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   mrs-campbell Teacher
   High School - 11th Grade

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   One main theme in this story is betrayal.  You have a housewife who is betrayed by her husband, who says that he is leaving her.  She thinks that everything is okay; she is pregnant, glowing, happy.  She makes meals for him, and doesn't have any reason to suspect that he is unhappy.  Then, he drops the bomb that he is leaving and to try no to make "any fuss...it wouldn't be very good for my job."  This is an awful betrayal for her.  Ironically, she betrays his friends later, through her covering up of the crime.

   There is also a theme of identity, of us not really knowing ourselves very well.  I bet if Mary had asked herself that day "Am I capable of murdering my husband in cold blood, even if he did something awful to me?" the answer would have been a definite no.  But, in the moment, she behaves much differently.  And then, even more surprising is her cool cover-up, her quick thinking, and how she got away with the crime.  Such duplicity was probably as much of a shock to herself as to anyone else.  So don't think you know yourself for sure, until you've been in the situation.

   There are other possible themes to this story; I've provided a link below to a more thorough discussion of themes.

   Sources:

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

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   Posted by mrs-campbell on Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 4:12 PM