What is the main theme in the story Lamb to the Slaughter (Roald Dahl)and what is one symbol that is used ?

Question

What is the main theme of the story and what is one symbol that is used ?

Answer 1

Roald Dahl is my favorite writer. Ever. If he had written the Bible, I'd work until I became Pope. So forgive me if my answer is too long for you, but I could talk forever about Dahl...especially his short stories.
First off, look at the title. Many of his stories have great word play on titles. 'Lamb to the Slaughter.' The story of a woman killing her husband with a large leg of lamb. Let's look at what we know from the title and the brief story line just given:
Lamb. A lamb is a weak animal. It is a baby sheep. Sheep follow in herds and do nothing important. A lamb is even worse than that, as it has to follow the older sheep. It follows the followers. It is a symbol (hey, we're killing two birds with one stone here--theme and symbol!) of weakness. There are fairy tales/fables concerning lions and lambs.
Slaughter. Killing of sheep, cattle, livestock for food purposes. It is a term also used in a brutal murder. So there's our fun Dahl-esque play on words: Taking a lamb to the slaughter is to kill a lamb for food purposes. The wife is taking the leg of lamb to the slaughter (as in murder) as the weapon. The dark humor never ceases to make me smile.
So where's the lamb? Is it just the tool of murder? Not at all. It's the biggest symbol in the story. It's the most prominent object in the story. There's GOT to be a reason for it. The lamb in the story is the wife. She does everything for the husband. She gets his slippers. She makes dinner. She slaves over him. And his thanks is to get a divorce. She is the weakest one here. She has no say in it--he has his mind set. Her labors and efforts...her life is being torn apart by this guy. He wants it to be a hush-hush affair, for the sake of his job. And she's just the wife to do it--she offers to make dinner. Everything she is is taken away by this guy, and his career will be intact. Hers (loving housewife) will not be. She is a weak, pathetic lamb.
And she is being slaughtered.
But she fights back. She kills her husband. When killing occurs in a story, it's usually significant for some reason. It shows someone overcoming some obstacle. Here, the 'lamb' of a wife overcomes her butcher of a husband (his job is in the police force...everything about him is control) by killing him. And with it, she kills her status as a lamb. The lamb [status] has been slaughtered, and a free woman is left.
The police arrive and eat the lamb. That is the slaughter--it is the destruction of the leg of lamb (the symbol of her meek status) for food purposes. Once that lamb is gone, so is all evidence that she was ever under her husband's power.
Summed up: the theme is that the weak have more power than one may think. It's a classic 'Mouse and the Lion' story. The weak seem pathetic, but prove very powerful in the end.
Or you can take the theme that control is an illusion. The officers think they'll catch the criminal ("[The weapon is] probably right under our very noses"). The husband thinks he'll get away with a simple, quiet divorce. Neither will happen.
Or you can go with the faults found in failing to appreciate what you have. The husband doesn't appreciate his wife, and he suffers. The wife, until the murder, does not appreciate her ability to take care of herself; she does not appreciate her self, and she is suffering for it. When she finally does appreciate it, she is so happy she giggles. Giggles! Not snicker or laugh. Giggle. A school girl's joy is seen in a giggle.
As for your symbol, that is the leg of lamb, representing Mary Maloney's weak status. It is to be destroyed, but Dahl plays on words again and again to have the lamb slaughtered, but the soul reborn in a free woman. If you wanted to really push for Dahl's abilities, you could say the husband is also a lamb, follower of laws and his job; caring only about work and image. And he is slaughtered for it.
I hope this helps. I've never tried to analyze a Dahl story for two reasons:
1) I was scared they didn't have subtext.
2) I was scared they did have subtext. So much that nobody could compare to him, and I would hate everything I ever wrote ever after.
Number two proves to be true.

Answer 2

Lamb To The Slaughter Theme

Answer 3

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