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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 take when she runs downstairs after rehearsing in her room?
(a) Her hat
(b) Her purse
(c) Her shoes
(d) Her coat

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

3. Patrick tells Mary that he’ll give her what after he’s related his story in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Money
(b) The house
(c) The car
(d) The child

4. How are Mary’s actions described when she kills her husband?
(a) Rage driven
(b) Hesitant
(c) Without any pause
(d) Filled with remorse

5. What is Mary’s presumed reason for going to the store in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) To establish an alibi
(b) She was out of milk
(c) She needed vegetables
(d) She wanted to get away from her husband

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Mary’s response when Patrick tells her, “Listen, I’ve got something to tell you”?

2. Where does Mary exit the home after killing Patrick?

3. What does Mary do at the end of the short story?

4. Who is working at the store when Mary arrives after killing Patrick?

5. What word from the short story means to be reluctant or wait to act because of fear, indecision, or disinclination?

Short Essay Questions

1. What transitions did American culture (and European culture) and society make in the 1950s?

2. What actions does Mary plot on her way home from the store? How do these actions play out?

3. What elements of the setting of “Lamb to the Slaughter” indicate the time period for the story?

4. What foreshadowing can be seen in the curtains as described in the first paragraph of “Lamb to Slaughter”?

5. After the murder has been committed, what is Mary’s central objective in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

6. How is Mary’s discussion with Sam regarding “dessert” an example of verbal irony?

7. In examining “Lamb to Slaughter” from an anthropological view of identity, what do you think Dahl’s statement is about mankind?

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

9. How would you characterize the tone and mood of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

10. What is the central example of dramatic irony in “Lamb to Slaughter”?

(see the answer keys)

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