Lamb to the Slaughter: How Did Social Roles Allow Mrs. Maloney to Get Away with Murder

yellow-brown Lopez Mr. Lopez AP English III February 4, 2013 Snapped How Mrs. Maloney got away with murder In the short story Lamb to the slaughter by Roald Dahl, Mrs. Maloney brings away with killing her husband and nobody re completelyy funnys her of doing so because shes a woman. The setting and time diaphragm of the story plays a large map because this is still an era when men and women had gender roles. Mrs. Maloney isnt a suspect to her husbands murder because she had an alibi and one of the main reasons was she had the gender role of the typical house wife.In the story the detctives do not suspect Mrs. Maloney of killing her husband because her gender roles as a woman are beingness fragile, black, incapable of doing anything that needs physical force, does nothing but cook, clean, take care of the house, tend to her husband, and above all she is pregnant which helps her bear away with murdering her husband. Mrs. Maloney is the typical house wife that always tends to he r husbands every need. When she kills her husband and the detectives fall out to her house to investigate his murder they do not expect her to have done such a thing.The detectives believed that her husband was hit behind the head with a heavy blunt object and her gender role being a woman let alone a pregnant woman help her get away with murder. Since shes a pregnant woman her gender role helps her seem fragile and weak unequal to(p) of carrying a heavy object and exerting enough force to kill someone, so thats one of the reasons she gets away with murder. another(prenominal) reason Mrs. Maloney gets away with killing her husband is that she basically worshipped him, she lived for him. Mrs.Maloney did everything she possibly could make her husband a happy man, the way it should be in those times. In the story it shows how much Mrs. Maloney loved her husband, and how she enjoyed being a house wife. The police officers and detectives notice that Mrs. Maloney seemed to be grieving o ver her husbands death, and they didnt know about Mr. Maloneys intentions on leave Mrs. Maloney, so it makes her look less suspicous. Last but not least Mrs. Maloney was a smart woman, and created an alibi. custody in those times thought women were dumb, and they were also supposed to be virtuous and innocent.So when the detectives questioned her she had the perfect alibi. To men a woman could have never been able to do such a thing because they were too innocent, and since they were considered dumb they knew she wouldve been caught if they would have killed someone. In Conclusion, the gender roles of women played a large role in the story because it hepled Mrs. Maloney get away with murdering her husband. The detectives obviously had stereotypes about her being the typical house wife and she played along, so Mr. Maloneys liquidator will remain a mystery. DUN DUN DUN