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Lamb To The Slaughter Questions

This document provides 15 questions about the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl. The questions probe various aspects of the story's plot, characters, themes and tone. They ask about the title's implications, Mary Maloney's relationship with her husband, clues foreshadowing the evening's events, her reactions and creation of an alibi after murdering her husband, and whether her actions seem believable or normal. The final questions analyze dramatic irony in the ending and whether her crime could be considered justified.

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1K views2 pages

Lamb To The Slaughter Questions

This document provides 15 questions about the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl. The questions probe various aspects of the story's plot, characters, themes and tone. They ask about the title's implications, Mary Maloney's relationship with her husband, clues foreshadowing the evening's events, her reactions and creation of an alibi after murdering her husband, and whether her actions seem believable or normal. The final questions analyze dramatic irony in the ending and whether her crime could be considered justified.

Uploaded by

api-233605818
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Questions for "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl

Answer each question on a separate sheet of paper using complete sentences and fully
explaining your answer. You do not have to copy the sentences.

1. What sort of story does the title lead us to expect?

2. What does the first paragraph of the story suggest about Mary Maloney’s
relationship with her husband?

3. What do we learn about Mary Maloney in the second paragraph?

4. What sort of household do we imagine the Maloney home to be? How does Dahl
evoke a homely atmosphere and why is the sense of domestic peace recalled at the
end of the tale?

5. Before the husband breaks the news, what three clues are there that this particular
evening is going to be a break with routine?

6. What does Mr. Maloney announce? What reaction would you expect from Mrs.
Maloney?

7. Do you think the murder was "premeditated" or a "crime of passion"?

8. Are Mrs. Maloney’s reactions and actions after the murder believable? How are
we first informed that she is planning to establish an alibi, and what is that alibi to
be?

9. How does Mary Maloney create the alibi?

10. Is it reasonable that the policemen should be fooled by what she says (remember
she is a policeman’s wife) or do you find the whole thing rather unlikely?

11. Do you find Mary Maloney to be very cunning?

12. Why does the writer concentrate on such detail as "their voices thick and sloppy
because their mouths were full of meat"?
13. This story ends with dramatic irony. Explain the dramatic irony?

14. Mrs. Maloney commits what her lawyer might call "a crime of passion". Does
that justify her crime and what would your verdict be if you were a jury member
at her trial?

15. Do you think Mary Maloney is a "normal" person? Did she react in a normal
way? Why or why not?

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