Feminism in “Lamb to the Slaughter”

In the socially stagnant post-war United States of the early 1950's, Mary Maloney is content with the routine she has established for herself as a homemaker. She spends each day anticipating the return of her husband, police officer Patrick Maloney. In this waiting period, she tidies up his house, prepares his food, and periodically glances at the clock until he arrives. For Mary Maloney, her husband's return is "always the most blissful time of day" (Dahl 24). Patrick's presence completes Mary, in that she is dependent on him both economically and emotionally. In Roald Dahl's 1951 short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter," Mary Maloney comes to embody a feminist heroine by escaping her husband's oppression. Her behavior in the beginning of the story is docile and therefore socially acceptable; she is the willing and conscientious housewife that all women should be. She has no choice in the matter, for "the Western family structure helps to subordinate women, causing them to be economically dependent" (Bressler 186). As soon as her husband Patrick reveals that he is leaving her, Mary's whole character changes. She murders her husband, who has provided her with the security she has come to take for granted. The cultural, linguistic, and bodily elements that differentiate the female from the male are apparent in "Lamb to the Slaughter," therefore marking it as a highly subversive feminist text. It is obvious that Mary's feminist awakening has cultural implications. It is difficult to presume, however, that Mary is a subversive figure without knowing precisely what type of society this story is set in. In particular, one must understand the elements of the status quo that exist in order to explain how they can be undermined. "Lamb to the Slaughter" was originally published in a 1952 collection of short stories entitled “Someone Like You”. Following "Lamb to the Slaughter" in this anthology was a work named "Taste," which involves an outlandish bet between two wealthy males. The men are both worldly wine connoisseurs who challenge each other to name the breed and vintage of an obscure bottle of claret. At stake in this ostentatious guessing game is the eighteen-year-old daughter of the host. The famous epicure Richard Pratt cheats in finding the claret's name so that he may marry the virgin Louise Schofield. "Taste" was originally published in The New Yorker on December 8, 1951. This work was produced in the same time period and most likely for the same audience as "Lamb to the Slaughter." Though Dahl is a British author, these works were intended for an American audience. I found that a large portion of the humor from the magazine “The New Yorker” came in the form of stereotyping marital relations. In one cartoon, a lazy husband and wife are sitting in their respective seats at home in leisure attire. The wife is stating to the husband "I'm trying to avoid an argument, and all you do is sit there and say nothing!" This cartoon is depicted on the very same page as "Taste." The scene is applicable to the discourse between Mary Maloney and her husband Patrick prior to the murder. She nettles Patrick despite his relative silence. According to The New Yorker, the breadwinner deserves to be left alone with his evening paper (or, in Patrick's case, his whiskey.) In another cartoon, a husband comments to his wife that "I wish I had a nickel for every dollar you've saved shopping" as she unloads a series of gift boxes onto the furniture. This cartoon reinforces the role of male as provider, with the female as dependant on the provider. Though the story was constructed in such a social setting, the theme of biology is also observable within the text. "The most visible difference between men and women, and the only one we know for sure to be permanent... is indeed the difference in body" (Showalter 315). The symbolic difference in body between Mary and the other characters in the story (all of whom are male) is apparent. Mary is six months pregnant on the evening in which she murders her husband. Because of this pregnancy, she is emotionally and physically fulfilled. "Her skin [has a] wonderful translucent quality," her mouth is soft, and her eyes are placid due to her expectation of having a child (Dahl 23). Her husband, in contrast to this, has intense eyes, a skittish demeanor, and a roughly shaped mouth (24). His dominance is exhibited cautiously within the text. She is responsible for making the drinks when he comes in. This behavior is expected of her by him as if she is his servant. She pours "a strongish one for him and a weak one for herself," symbolically representing the difference of strength in their characters (24). He is a senior on the police force and she is carrying her first child, which is an indicator that he is her superior in the matter of age in addition to sex. His constant tiredness makes her youthful exuberance seem annoying, possibly explaining why he treats his wife with an air of impatience prior to the murder. Mary's husband assumes a biological superiority, and she has a phallic lack. "For Lacan, the Phallus is the ultimate symbol of power" (Bressler 158). Patrick Maloney is a failure as patriarch, though Mary is a successful matriarch (it can be argued that she is a mother figure to the men in the story.) Lacanian theory points out that a child may be substituted for the phallus needed by the female. If Mary was not bearing the child, there is the possibility that she may not have murdered her husband to hold on to her phallic need. She rejects Patrick's phallus by killing him; it is the child that will now offer her a sense of completion. Dahl does something wonderful at the moment in which she rejects Patrick's phallus: by having Mary kill him with a leg of lamb- itself a phallic symbol. She continues to undermine phallic oppression by feeding the lamb/phallus to the male police force. This adds a witty, ironic twist to the story, making Mary's rebellion humorous and acceptable to the reader. The differences in body between Mary and Patrick Maloney are important in understanding Mary's role as a female, "but there can be no expression of the body which is unmediated by linguistic, social, and literary structures" (Showalter 315). Mary Maloney's use of language is not significant in pointing out her role as female. She uses simple statements that identify her as neither dull nor well educated. It is the lack of communication between Patrick and Mary that acts as the sexual language barrier. Patrick only displays his language in either the form of curt responses to the simple questions posed by Mary, or, more importantly, silence. Mary repeatedly asks him a simple question, which "he doesn't answer." She proceeds to talk to him, not with him. "Her eyes waited on him for an answer, a smile, a little nod, but he made no sign" (26). When his silence is eventually broken, it is only broken by a need to end the uncomfortable lack of communication. "He told her. It didn't take long, four or five minutes at most, and she sat still through it all, watching him with a kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word" (27). What he says is unimportant to the linguistic dialogue, and Dahl leaves the reader with a vague hint of why Patrick is leaving his wife. The reader is able to imagine any number of situations that would explain Patrick's departure from his family. Perhaps he feels pressured by the upcoming birth of the child. He may have found another woman. He may have found another man! This last instance would certainly cause a fuss and not be very good for his job (27).
Patrick moves away from his wife with each word, and she rejects his confession. Her impulse to deny his speech is the first step she takes toward empowering herself. The discourse in which Patrick explains his vague explanation for leaving begins the turning point in the story. From this point on, Mary has strength. She insists for one last time that she will make the supper, and this time he does not stop her. Shortly after she murders him, her linguistic awakening takes place. "It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden" (Dahl 28). She uses her own language from this point on to manipulate the men in the story. She does not lie to Sam the grocer at all, yet his recollection of her to the police later on makes her out to be completely innocent. The group of police officers and detectives are uncomfortable in her presence- they don't know how to console her. It is not in the male nature to console, so instead Sergeant Jack Noonan suggests to Mary that she go over her sister's house or even stay with Mrs. Noonan. The woman who enters the story as a pest ends up giggling to herself at the way she just manipulated eight men into believing her innocence without lying once.
Though I feel that Mary Maloney is unmistakably depicted as a heroine in this story, the role of the author in this matter is uncertain. Dahl is a British author, and therefore would construct Mary Maloney as a woman oppressed. The text was originally published for an American audience, which relies on textual, expressive feminism (Showalter 312). The pre-murder Mary is a woman oppressed, and the post-murder Mary is a woman in control of the power relationship. The expressive Mary, as noted above, manipulates men with her language. The role-reversal that takes place after the murder constructs men as the muted group (Showalter 322). She justifies her actions by not explicitly stating to anyone that she killed Patrick. Is this to be seen as a call to arms for all disgruntled housewives, or was Dahl composing this story to poke fun at feminists? Perhaps Mary Maloney lost her mind because she couldn't function without the family structure that is necessary for all women.
The uncertainty over this issue is interesting. Dahl and myself, a writer and a reader, are males. We belong in the oppressor category due to the confines of our culture. As such, even the normal women like Mary Maloney will always seem somewhat mysterious. Until this changes, it may become habitual for me to keep my eyes open and senses alert before dinnertime from this point on.

Works Cited

"Lamb to the Slaughter." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson and Marie Lazzari. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 123-138. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 June 2011.

Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Dahl, Roald. "Lamb to the Slaughter." The Roald Dahl Omnibus. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993.

Kimmel, Leigh Husband. "Lamb to the Slaughter." Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition (2009): 1. MagillOnLiterature Plus. EBSCO. Web. 22 June 2011.

Showalter, Elaine. "Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness." Modern Criticism and Theory. Ed. David Lodge with Nigel Wood. New York: Pearson Education, 2000. 307-330.