Landlady Analysis - 867 Words

Appearances are Deceptive A snarling wolf can be as nice as a loving grandmother, and a cute bunny might actually be a demon in disguise, but you never know until you get to know them. The Landlady, written by Roald Dahl, is a short horror story of a young man named Billy Weaver going to the town of Bath for a business trip. While looking for a place to stay, he finds a seemingly kind, old lady who offers cheap bed and breakfast. While treating Billy to tea at night, the landlady poisons Billy and goes to make him one of her taxidermied collections. Dahl uses foreshadowing, characterization, and irony to examine how innocence can change the way things seem. Foreshadowing, the use of hints to suggest events that will occur later in a†¦show more content†¦Another element, characterization, the way a writer reveals the personality of a character, showed how oblivious Billy was. â€Å"Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat , and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen† (pg. 62). As young businessman, this was most likely his first trip outside of his hometown. His current goal was to become the best businessman he can and focused his priority on briskness because he thought all successful businessmen were brisk in their actions. Too innocent to know otherwise, Billy focused all of his attention on being the best possible worker and let his life itself on the line. The characteristics of the landlady should also have given Billy a bit of a worry. â€Å"She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays† (pg. 64). Rather than noting the landlady as â€Å"extremely nice† or â€Å"very nice† Dah l chose to describe her as â€Å"terribly nice†. Billy was blinded by her kindness and didn’t see through the hidden threat. Finally, irony, a contrast between expectation and reality, gave a twist to the adventure Billy went through. â€Å"Animals were usually a good sign in aShow MoreRelatedThe Landlady Character Analysis889 Words   |  4 Pagesguts are involved. In The Landlady, by Roald Dahl, the evil characters way of killing people was giving them cyanide that was mixed into their tea. By exploring the believability, the evil character, as well as how horror does not need gruesome scenes to be horror, it is clear that The Landlady is horror fiction. The Landlady is a horror story because believability is a main component in the story. One part of the story that is very believable is the Landlady herself, she looks kind andRead MoreAnalysis Of The Landlady By Roald Dahl957 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Landlady† is a Horror Story Horror is the genre that keeps the reader on their toes for nights upon end. It keeps them thinking. Thinking about how cruel and disturbing someone, or something, could possibly be. Thinking about what in the world happens to a character after the story drops off in a cliffhanger. Thinking about the probability that the events in the narrative could transpire in real life. Thinking about how likely it is for those things to happen to the reader. Refusing to lookRead MoreAnalysis Of The Landlady By Roald Dahl1051 Words   |  5 PagesThe short story â€Å"The Landlady,† by Roald Dahl, tells of a young businessman from London traveling to Bath who stays the night at a bed and breakfast. A prominent theme that runs throughout the story is how the main character notices ominous signs. 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In reaction to this, he dreamt that he was lying on a hospital bed and in the dream he thought to himself â€Å"As I’m already in the hospital, there’s no need for me to go there† and continued sleeping. (Freud 150). Although this incident did hint the dream theory, it was n ot until July 24 1895 that the theory was well-established with Freud’s analysis of his own dream: Irma’s Injection. Irma was a patientRead MoreFeather Girls - Analysis and Interpretation1169 Words   |  5 PagesFeather girls - analysis and interpretation The short story feather girls by Claire Massey, from 2010 is a very imaginary and well written story, which leaves you behind with the sensation of unknowing. I believe the text has a very deep meaning to it, which I will try to find. In the short story we meet a man called Bill. We can see from the text, that Bill is old A collection of regulars cluttered the bar, all grey haired men similar age to him. 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