“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
Reading Questions
1. Who are the main characters? What are they like?
2. List the things that Mary loves about her husband. What does this list tell you about her
relationship with him?
3. What do you think Patrick told his wife when she came home?
4. Why doesn’t Dahl tell the reader exactly what he said to Mary?
5. Why was it a bad time to tell her this?
6. What is Patrick's profession? Why is it important?
7. Do you think Mary planned to murder her husband with the leg of lamb? Why?
8. What are Mary Maloney’s reasons for covering up the crime?
9. Explain in detail how she goes
about covering up what she has
done.
10. How does Mary’s behavior at the
grocery shop contradict what has
happened earlier in the story? Why
is her visit to the grocery shop an
important piece of the story?
11. What do the police do when they
arrive?
12. How do you know that they are
completely taken in by Mary?
13. What helps confirm Mary’s story to
the police?
14. Why does Mary insist the police
eat the leg of lamb?
15. How does a male stereotype of
women work to Mary’s advantage
in her story?
Literary Analysis Questions
16. Complete the following grid
Character
Indirect or Direct
Characterization?
How does Dahl do this? Quote the story
Mary Malone
Patrick Malone
Sgt. Jack Noonan
Sam the Grocer
17. What point of view is "Lamb to the Slaughter" told from and why is that important?
18. Can you find examples of foreshadowing in the text?
19. What is the dramatic irony in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?
20. What is the origin and meaning of the title "Lamb to the Slaughter"?