How can you tell something is bothering Patrick in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?
Mary Maloney waits for her husband to come home each night and knows exactly what he will do and say. Patrick's arrival that night is described from Mary's point of view, and she senses that something is wrong because he is not behaving in his usual way. A lot has to do with his drinking. Mary asks, "Tired, darling?"
"Yes," he said. "I'm tired," And as he spoke, he did an unusual thing. He lifted his glass and drained it in one swallow although there was still half of it, at least half of it left.
Then her husband gets up and makes himself another drink.
When he came back, she noticed that the new drink was dark amber with the quantity of whiskey in it.
For a bourbon-and-water highball to be that dark, it would have to be mostly whiskey. Patrick is drinking heavily because he is working up...
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the resolve to say something that is preying on his mind.
Mary is solicitous, as usual. She asks him a number of questions and gets only terse replies. He is not exactly rude or hostile, but he is cold and distant. This homecoming is not like the peaceful, quiet ones Mary is accustomed to and looks forward to. Finally he tells her:
"Sit down," he said. "Just for a minute, sit down."
It wasn't till then that she began to get frightened.
"Go on," he said. "Sit down."
As she sits back down she notices that he has already finished that second highball containing at least three or four ounces of bourbon. He is now sufficiently fortified to tell her what is on his mind. Mary is aware that something is troubling him, but she has no suspicion that it should have everything to do with her and her marriage. When he said, "Yes, I'm tired," he meant that he was tired of her. He knows that what he is about to tell her will be devastating. He knows it is a bad enough thing for a man to do to his wife but much worse in this case because she is six months pregnant.
Since Patrick is killed fairly early in the story, the reader does not get a lot of time to figure him out. Despite that disadvantage, Dahl writes the character in such a way that the reader immediately does not like him. Part of the reason that the reader feels distanced from Patrick is that he is cold toward Mary and seems preoccupied the entire time.
Immediately on meeting Patrick, it seems like something is on his mind. Dahl has spent multiple paragraphs describing how Mary anxiously awaits the moment that Patrick walks through the door. When he finally comes home, Mary goes to him, takes his coat, and gives him the "hello darling" welcome. His response . . . "Hello." It feels flat, distant, and cold compared to Mary.
A few minutes later, Patrick gives another clue that his mind is preoccupied.
And as he spoke, he did an unusual thing. He lifted his glass and drank it down in one swallow although there was still half of it left. He got up and went slowly to get himself another drink.
Based on those lines of text, it seems that Patrick would usually savor his after-work drink. Not this time. He drinks it all in a single gulp and gets another drink. Either he had a terrible day that he is trying to forget, or he is trying to find some liquid courage. It turns out to be the latter, but it is clear that something is bothering Patrick.
The last evidence to support his mind's preoccupied state occurs when Mary tries to engage him in small talk.
"I think it's a shame," she said, "that when someone's been a policeman as long as you have, he still has to walk around all day long." He didn't answer. "Darling," she said, "If you're too tired to eat out tonight, as we had planned, I can fix you something. There's plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer." Her eyes waited to an answer, a smile, a nod, but he made no sign.
Mary's talking, but Patrick isn't responding. He's either ignoring her intentionally, or he isn't really even listening to her. I think he's so focused on the news that he is about to break that he doesn't hear Mary.
What is the first clue that Patrick is disturbed in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?
When readers are first introduced to Mary Maloney, we are given the quintessential image of the doting housewife. She is clearly head-over-heels in love with her husband, Patrick. Mary is at home, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her husband. She occasionally checks the clock for the time because she knows that every minute passed is another minute closer to Patrick coming home.
Mary greets him with a kiss the moment that he walks in the door, and then she immediately works on getting him an alcoholic drink so he can rest and relax with it in his chair. Readers are told that this is her favorite time of day because Mary gets to "luxuriate" in the presence of her man. It's all really gag-worthy, but soon after that, Patrick gives Mary a clue that not everything is as wonderful as it was the day before.
Readers are told that Patrick finishes his drink in one swallow rather than savoring the flavor that is typically drawn out by the ice. That's clue number one. Clue number two is the fact that Patrick gets up and pours himself another drink. Clue number three is that his second drink is much darker in color because there is much more whiskey in it. Clearly, Patrick has something on his mind.