Lesson 1: “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl

Make sure that you save your work in an organised fashion if you’re working on a computer
(create week by week folders and use the lesson names to name your files). If you are
working in your exercise book, then make sure you write titles and clearly label tasks.

Starter:
Task 1: Think back to what you have read in class so far this year. Can you
remember looking at the role of women in the mid-1900s? Make a list of what was
expected of a good newly married woman? What jobs were they expected to do?
They were expected to cook, clean, feed the children, do any chores and support the
husband when he came home. Woman were not allowed to vote and do a lot of
things like men.

Main Activities:
Task 2: Read the start of this story and highlight the things that Mary Maloney does
for her husband which suggest she is a good wife.

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,
whiskey. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket.
Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come in from work.
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 would
come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of a
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. 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.
“Hullo darling,” she said.
“Hullo darling,” he answered.
She took his coat and hung it in the closet. Then she walked over and made the drinks, a
strong 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 hands, rocking it so
the ice cubes tinkled against the side.
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 in her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent
about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it away.
“Tired darling?”
“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 of it, 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.
“I’ll get it!” she cried, jumping up.
“Sit down,” he said.
When he came back, she noticed that the new drink was dark amber with the quantity of
whiskey in it.
“Darling, shall I get your slippers?”
“No.”
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.
“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.”
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.
“Darling,” she said. “Would you like me to get you some cheese? I haven’t made any supper
because it’s Thursday.”
“No,” he said.
“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.”

Task 3: Continue reading. How is Mr Maloney portrayed? Highlight anything that

Her eyes waited on him for an answer, a smile, a little nod, but he made no sign.
“Anyway,” she went on, “I’ll get you some cheese and crackers first.”
“I don’t want it,” he said.
She moved uneasily in her chair, the large eyes still watching his face. “But you must eat! I’ll
fix it anyway, and then you can have it or not, as you like.”
She stood up and placed her sewing on the table by the lamp.
“Sit down,” he said. “Just for a minute, sit down.”
It wasn’t till then that she began to get frightened.
“Go on,” he said. “Sit down.”
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.
“Listen,” he said. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
“What is it, darling? What’s the matter?”
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.”
Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all. It occurred to her that perhaps he
hadn’t even spoken, that she herself had imagined the whole thing. Maybe, if she went about
her business and acted as though she hadn’t been listening, then later, when she sort of
woke up again, she might find none of it had ever happened.
“I’ll get the supper,” she managed to whisper, and this time he didn’t stop her.

Finisher:
Task 4: What are your first impressions of Mr and Mrs Maloney? How well does she
play the ideal 1950’s wife? What kind of man do you think he is?
Mary Maloney is represented as being kind and caring for her husband that she
loves.
This is conveyed when Roald Dahl writes “Then she walked over and made the drinks, a
strong one for him, a weak one for herself”
The adjective “weak” suggests that she sees her self as a slave to her husband, and
ensures that he is happy at all times by giving him a “strong” drink.
On the other hand, Mr Maloney is portrayed as stubborn.
This is seen when roald dahl writes “I don’t want it”
This shows that Mr Maloney does not care about what his wife does for him instead just a
rude reply to her, her who is 6 months pregnant with their baby. Mr Maloney can be
described as not affectionate.