32 pages • 1 hour read
Roald DahlLamb To The Slaughter
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 to Norwegian parents. When he was three years old, his father and older sister died, leaving his mother to raise three children alone. From age 13, he attended Repton, an English boarding school in Derbyshire.
Dahl’s life and career were varied. As well as being a writer, he served as a fighter pilot and intelligence officer in World War II and later became an assistant air attaché in Washington, DC. For 30 years, he was married to American actress Patricia Neal. Together, they had five children. Dahl died at age 74 in 1990, having published 19 novels and 13 short story collections in his lifetime. He also produced several screenplays, including “You Only Live Twice” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” adapted from the novels by his friend Ian Fleming. Over time, Dahl’s popularity as a children’s author has overshadowed his earlier fiction for adults.
Dahl’s early life experiences shaped the themes of his work. In his autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984), the author described how teachers at Repton boarding school savagely beat their pupils. Dahl was traumatized by his time at the school, and his fiction frequently critiques the abuse of power over the young, weak, or helpless. His children’s literature often features cruel antagonists (e.g., Miss Trunchbull in Matilda) who persecute the young protagonists. Meanwhile, his adult short stories frequently portray unpleasant characters who usually face their comeuppance. “Lamb to the Slaughter” is one of several stories by Dahl where an unsympathetic husband suffers a grisly fate.
Dahl’s fiction is characterized by dark humor (otherwise known as black comedy), a technique in which serious subjects like death are portrayed humorously. His work also features elements of the macabre, designed to unsettle the reader. While “Lamb to the Slaughter” is the best-known example, many of Dahl’s other stories introduce bizarre or sinister elements into everyday scenarios. In “Royal Jelly,” a beekeeper feeds his sickly baby royal jelly from his beehives to help her gain weight. By the end of the story, he has transformed into a giant bee, while his baby daughter resembles an enormous grub. In another tale titled “The Landlady,” an elderly woman is revealed to practice taxidermy on the young men who stay in her boarding house (Dahl, Roald. Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, Michael Joseph, 1979). Dahl’s macabre style was influenced by the British short story writer Saki (1870-1916). Both writers use dark humor and sinister plot twists to satirize the customs and conventions of society.
Socio-Historical Context: Gender Roles in the 1950s
The setting of “Lamb to the Slaughter” is post-World War II America. While this era saw an end to war and austerity, the 1950s was also a period of conservatism and conformity. Both women and men were expected to abide by rigid societal roles.
It was in the 1950s that the concept of the nuclear family was popularized. The traditional family unit was seen as a vital component of a stable society. Women were expected to play a key role in the nuclear family by remaining in the domestic sphere, keeping house, and raising children while their husbands went to work. This familial structure left women financially dependent on their husbands. Even if they had an independent source of income, wives could not open bank accounts or take out mortgages without their husbands’ permission.
Traditional gender roles were reinforced by popular forms of entertainment. Images of the ideal homemaker were frequently presented on television and in advertisements. Women’s magazines published articles on how to maintain the home and be a good wife. Female readers were advised to keep a spotless house and cook tasty, nutritious meals. Magazines also placed great emphasis on providing a warm welcome for husbands at the end of their working day. Wives were told to freshen their makeup, tidy their hair and, most importantly, provide soothing and sympathetic company. A 1956 article in Good Housekeeping offered the following advice:
A good wife is there when her husband needs her. She must be his sounding board. She must be able to listen patiently without giving advice, she must have the knack of commenting without interfering. Sometimes it may be necessary for her to make sacrifices for the sake of her husband and his business career; she cannot be free to do this if she is dedicated to a career of her own (“The Good Wife’s Guide to Helping Her Husband Succeed at Work.” Good Housekeeping. Republished 21 May 2015).
The overall message to women was clear. To be “good wives,” they must selflessly prioritize their husbands’ needs over their own.
In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Dahl portrays a textbook example of a good wife in the character of Mary Maloney. Soon to be a mother, she creates a welcoming sanctuary for her husband, and his return from work is the high point of her day. Mary follows the advice of women’s magazines to the letter as she greets her husband lovingly, pours him a drink, and sympathetically observes how tired he must be. However, her slavish adherence to her role does not create a happy, stable home. Her husband is cold and impatient and announces that he is leaving her. Unrewarded for her domestic dedication, Mary murders her husband, turning their immaculately kept home into a crime scene.
Dahl’s story satirizes the rigid gender roles of the 1950s. Through his portrayal of the Maloneys’ marriage, he emphasizes the imbalance of power such roles inevitably create. Mary’s unexpected murder of her husband challenges the concept that domestic harmony can be achieved by restricting women to the domestic realm.
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