1.8: Setting the Stage (Pg.

46-51)
Learning Targets
 Use telling details to gain insights into the main character's emotional state.
 Analyze the text for different ways the author builds suspense.

Objective: In this lesson, you will read the first half of a short story and find telling
details that allow you to delve into the main character’s mind.
DEFINE:
SUSPENSE:

TENSION:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, and
screenwriter. However, before all of this, he was a World War II fighter pilot—and it
may be this experience that he had to thank for the start of his literary career.
Surprisingly, he didn't always think of himself as a writer, and he may not have
become one if C. S. Forester, a writer for the Saturday Evening Post, had not asked to
interview him about his flying adventures during the war. Dahl found it difficult to order
his thoughts for the interview and asked if he could send Forester some notes about
what happened instead. Forester agreed—and then sent what Dahl wrote directly to
the Saturday Evening Post's editors, who in turn sent Dahl $1,000 for the right to
publish them as a story. Over the years following, Dahl became a prolific and well-
paid writer. Although his best-known works include children's novels, such
as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl also wrote daories for adults.
AS YOU READ:

 Highlight places that reveal Mary’s emotions.

 Underline unfamiliar words and phrases.
Short Story: “LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER” (part 1) BY ROALD DAHL,
1 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.

2 Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work.

3 Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each
minute gone by made it nearer the time when he could come. 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.

4 When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few moments later, punctually as always, she heard
the tires on the gravel outside, and the car door slamming, the footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock.
She laid aside her sewing, stood up, and went forward to kiss him as he came in.

5 “Hallo, darling,” she said.

6 “Hallo,” he answered.
7 She took his coat and hung it in the closet. Then she walked over and made the drinks, a strongish one for him, a weak
one for herself and soon she was back again in her chair with the sewing, and he in the other, opposite, holding the tall
glass with both his hands, rocking it so the ice cubes tinkled against the side.

8 For her, this was always a blissful time of day. She knew he didn't want to speak much until the first drink was finished,
and she, on her side, was content to sit quietly, enjoying his company after the long hours alone in the house. She loved
to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel—almost as a sunbather feels the sun—that warm male glow that
came out of him to her when they were alone together. She loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he
came in a door, or moved slowly across the room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they
rested on her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still
with himself until the whisky had taken some of it away.

9 “Tired, darling?”

10 “Yes,” he said. “I'm tired.” And as he spoke, he did an unusual thing. He lifted his glass and drained it in one swallow
although there was still half ofit, at least half of it, left. 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. He paused
a moment, leaning forward in the chair, then he got up and went slowly over to fetch himself another.

11 “I'll get it!” she cried, jumping up.

12 “Sit down,” he said.

13 When he came back, she noticed that the new drink was dark amber with the quantity of whisky in it.

14 “Darling, shall I get your slippers?”

15 “No.”

16 She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink, and she could see little oily swirls in the liquid because it
was so strong.

17 “I think it's a shame,” she said, “that when a policeman gets to be as senior as you, they keep him walking about on his
feet all day long.”

18 He didn't answer, so she bent her head again and went on with her sewing; but each time he lifted the drink to his lips,
she heard the ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass.

19 “Darling,” she said. “Would you like me to get you some cheese? I haven't made any supper because it's Thursday.”

20 “No,” he said.

21 “If you're too tired to eat out,” she went on, “it's still not too late. There's plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer, and you
can have it right here and not even move out of the chair.”

22 Her eyes waited on him for an answer, a smile, a little nod, but he made no sign.

23 “Anyway,” she went on, “I'll get you some cheese and crackers first.”

24 “I don't want it,” he said.

25 She moved uneasily in her chair, the large eyes still watching his face. “But you must have supper. I can easily do it
here. I'd like to do it. We can have lamb chops. Or pork. Anything you want. Everything's in the freezer.”

26 “Forget it,” he said.

27 “But, darling, you must eat! I'll fix it anyway, and then you can have it or not, as you like.”

28 She stood up and placed her sewing on the table by the lamp.

29 “Sit down,” he said. “Just for a minute, sit down.”

30 It wasn't till then that she began to get frightened.

31 “Go on,” he said. “Sit down.”

32 She lowered herself back slowly into the chair, watching him all the time with those large, bewildered eyes. He had
finished the second drink and was staring down into the glass, frowning.

33 “Listen,” he said. “I've got something to tell you.”

34 “What is it, darling? What's the matter?”

35 He had now become absolutely motionless, and he kept his head down so that the light from the lamp beside him fell
across the upper part of his face, leaving the chin and mouth in shadow. She noticed there was a little muscle moving
near the corner of his left eye.

36 “This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I'm afraid,” he said. “But I've thought about it a good deal and I've decided
the only thing to do is tell you right away. I hope you won't blame me too much.”

37 And he told her. It didn't take long, four or five minutes at most, and she sat very still through it all, watching him with a
kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word.

38 “So there it is,” he added. “And I know it's kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn't any other way. Of
course I'll give you money and see you're looked after. But there needn't really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn't
be very good for my job.”

Making Observations:
1. What telling details stand out to you?
The author didn’t day that what the Husband said to Mary
2. What are your initial observations about Mary and her husband?
Mary and her Husband were a normal couple at first but then her husband said something to
her and no it has gone down hill
Working from the Text:
1. Reread paragraphs 8–38 and search for details showing that Mary has certain expectations for
her Thursday evening.
Mary is expecting for her husband to come home and do like he always does and they might
even go out to eat because that is what they always do on Thursday evenings
2. With a partner, revisit paragraphs 8–38 and use the My Notes section to mark places in the
text where Mary's husband goes “off script.”

Focus on the Sentence:

Write a series of sentences (3-4) about events that Mary did not expect to happen this particular
evening. Use the following sentence frame:
 Mary didn't expect her husband to come home and give her bad news
.

Gaining Perspectives: In the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mary and her husband are having
marital problems. Think about the effect of her husband's news on Mary's mental, emotional,
physical, and social health. Think about a conversation between Mary and a friend, where Mary
shares the conversation she had with her husband.
1. How would Mary describe the effects?

2. How could her friend help?

Appreciating the Author's Craft: Answer the following questions, citing strong evidence from the
text that supports your analysis of the text itself and the inferences you draw from the text. (Answers
must be in C.E.R. format.)
1. As Mary's husband passes along his news to Mary, what is stated in the story and what must
be inferred?
When Mary is sitting and talking to her husband he says something that upsets her and it could
be inferred that her husband just left her
2. Why does Dahl choose to avoid directly stating Mary's husband's news within the dialogue?
So it leaves what the husband said up to the imagination

3. What do you think Mary's husband told her? What evidence supports your speculation?
Mary’s husband told her that he was leaving her. “This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I'm afraid,” he said.
“But I've thought about it a good deal and I've decided the only thing to do is tell you right away. I hope you won't blame
me too much.”