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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mary offer to get Patrick, but is turned down, after he arrives home in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) His slippers
(b) The newspaper
(c) His pipe
(d) His glasses

2. After Patrick is confirmed as dead, who arrives next to Mary’s house to join the investigation?
(a) A doctor
(b) Sergeant Noonan
(c) O'Malley
(d) A police photographer

3. What time does the clock say when Mary begins to listen for her husband’s arrival in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) 5:15 p.m.
(b) 4:50 p.m.
(c) 8:05 p.m.
(d) 3:30 p.m.

4. Who is the officer who is asked by another in the kitchen, “What do you think?”
(a) O'Malley
(b) Charlie
(c) The fingerprint man
(d) Sergeant Noonan

5. Author Roald Dahl was born in what year?
(a) 1897
(b) 1961
(c) 1932
(d) 1916

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Mary doing as she enters her home from the store?

2. Patrick tells Mary that he’ll give her what after he’s related his story in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

3. What does Mary resume doing after Patrick arrives home in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

4. According to the narrator, “the detectives kept asking [Mary] a lot of questions. But they always treated her” how?

5. What does Mary say when the police pick up after she calls them?

Short Essay Questions

1. What ultimate irony is presented at the end of “Lamb to Slaughter”?

2. How does Mary’s character transform after hearing Patrick’s news in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

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

4. What is significant about O’Malley’s name in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

5. How is the concept of identity as seen in popular psychology depicted through the character of Mary in the novel?

6. How did “Lamb to Slaughter” fit in with the popular fiction of the era when it was published?

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

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

9. What can be seen as ironic in Mary’s ability to evade suspicion and prosecution in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

10. What role does Sergeant Noonan play in the ultimate plot twist of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

(see the answer keys)

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