Comparing two Roald Dahl essays

GCSE: English Language

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'The lamb to the slaughter' starts off very calm; there is a warm, gentle atmosphere. We get the idea that Mary Malone is a gentle, calm character filled with love towards her husband. We see that Mary is waiting enthusiastically for her husband and has prepared everything for him. As she is sitting down we see that this is a very loving household, one which many people would strive for. Many or all modern women would not carry any of these attributes, so for her husband to mistreat her it makes us feel less remorse for him, but then again Roald Dahl has not told us about his reasons for wanting to leave her. Roald Dahl has purposefully only shown us her good side in order for us to feel sorry for the killer.

Similarly in the 'land lady', there is also a calm atmosphere with a young boy Billy preparing himself for his new job. We get the idea that he is very enthusiastic, however the opening paragraph unlike the lamb to the slaughter, is less warm and comfortable, and instead the weather is described as "deadly cold". When Mrs. Malone's husband comes back, we notice a sudden change of mood. The idea that was built up of a nice loving family is changed to one which is less comfortable, we begin to see that Mr. Malone doesn’t treat his wife fairly and doesn’t want to talk to her. We also see that he is hiding something, and is agitated. This only increases the tension.
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