Drama and Thriller "Lamb to the Slaughter"

Drama and thriller, among the most crucial things an author requires in their story to keep their audience entertained. Without these two aspects in a story or movie, the audience would quickly get bored. In order to build drama and thriller specific literary gadgets are needed. In the narrative, “Lamb to Massacre”, the author Roald Dahl develops this remarkable story by utilizing images, paradox, and strong character interaction, therefore producing thriller and a little humor. Among the literary gadgets that were used to build drama and thriller is imagery.

A scene in the story that contributes to imagery was the one that included Mary and Patrick in the start of the story. “… She swung the huge frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she might on the back of his head …” (154 Dahl). In this scene Dahl utilizes images to show Mary’s violent actions as she eliminates her other half. This happened after Patrick provided Mary unpleasant news.

Dahl analyzes this scene into the story to show Mary’s intents which was to eliminate the proof which produces suspense amongst the audience. Without this interaction, the scenario would change and the story would be less suspenseful.

Dahl also utilized irony to efficiently develop suspense and drama. A scene that displayed irony was the last scene in the story when the detectives were speaking while consuming the lamb leg. “Personally, I believe its right here on the properties.” “Probably right under our noses. What you think Jack?” (162 Dahl) In this conversation the detectives are talking about the weapon, which was used to kill Patrick, being on the premises not knowing that they are consuming it. These quotes were likewise utilized to hint that Mary generally has actually gotten away with the criminal activity.

This scene therefore, was very ironic which also made the story a bit comedic. In conclusion, the author successfully made this story very dramatic and suspenseful. He was able to effectively create suspense and drama because of his use of literary devices. This story continued to grab the reader’s attention all the way to the end which is an example of a good story. Dahl was able to interpret irony, imagery, and character interactions into his story thus making it appealing to the audience.