Feminism In Roald Dahl's Lamb To The Slaughter

Women Deserve More
Since the 1800’s women were always set to lower standards than men and this started to become realized as a problem during the Civil War. It was finally after when African Americans won their freedom and citizenships when women wanted to be treated equally as well. Finally, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified and women were given the right to vote. This was the beginning of the feminist movement. Feminism is the advocacy for women’s rights and their yearning to be equal to men. The application of Feminism within: “Honor to Us All”, “I Hear America Singing”, and “Lamb to the Slaughter” reveal that women are expected to follow through with their stereotypical roles in society of being the beautiful housewife, or the baby

“Lamb to the Slaughter”, is about a wife named Mary Maloney, who murdered her husband Patrick after receiving unfortunate news. All men believed that a woman could not overtake and murder a man. “It’s the old story,” he said. “Get the weapon, and you’ve got the man” (Dahl 7). The pronoun ‘man’ was used in this line to say that only a man could have killed Patrick. This is important and ties back to feminism because they state that women are less of men and could not overtake them. When detectives asked her questions, she stated her alibi and an officer went to the grocer. The grocer stated, “...acted quite normal… very cheerful...wanted to give him a good supper...peas...cheesecake...impossible that she…” (Dahl 7). The officers never suspected it was her because she was a woman. This ties back to feminism because women are seen to be too innocent and ‘fragile’ to do any act that is unexpected. Also, women were looked to be weaker and were seen differently than men.The text “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl is an excellent example to show feminism that mainly focused on how women are too innocent to do anything

After analyzing the song “Honor to us All”, we can see that the women are judged on looks and not personality. An investigation of “I Hear America Singing” it is revealed that only men could get an education to go to work and provide for their families while the women are restricted to housework; unequal superiority based on gender. Finally, the analysis of the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, women are not suspected to do anything because they are too innocent. These are examples of everyday life for women. Women are always judged based on their looks and not their character and personality. Women have unfair disadvantages compared to men, and always have to fight for equal rights. The feminist movement began in the 1800’s and still continues today to fight for women’s rights. It is the goal and hope that one day, women would be treated equally to