Directions​: ​While reading or after reading the text, stop to respond to and discuss 

the questions, continually using ​evidence ​from the text to support your responses.  
 
1. At the beginning of the text, how does Dahl describe Mary’s characteristics? 
What textual evidence does the author use to describe Mary and her house in 
order to achieve this effect? 
 
 
 
 
2. Describe Patrick’s characteristics. What textual evidence does the author use to 
describe him in order to achieve this effect?  
 
 
 
 
 
3. Dahl describes the husband’s glass of whiskey and ice several times. How is it 
described? Why do you think he focuses on this object? Cite textual evidence 
to support your analysis. 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Describe the ways that Patrick’s demeanor and comments change Mary. Why 
does Mary undergo these changes? Use textual evidence to prove the effect 
Patrick’s comments have on Mary’s actions.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. How does Mary’s behavior at the grocery shop contradict what has happened 
earlier in the story? 
 
 
 
 
6. Reread the paragraph that begins, “And now, she told herself as she hurried 
back…” This paragraph starts off with a long sentence. How does the structure 
of the sentence reflect her thinking at that moment? 
 
 
 
 
7. The police officers do not suspect Mary for the murder. How does her 
behavior play a role in ensuring this doesn’t happen?   
 
 
 
 
8. What happens to the murder weapon? How does Dahl assure his readers 
understand the irony of this event? Cite evidence from the story that 
foreshadows this event. 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Notice how the lighting changes during the course of the text. Cite evidence 
to show how the lighting has changed. How does this change in imagery 
reflect the changing character of Mary? Cite textual evidence to support 
your opinion. 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Why does Dahl title this story “Lamb to the Slaughter?” Who is the “lamb” in the 
story? Who, or what, is being “slaughtered”? 

 
  
 
  
Directions​: ​While reading or after reading the text, stop to respond to and discuss 
the questions, continually using ​evidence ​from the text to support your responses.  
 
1. At the beginning of the text, how does Dahl describe Mary’s characteristics? 
What textual evidence does the author use to describe Mary and her house in 
order to achieve this effect? 
Dahl describes Mary as a sweet, pregnant housewife, who is happily counting the 
minutes until her husband comes home from work. To describe Mary, he uses 
words such as “curiously peaceful” and “calm.” As soon as her husband returns 
home, she jumps up to greet him, take his coat, and prepare him a drink. In terms 
of her home, there is description of a clock, drinks prepared, and many images of 
warmth and comfort. The description makes the house seem like a comfortable 
place, so much so that Mary recognizes the normal, everyday sounds of her 
husband’s car pulling into the driveway, and it seems like this is a normal, 
pleasant expectation in the Maloney household. Mary seems happy and innocent.  
 
2. Describe Patrick’s characteristics. What textual evidence does the author use to 
describe him in order to achieve this effect?  
When Patrick enters the home, he seems automatically detached from his wife. 
She calls him darling, but he never refers to her with these same terms of 
endearment. He also is quick to accept a drink and says he is tired. The constant 
references to the ice in the whiskey drink seems to heighten the icy tension 
between the two from the start. While Mary attempts to cater to her husband, he 
seems harsh and unattached, creating an interesting opposition to the soft, 
accommodating woman and the rough, frustrated husband.  
 
3. Dahl describes the husband’s glass of whiskey and ice several times. How is it 
described? Why do you think he focuses on this object? Cite textual evidence 
to support your analysis. 
The ice in the story seems to amplify the icy tension in the room between the 
couple. It’s clear that this scene is not comfortable for either, as accentuated 
through the only sounds in the room being the ice as Patrick drains his glass of 
whiskey.  
 
 
 
 
4. Describe the ways that Patrick’s demeanor and comments change Mary. Why 
does Mary undergo these changes? Use textual evidence to prove the effect 
Patrick’s comments have on Mary’s actions.  
After draining his drink, Mary becomes adamant about taking care of her 
husband. A comment that seems to rattle her most is when he repeats for her to 
“sit down.” He then follows this with the ominous remark that he has something to 
tell her, he knows it is going to be a big shock, and that he would take care of 
her. Dahl says that Mary stares at her husband with a “puzzled horror,” which 
seems to be a bit of a changing point for her. Mary goes from the frazzled wife 
trying to serve her husband to a woman who responds with only a whisper about 
making lamb from the freezer. While the audience never knows what he told her, 
it’s clear that Patrick seems to be leaving her in some capacity. However, she’s still 
focused on dinner, probably because her shock doesn’t allow her to think about 
much else. What seems to be a breaking point for her is when she is walking 
through the living room with the dinner to prepare for him, and he says to her, 
“‘I've already told you,’ he said. ‘Don't make supper for me. I'm going out.’” At this 
point, Mary hits her husband, as if all of her frustration comes to a literal head.  
 
5. How does Mary’s behavior at the grocery shop contradict what has happened 
earlier in the story? 
Many students struggle with understanding whether Mary “snaps” or whether her 
attack was premeditated. When Mary practices talking to the grocer in the 
mirror, students are confused. But then, when she goes to the grocery store, we 
see a totally different side to Mary. She no longer appears to be an innocent, 
sweet housewife, but instead a calculated woman who is attempting to obtain an 
alibi. She talks with the grocer about simple things like potatoes and how to 
prepare the lamb like it’s just another day. She even orders cheesecake, because 
it’s her husband’s favorite….but he’s dead. It is jarring how quickly Mary seems to 
transform from a housewife who only seems to care about her husband to a 
woman who has killed her husband, without even a thought of remorse or to call 
for help, and wants to come out on the other side of this situation unscathed.  
 
6. Reread the paragraph that begins, “And now, she told herself as she hurried 
back…” This paragraph starts off with a long sentence. How does the structure 
of the sentence reflect her thinking at that moment? 
While Mary had it together at the grocery store, she seems to take an out of sight, 
out of mind approach to her husband’s death. But now that she is returning home, 
Mary seems to realize that she is returning to a dead husband. She is not ready to 
cope with this and also wants to appear to have an authentic response to finding 
her husband. It’s almost like Mary is trying to convince herself that she has not 
done anything and is psyching herself up for having to see her husband in this 
state once again. The long structure of the sentence seems to keep her focused 
by not allowing her mind to wander to what she has actually done.  
 
7. The police officers do not suspect Mary for the murder. How does her 
behavior play a role in ensuring this doesn’t happen?   
Mary is crying uncontrollably, which automatically makes the men sympathetic to 
her. It seems pretty clear that the men really don’t even consider her as a suspect 
after talking to the grocer, since she was acting “normal.” The policemen even say  
 
 
 
  
if they get the ​man​, they will get the weapon. It doesn’t even seem that the men 
consider that a woman could do such a horrible thing, which seems reflective of 
the time period and expectations of women to be sweet, docile wives. The 
policemen are quick to let her cater to them, and Jack Noonan even suggests 
that Mary could stay with his wife. She is sweet and kind, helping to reinforce that 
she could never be capable of killing her husband.  
 
8. What happens to the murder weapon? How does Dahl assure his readers 
understand the irony of this event? Cite evidence from the story that 
foreshadows this event. 
Mary Maloney encourages the men to eat the lamb. In fact, she guilts them into 
doing so by saying that it would be a favor to eat the meat and that Patrick 
would expect her to extend this sort of hospitality. The men are quick to accept 
the food and feel good about offering this sense of comfort to the grieving wife. 
Once again, we see Mary’s calculated nature, but it’s hard to feel bad for the 
men who are so oblivious. This heightens the irony of the story, because we don’t 
expect the policemen to destroy the only real evidence connecting Mary to the 
crime. The men also appear arrogant by saying how the weapon should be easy 
to find and that it should be right under their noses, so it’s hard to feel too bad 
for them. When Mary offers the men whiskey prior to encouraging them to eat the 
meat, it seems clear that she has a plan in mind and that the men may have 
lower inhibitions to go against whatever she may be scheming.  
 
9. Notice how the lighting changes during the course of the text. Cite evidence 
to show how the lighting has changed. How does this change in imagery 
reflect the changing character of Mary? Cite textual evidence to support 
your opinion. 
The story begins by saying how the house is alight from inside. After her husband 
tells her the big news, it says she goes down to the cold refrigerator and turns on 
the lone light in the basement. After killing her husband, Mary walks into the dark 
to the grocery store that is lit up. She walks home in the dark to her dead 
husband. When the policemen arrive, she keeps seeing their flashlights through the 
curtains outside, but by the end, the heat and light from the oven seems to fill the 
house once again. It seems that when Mary is acting as her cheerful, housewife 
self, the heat and light is accentuated. When Mary is in her cold-hearted self, this 
is reflected through the cold, dark imagery throughout.  
 

10. Why does Dahl title this story “Lamb to the Slaughter?” Who is the “lamb” in the 
story? Who, or what, is being “slaughtered”? 

This title is so awesome, because it has more than one meaning. From the 
beginning, Mary appears to be the innocent lamb. But instead, her husband is the 
one who is unexpectedly killed in the beginning of the story. While many feel 
Patrick isn’t necessarily an innocent character, he does not realize that he is going 
to be slaughtered by his own wife, making him a lamb who is led to his own 
slaughter. Others also argue that Mary was a lamb in the beginning, but that by 
the end, she too has been slaughtered internally. She was innocent, but was 
destroyed by whatever her husband revealed to her. Her innocent nature was 
slaughtered, so by the end, she is no longer a lamb.