Fans of Roald Dahl know him for his whimsical children’s story such as Matilda, James and The Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While some of these stories contain dark themes, (my friends and I refer to Wonka’s chocolate factory as a murder house) none talk about the deeper, darker parts of society quite as much as Lamb to the Slaughter.

In the story, a woman six months pregnant, Mary, waits for her husband to come home as she takes care of him. After settling in, her husband tells her that he will be leaving her. He will still support her and such, but he ultimately says he no longer loves her. On autopilot, Mary starts to prep supper when he says to not bother. In a crime of passion, she ends up killing him with the leg of lamb and tries her best to cover her tracks.

The one thing I really like about Dahl’s writing is his ability to convey emotion. as an avid reader, I’ve read books that go into gory detail about torture scenes. Somehow, Dahl is still able to create that depth and dimension of emotion in less than 4,000 words. Within the first paragraph, we already sympathize with Mary, wanting her to achieve her dream of living out her life with her husband. We see her try so hard to keep his love, and in the end, it was all for naught.

One aspect that I really liked, however, was her pivot in emotion after the homicide. She ends up going from this seemingly desperate housewife to a confident, ‘kind’ person who just wants her husband’s murder solved. For all techniques and styles used, I think the most intriguing part of the piece is how fast Mary pivots. At first, she plays the traditional 1950s housewife who simply does whatever her house and family requires of her. Toward the end though, she becomes sly, cunning, and clever while still painting this facade. “She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding the ridiculous piece of meat tight with both hands. All right, she told herself. So I’ve killed him. It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast.”( Dahl) Her ability to adapt really shows the depth of characterization that Mary has. At first, she seems very flat, with one simple purpose. But as the story evolves, we too, see her evolve as she finds a way around the homicide and how to get away with murder. This is really important because it goes against the beliefs that society had about women at this point. They didn’t just cook and clean, they were people who could make meaningful contributions to society, but were often stifled by the men in their life.

Another thing that stood out to me was her reason for trying to escape the penalty. “As the wife of a detective, she knew quite well what the penalty would be. That was fine. It made no difference to her. In fact, it would be a relief. On the other hand, what about the child? What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill then both-mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn’t know. And she certainly wasn’t prepared to take a chance.”(Dahl). She was okay with dying, which proves worrisome in itself. But what I  found really interesting was that despite her willingness to die, she wanted to give her child a chance to live. This once again places Mary back into our favor. As the protagonist, we are forced to see the story from her side of view. By placing herself beneath a larger evil ( Capital punishment), I found myself rooting for her despite her previous actions. I found this really interesting because it brought out more of her personality, but it also sets her up for a redemption arc. In books or cartoons, the character that originally starts out as evil and becomes good needs something to fight for so we understand their actions. In Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy has to fight against his father, who we learn early on is a horrible, horrible man. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko constantly faces new threats despite hunting the protagonists, making us silently root for them. This tactic of forcing us into the anti-hero’s square can be really effective, and Dahl uses it well with narration to help us understand Mary’s actions.

Even past all of these amazing things, Lamb to the Slaughter is really just a good read that will have you on the edge of your seat until the last word. The murder, the stakes, and the cunning really make it interesting to think about. Honestly, it makes me think, can I get away with murder?

Read the story here