Examples Of Mary Maloney In Lamb To The Slaughter

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“Lamb to the Slaughter,” a thrilling short story by Roald Dahl, tells the story of a young housewife in the 1950’s who kills her husband and has to hide it from the police. Mary Maloney and her husband Patrick Maloney are expecting a child and seem to be in love, until Patrick comes home from work one day and wants to file for divorce. Mrs. Maloney becomes sad, surprised, and is overcome with anger. Now fuming, Mrs. Maloney swings a leg of lamb as high as she can, brings it down on Patrick’s head, and kills him. Mary Maloney should be convicted for her crimes in “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Mary Maloney should be charged for her crimes because she shows no remorse for her actions. The first quotation that proves Mrs. Maloney’s merciless action is, “all right, she told herself, so I've killed him.” This quotation shows that Mrs. Maloney is not surprised with what she has done, and might even do it again if she could. The next piece of evidence is, “In the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.” This quotation proves that Mrs. Maloney does not regret her decision to kill her husband and she now knows the police don’t suspect her as the murderer. Mary Maloney should be convicted for her crimes because she knows the consequences for killing her husband while she …show more content…

The first quotation is “why don’t you have one yourself, she said.” This quote illustrates the exact moment when Mrs. Maloney persuades the first officer to drink whiskey. Whiskey, because it is alcohol, can give anyone strong fatigue as well as foggy thinking and memory. The second quotation to prove this is, “It’s not strictly allowed but I might take a drop…one by one the others came in and were persuaded to take a little nip.” This quotation exemplifies how even after the policeman tells Mary Maloney that drinking on duty is forbidden, she still asks each and every one of them to take a nip of the

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