Lamb to the Slaughter
by Roald Dahl
T h e w if e lo v es h er h u sb and and eag erly w aits f o r h im to c o m e h o m e f ro m
w o rk eac h day at 5 :0 0 P.M. T h e h o u se is c lean and w ell ru n. T h e h u sb and is
a reliab le m an and a resp ec ted p o lic e o ff ic er. W h at o n earth c o u ld p o ssib ly
g o w ro ng ? R ead o n to f ind o u t.
LITERARY FOCUS: TWO KINDS OF IRONY
“ L am b to th e S lau g h ter” c o ntains tw o k inds o f iro ny . T h e u se o f iro ny
u p sets o u r ex p ec tatio ns o f h o w th e sto ry w ill tu rn o u t, y et it leav es a
m em o rab le im p ressio n. S ituational irony o c c u rs w h en an ev ent in a sto ry
tu rns o u t to b e th e ex ac t o p p o site o f w h at th e reader h ad ex p ec ted. In
dramatic irony th e reader k no w s so m eth ing im p o rtant th at o ne o r m o re
o f th e c h arac ters do n’t k no w .
• L o o k f o r th e sto ry ev ents th at lead to s ituational irony. A sk y o u rself :
“ W h ic h sto ry ev ents are ex p ec ted? W h ic h are u nex p ec ted? ”
• A s th e sto ry p ro g resses, y o u are “ in o n” inf o rm atio n th at so m e sto ry
c h arac ters are no t. L o o k to see h o w th is situ atio n c reates dramatic irony.
Yo u p ro b ab ly m ak e p redic tio ns all th e tim e: Yo u m ay p redic t w h ic h team
w ill w in a sp o rts ev ent, o r y o u m ig h t p redic t th at y o u r f riend J eff w ill ask
L ily to th e p ro m . Mak ing p redic tio ns ab o u t lif e is f u n, and do ing so k eep s
y o u inv o lv ed in w h at’s g o ing o n aro u nd y o u . T h e sam e h o lds tru e w h en
y o u m ak e p redic tio ns ab o u t sto ries y o u read— y o u b ec o m e inv o lv ed w ith th e
c h arac ters and th eir ex p erienc es as y o u try to p redic t w h at th ey w ill do nex t.
Literary Skills
Understand
situ atio nal iro ny
and dram atic
iro ny .
R ead in g
Skills
Mak e
p redic tio ns.
Mak e p redic tio ns as y o u read “ L am b to th e S lau g h ter.” F ill o u t a c h art lik e
th is o ne to h elp y o u k eep trac k o f y o u r p redic tio ns. T h e f irst ro w h as b een
f illed in as an ex am p le.
D e t a il f r o m
Mary is h ap p ily w aiting f o r h er
h u sb and to c o m e h o m e.
Vo c ab u lary
Skills
Use c o ntex t
c lu es to
u nderstand th e
m eaning s o f
w o rds.
148
P art 1
S to ry
Collection 5: Irony and Ambiguity
P r e d ic t io n
H e w ill b e h ap p y to see h er, to o .
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserv ed.
READING SKILLS: M AKING P REDICTIONS
PREVIEW SELECTION VOCABULARY
G et to k now th e following words before y ou begin reading “ L am b to th e S lau gh ter.”
an x iety (a«·z¢√¥·t≤) n.: state of being worried or
u neasy ; stress.
Alth ou g h th e n e ws fille d h e r with anxiety, sh e
sm ile d c a lm ly .
p lac id (pl
as
√i
d) a d j.: c alm ; tranq u il.
H e r p lac id look sh owe d h ow p e a c e fu l sh e fe lt.
lux uriate (l
ug·¤Ø r
√≤·†t≈
) v . (u sed with in): tak e
great p leasu re.
Sh e wou ld lu xu r iate in th e fe e lin g of c lose n e ss
to h e r h u sb a n d .
ad min is tered (ad·mi
n√i
s
·t¥r
d) v . u sed as a d j.:
giv en; ap p lied.
p remis es (pr
em√i
s
·i
z) n.: h ou se or bu ilding and
its su rrou nding p rop erty .
Did th e p olic e fin d c lu e s in th e h ou se or
a n y wh e r e e lse on th e p r em is es ?
c on s olin g (k¥n·s
£l
√i
«) v . u sed as a d j.: c om forting.
T h e offic e r tr ie d to c om for t h e r, b u t M a r y d id
n ot fin d h is wor d s c o ns o ling .
hos p itality (häs
≈
pi
·tal
√¥·t≤) n.: friendly , c aring
treatm ent of gu ests.
In a sh ow of h o s p itality, M a r y in v ite d th e p olic e
offic e r s for d in n e r.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserv ed.
Ad m inis ter ed with g r e a t for c e , th e b low k n oc k e d
th e m a n ov e r.
CONTEX T CLUES
W h en y ou c om e ac ross an u nfam iliar word, look for c lu es in th e c on tex t—
th e words, p h rases, and sentenc es su rrou nding th e word. C ontex t c lu es
m ay p rov ide a definition, a restatem ent, an ex am p le, a c om p arison, or a
c ontrast th at h elp s y ou figu re ou t th e m eaning of th e u nfam iliar word. In
th e ex am p les below, th e it a lic iz e d c ontex t c lu es h elp y ou figu re ou t th e
m eaning of th e bold f ac e words.
D E F IN IT IO N : H er in s tin c t, or a u t o m a t ic r e s p o ns e , is to ru n away .
R E S T A T E M E N T : S h e k nows wh at th e p en alty is and will ac c ep t h er p u nis h m e nt .
E X A M P L E : H er ac tion m igh t bring relief —f o r e x a m p le , it w o u ld e nd t h e a ng e r s h e f e lt .
C O M P A R IS O N : Ic e c u bes c lin k in g in a glass s o u nd lik e p e nc ils t a p p ing o n a t a b le .
C O N T R A S T : A lth ou gh sh e look s tran q uil, sh e d o e s n’t f e e l p e a c e f u l.
Lamb to the Slaughter
149