I think we all agree that books are an integral part of our childhood, especially starting in grade school. One of my favorite authors was Roald Dahl. You may know him from some of his famous books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and short stories you had to read in your English class. I am grateful that I grew up with the treasure of precious books by author Dahl. Recently I was happy to read a few short stories by Dahl in English class. There, I got to see a whole different side of Mr. Dahl’s writing techniques. When I was younger, his books had a humorous and entertaining tone for young children. However, when I read the two short stories, Lamb to the Slaughter and The Landlady, I noticed that he used his writing crafts that made the tone so mysterious and deceiving.
Today I will be writing an analysis of The Landlady, a short horror story written by Roald Dahl. In this short story, we learn that If you are ever in an unknown place, be sure to be vigilant and aware of your surroundings before trusting anyone. In order to support our theme, Dahl uses the craft of symbolism and description so readers can identify red flags within the setting of the story and the landlady’s body language.
The story starts off with Billy Weaver, a fine young teenage gentleman who arrives in Bath by the London train. He needs a place to stay for the night, so he is directed to a cheap hotel called Bread and Breakfast. Billy notices that the place seems very calm and welcoming because of the bright setting set up with animals, flowers and a nicely decorated area. He seems to find it very comforting, even though it was very cheap. When he walks into the building, the Landlady, a middle aged woman, kindly invites him in. Billy notices the place seems to feel quite empty on the inside, and not so full on the outside. The lady kindly requests him to sign the guestbook, to show that he was staying in the guesthouse for a while. When Billy opens the book, he notices that the two people that had signed the book sounded familiar. Not from school, but people from the newspaper who were known to be missing. The spookiest part was that they had signed it three years ago and nobody had signed the book after. The landlady enters the room with a tea tray for Billy and herself and they sit down and enjoy a cup of tea. Billy asks the Landlady about the boys and she denies that they were missing and that they stay in the hotel in one of the floors. Billy finds it rather weird as he notices the body language and the lady’s attempts to cover up anything strange. The Landlady also tells Billy that the animals in the house weren’t real, but we’re dead pets that were stuffed to look more real and lively. Billy later tells the readers that the lady had seemed strange to us, and as readers, we can notice that too. The Landlady offers Billy another cup of tea but he kindly says no and tells us that the taste of the tea tasted very different and bitter. What happens next? If you want to know what happens next or want more context of the story? Read this short story to find out more.
Symbolism has played a key role, along with description to represent the topic of expectations versus reality. When the landlady appears completely harmless and hospitable, they appear a different way than what the main character, Billy and the readers assume. With the stuffed pets in the background of the story, we can see that these stuffed pets symbolize the landlady’s skill of confusing Billy and showing that things aren’t always the way they seem.
“There was a baby grand piano and a big sofa and several plump armchairs, and in one corner he spotted a large parrot in a cage. Animals were usually a good sign in a place like this, Billy told himself; and all in all, it looked to him as though it would be a pretty decent house to stay in” (Dahl 172). This is an example of Billy assuming that the place was harmless, comfortable and that it would be a nice place to stay in.
However on page 179, The landlady admits that these realistic pets weren’t real pets but were stuffed after the parrot and dachshund died.
“Not in the least” she said. “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away” (Dahl 179).
In my opinion, this seems pretty odd because the old lady may have been responsible for the loss of the two men, Mulholland and Temple who have been missing for a while. It is also sketchy on page 175, when Billy signs the book and sees the two last names which have last been signed two to three years ago. But the landlady clarifies that the two men haven’t left but are on the fourth floor together.
“Left?” she said, arching her brows. “But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here. Mr. Temple is also here. They’re on the fourth floor, both of them together” (Dahl 177).
This proves that the landlady may have been responsible for the boys being missing and oddly not leaving the boardhouse for the past two to three years.
The landlady’s parrot in the cage represents an analogy of Billy being stuck in a cage and possibly ending up in the same position as the boys after ending up missing and being told that they hadn’t left but live on a floor in the boarding house.
Description is a way to provide context and detail in a story. It keeps the reader curious and hanging onto the story. With the use of the descriptive language, you can notice suspicious details about the landlady and her odd body language.
When Billy first meets the landlady, he finds her oddly nice, not the nice you see in a regular person, but the nice you see in a suspicious person trying to plan something mysterious.
“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” (Dahl 173).
When I first read up to here, I first got an impression of the landlady. When Billy claimed that she was overly nice, I knew that the landlady was very hospitable and kind towards everyone who came to stay in her boardhouse.
However, we can start to see red flags toward the end of the story when the subject about tea has been brought up.
“Will you have another cup of tea?” “No, thank you”, Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds and he didn’t much care for it” (Dahl 179).
Personally, I found it odd that Billy would analyze the tea tasting like bitter almonds. I began to do my research and found that the landlady surely put something in his tea. Something like a chemical called potassium cyanide which is a poisonous agent which is known for its bitter almond aftertaste and is deadly to consume and is the main cause of deaths. Thanks to the art of description, we are able to know the red flags of the background in the story and that the landlady might not be very trustworthy.
In the final paragraph, the landlady is Holding her teacup high in one hand and inclining her head slightly to the left (Dahl 179). With the description of body language, we are able to notice that the landlady may have added some odd substance to the tea and is maintaining a distance from the chemical so she doesn’t get anything on her. While she is trying her hardest to act natural towards Billy, her body language and the description of the setting shows us proof that the reality of a person is different from one’s expectation.
With the animals playing a symbol to support the theme, we are able to see the sneakiness that the landlady has to trick Billy into believing all her tricks. But with the help of description, we are able to see the red flags in the setting of the story and the character of the landlady. At first, Billy is being hypnotized by all of the assumptions he has of the place.
However, when Billy begins to ask more questions and pay attention to the tiniest details, we are able to see that reality isn’t always similar to your assumptions.