Pre-Write When have you felt like you were blind-sided (caught off-guard) by someone who wronged you in some way. What emotions did you feel? How did you react to the situation?

“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl

“Lamb to the Slaughter” Written in 1954 It was initially rejected by The New Yorker, but was ultimately published in Harper's Magazine. The story was adapted for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents originally broadcast on April 13, 1958.

Have you ever heard someone described as going “like a lamb to the slaughter?” Biblical allusion (reference) many instances of lambs used as sacrifices. Dahl chose that saying for the title of his story. What do you think this story might be about?

Symbolic Meaning of the Title Meaning: unaware of any approaching catastrophe. Unaware of something bad about to happen •Origin  From the Bible (King James Version), Jeremiah 11:19: “But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised a plot against me…"Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his name be remembered no more!”

Other works by Roald Dahl… Video!

Gender Roles The ideal 1950s woman married, cooked and cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She entertained guests in her family’s suburban house and worked out on the trampoline to keep her size 12 figure. -- Life magazine, 1956 The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector, and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955

Gender Roles

Excerpt from a 1950s Home Economics Textbook Compiled by Ms Excerpt from a 1950s Home Economics Textbook Compiled by Ms. Leslie Blankship Columbus, Ohio Have dinner ready: Gourmet status. Clear away the clutter: CLEAN! CLEAN! Prepare yourself: Get pretty! Prepare the children: Get them pretty! Minimize all noise: Everybody SHHHH. Listen to him: Yes, Dear? Make him comfortable: Need anything? Make the evening his: I’m all yours! Let him talk first!

The DON’TS! NEVER complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.

The goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit. Source: http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/TEXTBOOK.HTM

Setting The setting is symbolic: Its domestic primness implies Mary’s having bought into a rather boring version of middle class happiness.