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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the “small favor” that Mary asks of Sergeant Noonan and the other officers?

2. What does Mary do with the meat after killing Patrick?

3. Who arrives after the police detectives to investigate Patrick’s death?

4. Who is the first police officer to examine Patrick’s body?

5. How is Mary said to greet the store clerk when she arrives after killing Patrick?

Short Essay Questions

1. When does Mary appear the most emotionally vulnerable in the story? Is this emotion true or a performance?

2. Why does Mary giggle at the end of “Lamb to Slaughter”?

3. How is Biblical allusion depicted through the title of “Lamb to Slaughter”?

4. What is ironic about Mary’s answer to Sam regarding “meat” in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

5. How is the character of Patrick Maloney described in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

6. How does the author establish and develop tension through using sound in the beginning of the story?

7. Where in the story does the exposition take place? What important information is revealed through the exposition?

8. What central injustices mark the narrative of “Lamb to Slaughter”?

9. What influences can be seen in “Lamb to Slaughter”? When in Dahl’s career was the story written?

10. What crucial information to the story is omitted? Why do you think the author omitted these details?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of the names in “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Why do you think the author chooses these names for his characters? Is there symbolic significance to the names? What type of heritage do these names imply?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss Sergeant Jack Noonan in “Lamb to the Slaughter.” How tall is Noonan? How is his behavior characterized? Is Noonan’s character portrayed directly or indirectly in the text? What role does Noonan play in the plot of the story?

Essay Topic 3

Define “narrative point of view” and discuss the point of view of “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Is the story related in the past, present or future tense? Is the story told from a first, second, or third person point of view? How limited is the narrator’s perspective? Why do you think the author chose this narrative style?

(see the answer keys)

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