hurries to greet him, and waits on him hand and foot — much more attentively, it appears from his reactions, than he would like. LOVE AND PASSION Patrick is presumably motivated to leave his wife by an overriding passion for something or someone else. Mary’s mention of his failure to advance at work, and his own wish that she not make a “fuss” about their separation because “It wouldn’t be very good for my job” indicate that it may be professional success that he desires. His treatment of his wife does not suggest that he loves her. Themes PASSIVITY The concept of passivity figures in the story. The first pages of the story portray Mary’s existence as almost mindlessly passive: she sits and watches the clock, thinking that each minute brings her husband closer to her. PASSIVITY She is content to watch him closely and try to anticipate his moods and needs. Patrick’s predictability up to this point is part of this passivity. The two are living a clockwork life against which, in some way, each ultimately rebels. Passivity appears as the repression of passion, and passion finds a way to reassert itself. Themes JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE The question of justice and injustice is directly related to the question of revenge. “Lamb to the Slaughter” narrates a train of injustices, beginning with Patrick’s betrayal of Mary and their marriage, peaking with Mary’s killing of Patrick, and finding its denouement in Mary’s deception of the investigating officers. JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE Patrick acts unjustly (or so it must be assumed on the basis of the evidence) in announcing his abandonment of Mary, for this breaks the wedding oath; Mary acts unjustly, in a way far exceeding her husband’s injustice, in killing Patrick, and she compounds the injustice by concealing it from the authorities. Ambiguity Offers us a choice of more than one meaning or interpretation. Ambiguity keeps us guessing, wondering, and reflecting Objective Write a paragraph (7-9 sentences) in response to one of the following prompts. Be sure to structure your paragraph properly. ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Topic Sentence Quotes Analysis REMEMBER to write a P.E.E. Paragraph Transitions Prompt #1 Is Mrs. Maloney a psychopath or is she a normal woman driven to desperate measures? Prompt #2 Think about the title of the story. How does the title connect to the story? Who is the lamb? Based on your answer, what does this tell us about the main character? Prompt #3 What statement does the author seem to be making about man's capacity for violence?