Lamb To The Slaughter

“The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight—hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the thermos bucket.”

The story’s opening lines establish the setting—a well-kept middle-class home—and introduce the theme of Food, Drink, and Domesticity. The inviting touches to the room (the drawn curtains and the glowing lamps) illustrate Mary’s efforts to create a sanctuary for her husband to return to. Meanwhile, the twinning of objects (two lamps, chairs, and glasses) indicates this is a home designed for a couple. The combination of these elements suggests an atmosphere of domestic bliss, one that Dahl quickly subverts with the arrival of Mary’s husband.

“There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of the head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin—for this was her sixth month with child—had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger, darker than before.”

This physical description of Mary presents her as the stereotypical feminine ideal. Her “slow smiling air” and “tranquil” posture demonstrate contentment in her domestic role. The “translucent quality” of her skin reflects the glow of pregnancy, evoking the archetype of the Madonna. Her “soft” mouth and “placid look” suggest gentleness and submissiveness. By associating Mary Maloney with these qualities at the beginning of the story, Dahl makes her transformation into a murderer all the more unexpected.

“She wasn’t really watching him but she knew what he had done because she heard the ice cubes falling back against the bottom of the empty glass when he lowered his arm.”

The speed with which Mr. Maloney drinks his first whiskey betrays his nervous state, foreshadowing the bad news he is about to break to his wife.