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WorksheetsLamb to the Slaughter
Total questions: 21
Worksheet time: 1hrs 3mins
Why is Mary Maloney smiling as she waits for her husband’s return at the beginning of the story?
She loves him and always finds his return a “blissful time of the day.”
She has planned to kill him.
She knows he won’t speak to her for a while, and she is looking forward to the peace and quiet.
She likes being able to enjoy a drink with him.
What is Mr. Maloney’s occupation?
Fire Chief
Butcher
Police Detective
Grocer
Mr. Maloney tells Mary he hopes she will not fuss about his decision. How does he justify his demand?
“I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after.”
”I’ve thought about it a great deal.”
“...there simply wasn’t any other way.”
“It wouldn’t be very good for my job.”
Mr. Maloney can be characterized as...
Disloyal and untrustworthy
Honorable and innocent
Gentlemanly and kind
Totally evil
What is Mrs. Maloney’s motive for going to get the lamb from the freezer?
She thinks that she should go about her business as usual and things will be all right.
She wants to use it to hit Patrick.
She is nauseated at the idea of eating what she already made for dinner.
She thinks she can win Patrick back with her cooking.
Which word does NOT describe Mrs. Maloney’s immediate reaction to realizing she has killed her husband?
Remorseful
Clear-minded
Shocked
Surprised
Which pair of words best describes Mrs. Maloney’s actions after she kills her husband?
Frightened and Shocked
Light-Hearted and Funny
Careful and Honest
Sneaky and Clever
Why does Mrs. Maloney go to see Sam?
She needs someone, such as Sam, to be a witness that she was out of the house when the murder was committed.
She needs vegetables to go with the lamb.
Patrick wants her to cook dinner and not go out.
She doesn’t understand that Patrick is already dead.
When Mrs. Maloney returns home from the grocery store and sees Patrick’s dead body on the floor, how does she feel?
She pretends to be very upset.
She feels indifferent (that is, she couldn’t care less).
She is visibly upset and even feels love for him.
She feels guilty and forgives him completely for being unfaithful.
What evidence is there that the police have not ruled out Mrs. Maloney was the murderer?
The police go off to question the grocer about her alibi.
They never even check out her alibi.
They check the house for her fingerprints.
They tell her they are looking for the weapon.
What do the police do with the murder weapon?
They leave it in the garage.
They eat the weapon because they feel sorry for Mrs. Maloney and want to help her.
They eat it without knowing it was the murder weapon.
Nothing, because they never find the scanner.
What is Mrs. Maloney’s marital status as a result of her action?
Widowed
Still happily married
Divorced
Separated
Why do the policemen eat the lamb?
Mary made them eat the meal.
They want to help destroy the evidence.
The chief has told them to eat the meal.
They are hungry and don’t want to offend Mrs. Maloney.
Why does the detective say that the murder weapon “ought to be easy to find”?
He knows that it is in the house.
He knows that it must be very big because it damaged the skull so badly.
He knows Mrs. Maloney committed the crime.
He knows it is too big to be carried at all.
Why does Mrs. Maloney giggle at the end of the story?
She is responding to the ironic remark about the weapon being right under their noses.
She needs to be put in a mental hospital.
She is celebrating that she got away with murder and the case will never be solved.
She is glad that her husband is dead.
Identify the type of irony.
The police are looking for the murder weapon because that is the key to them finding the murderer, but they unknowingly eat the murder weapon instead.
Dramatic Irony
Situational Irony
Verbal Irony
Identify the type of Irony.
We know that Mary killed her husband, but the cops and detectives do not.
Situational Irony
Verbal Irony
Dramatic Irony
Based on the details in the story, you can conclude that the setting of the story most likely is
A small town in the early 2000’s
A house in the 1950’s
A cottage by the sea in 1910
A New York apartment during any time period
Which event in the story is the inciting incident. This is the point of the story where the conflict is introduced.
Mary finds out that her husband is leaving her.
She realizes that she is out of vegetables and must go to the store.
Mary notices that Patrick is acting oddly.
Patrick is late coming home from work.
Identify the type of figurative language in the following excerpt:
”She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man— almost as a sunbather feels in the sun.”
Simile
Repetition
Metaphor
Irony
“...ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass.”
Metaphor
Hyperbole
Onomatapoeia
Simile
