The Landlady

Which of the following statements best identifies a THEME of the text?

• People should get to know each other first before they judge

• Strangers can be more dangerous than they initially appear

• Loneliness can drive people to behave strangely towards others

• Kindness and hospitality are difficult to find among strangers

Part A: What does the word 'compelling' mean as used in chunk 3?

• To urge someone to do something

• To think deeply about something

• To become slightly interested in something

• To scare someone into doing something

Part B: Which quote best supports the definition you chose for 'compelling'?

• "After dithering about like this in the cold for two or three minutes"

• "When all at once his eye was caught and held in the most peculiar manner"

• "Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass"

• "Forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house"

Part A: What can the reader infer about the landlady from her conversation with Billy in the sitting room?

• She was a doctor or likely had some medical training, as evidenced by her ability to stuff her pets

• She is a lonely old woman who lost her son in the war and tries to replace him with her particular tenants

• She may have witnessed something terrible and suffers memory problems because she cannot recall Billy's name correctly

• She may be more threatening than she appears because her words suggest she was involved in the two men's dissapearances

Part B: Which of the following quotes best supports your inference about the landlady?

• "He guessed that she had probably lost a son in the war, or something like that, and had never got over it."

• "'Left?' she said, arching her brows. 'But my dear boy, he never left. He's still here. Mr. Temple is also here.'"

• "he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell... he wasn't quite sure what it reminded him of. Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital?"

• "if I happen to forget what you were called, then I can always come down here and look it up. I still do that almost every day with Mr. Mulholland..."

How does the shift in the physical description of the landlady throughout the passage impact the story's meaning? Insert a piece of text evidence to support your answer.

The landlady hints at her sinister intentions throughout the text - do you think Billy should have realized her plans? Was he in denial of his own fate? Insert a piece of text evidence to support your answer.