Lamb to the Slaughter Group

Question:

kea
kea
Student
College - Freshman

how is the title of the story connected with the whole story and what does it tell us?

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Posted by kea on Thursday November 1, 2007 at 8:42 AM and tagged with lamb to the slaughter, themes.

Answers:


  1. renelane Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Best answer as selected by question asker.

    Mary was calm and complacent during her marriage. She kept a neat house, and waited happily each day for her husband to come home from work. In this way she was much like a lamb.

    When her husband calmly tells her it is over, an inner rage  causes her to slaughter her husband. She feels little in the way of remorse, as can be seen by her quick planning to cover up her crime.

    In some ways , it can be seen that her husband was the lamb. He believed Mary would complacently  accept his decision to leave, without a fuss. He was not threatened in any way for her to react with violence. He was killed easily, like leading lambs to the slaughter.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/lamb-slaughter/themes

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    Posted by renelane on Thursday November 1, 2007 at 8:48 AM

  2. donna726
    donna726 Student
    High School - 11th Grade

    Lamb to the slaughter,

    i think that the title has somekind of ironic sense refering to Ms. Maloney. Lamb is supposed to be pure, innocent like Mrs. Maloney who is a docile, loving, subservient housewife however things has changed, and lamb was used as a killing weapon and a manipulative tool (slaughter). In other hand, Mrs. Maloney turns into an independent, cruel woman.

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    Posted by donna726 on Wednesday October 21, 2009 at 1:21 AM

  3. otto37
    otto37 Student
    High School - 9th Grade

    My class came up with how in the story, parts talked about Mary's "soft skin" and "dark eyes" like a lamb. She eventually lays down the slaughter. The title is ironic because usually you think of slaughter to the lamb, then someone eats the lamb. But, the lamb brought the slaughter, and someone eats the lamb. Also, my classmate thought this story was an allusion to "Mary had a Little Lamb". When she said that, we all shuddered. By the way, if you liked this story, read The Way Up to Heaven, Roald Dahl. I'll just say that they're similar in plot twists.

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    Posted by otto37 on Wednesday October 28, 2009 at 8:47 PM