Comparing and Contrasting the “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “A Jury of Her Peers”

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Comparing and Contrasting the “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “A Jury of Her Peers”
Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” portrays a woman, Mary Maloney, who has been emotionally abused such that she cannot bear it anymore. Despite how well she treats her husband, Patrick, there is nothing good that seems to come out of their relationship. “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, shows females who are living in a male-dominated society. These women cannot do anything on their own since they are bound to follow their husbands’ instructions. When one of them kills her husband, the others realize how they have been distant to her. As such, they decide to conceal something that would give police officers the motive of murder by Minnie Foster or Mrs. Wright. The paper compares and contrasts the theme of the role of gender, characterization, and setting of the two short stories.
The setting of the “Lamb to the Slaughter” is at Maloney’s home. From the look of things, it appears that Maloney loved Patrick, and that is the reason why she was set to meet him in the evening after work. As a good wife, she had prepared everything to impress her husband. In this short story, the role of gender is one of the primary themes. For example, the responsibilities of women in marriages are to take care of their husbands, perform household chores, and give birth. They are also expected to treat and serve men with respect. On the contrary, males are expected to protect their families and provide for them. Dahl says, “She laid aside her sewing, stood up, and went forward to kiss him as he came in” (Dahl 58). At this point, Maloney appears as a caring, loving, kind, honest, and hardworking woman who is loyal to her husband. In contrast, Patrick is unwelcoming and seems not to appreciate almost everything that his wife is doing for him. Things deteriorated on Thursday evening when Patrick told Maloney that he wanted them to separate (Dahl 58). Specifically,...