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Research Paper On Lamb To The Slaughter

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“Lamb to the Slaughter” Essay In Ronald Dahl's short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Patrick Maloney tells Mary Maloney, his pregnant wife, that he has decided to leave her. This betrayal turned Mrs. Maloney, a perfect wife and soon to be mother, into a cunning murderer. Throughout the rest of the short story, Mrs. Maloney effortlessly gets away with her murder. This short story conveys a drastic trial of changes in emotions between both Mary and Patrick Maloney. At the beginning of the short story, Mary Maloney patiently waits for Patrick Maloney to arrive home. Her thoughts were filled with Mr. Maloney. She loved him with such passion, that even his presence made her happy. In the short story she exclaimed, “she loved to luxuriate in the presences of this man, and to feel-almost as a sunbather feels that sun-that make glow that came out of him to her when they were alone together” (Dahl, 1). Patrick was the only man in the world to mary. When with him, Mary was happy. Next, …show more content…

Maloney's news, Mary was sent into a wave of disbelief. This eventually turned into shock and anger. Mary could not believe the news at first, so she did what she would normally do. She began dinner. As Mary carried the lamb leg to the kitchen her mindset changed. Mary takes the lamb leg with all her force and swings it to the back of Patrick's head and kill him. This was so unexpected because we knew Mary loved Patrick so much that the readers believed she would never want to hurt him. In the story, she thought. “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head… All right, she told herself. So i’ve killed him” (Dahl, 2-3). This quote portrays that Mrs. Maloney had no longer felt the same as she did before. After she snapped back to reality, all Mary said was that she killed him. She felt no remorse, and she just felt

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Mary Maloney is a very loving and devoted house wife and mother-to-be. Though her dream of having the perfect American family was destroyed by the bewildering news of Patrick choosing another women over Mary and their child. Innocent is all Mary Maloney is, due to her indistinct state of mind caused by her heinous husband’s decision to desert her and her child while she is unable to control her emotions due to her being pregnant. Mary is not guilty of murder instead innocent due to diminished capacity.

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