2. “The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn…Marry Maloney was
waiting for her husband to come from his work” (Dahl 1).
3. Marry Maloney had six month old child in her
stomach, her mouth was soft, she was calmly
waiting for her husband, Patrick Maloney to
come home.
4. She heard the car door slamming, the key turning in the lock so she
immediately stopped what she was doing and kissed him as he came in
the house. She loved Patrick and made drinks for each of them.
5. However, unlike other days, today Patrick acted gloomy. When
Marry Maloney asked him if he wanted anything with full of love,
he replied shortly.
6. Patrick was keep refusing to
Marrys offer, and Marry became
extremely worried.
7. Patrick, who is very selfish, said let’s divorce to Marry. “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.” (Dahl 1).
8. Marry was shocked. She
said she will give him
dinner and went down to
the kitchen. She grabbed
on to the first thing she
saw, which was a leg of
Lamb. She climbed up the
stairs to where Patrick
was.
9. Patrick was looking out the window, so Marry Maloney went behind her
and swung the frozen leg of lamb. Patrick crashed down on the floor.
10. As much as she loved Patrick, she admitted herself and thought about
going to prison, but she remembered the six months old baby in her
womb. She decided to make an alibi.
11. She went to the grocery
store, and acted all
normal to Sam, the
grocery man, as if
nothing happened. She
went back to her house,
she began cooking the
leg of lamb, and crying,
she called the police.
She was planning for a
perfect crime.
12. Doctors, detectives, man who knows about fingerprints all came to
her house to investigate what had had happened to Patrick. Marry
Maloney acted very natural, and was also questioned a lot by the
detectives.
13. They knew it was a weapon
of sort that was used to hit
Patrick’s head, but they
simply couldn’t find any
weapon. Then, still sobbing,
Marry Maloney told them to
eat the cooked leg of lamb
for her before it was all burnt.
14. Feeling sorry for Marry Maloney, it was
impossible for the detectives to decline
her offer. Marry left them eating the leg
of lamb, and went in to her room to
rest.
15. When they were nearly
done with the food and kept
discussing about the crime,
one of the detectives said,
“Probably right under our
very noses. What you think,
Jack?” (Dahl 1). And in the
other room, Mary Maloney
began to giggle.
16. Lamb is also called a baby sheep. Lamb is known to be vulnerable and weak. Also, it is
so weak that it can’t even protect itself. However, the book title is lamb to the slaughter,
and slaughter means killing. Then, how can a lamb kill another thing when it is so weak?
Therefore, I believe the theme of this book is: Although something or somebody might
be weak, do not ever underestimate them. The weak can have more power than it
seems to have. The weak might be pathetic, but don’t forget they have the potential
power inside them.
