The found poem is based on the story called “Lamb to the slaughter”by  Roald Dahl.

In this project, I tried to pick words that connecting with the external and the internal conflicts of this story. One internal conflict I found in this part of the short story is a conflict within Mary (person vs self) the Protagonist. After her husband (the antagonist) reveals a shocking news to her, Mary experiences an internal conflict as she grapples with her emotions and decides how to respond. This internal conflict revolves around Mary’s struggle to process the news, decide how to respond, and ultimately, whether she should take drastic action. She experiences a wide range of emotions, such as shock, anger, fear, and desperation. These conflicting emotions create tension within her as she grapples with the gravity of the situation. Thinking of this conflict, I chose words like “deep freeze”, “she stopped” to represent the shock in her emotions and her hesitation before she grabbed onto the lamb leg.

Another internal conflict (person vs self) I have identified is Mary worrying about her unborn baby. She said that it was fine to think about her own death but not her child. I have included chose words like “penalty”, “kill them both” to show the thoughts going on in Mary’s mind. Mary’s internal conflict is further heightened by the fact that she is presented as a seemingly gentle and submissive woman. It is unexpected for her character to resort to violence, making her internal struggle even more intense. She must confront her own values, morals, and sense of self as she contemplates the consequences of her actions. After committing the murder, Mary must reconcile her actions with her previous perception of herself as a loving and devoted wife.

An obvious conflict can be found about the death of Patrick. The author used direct words to present a direct message to the readers. I collected words like “I’ve killed him”, “A leg of a lamb”, “Swung the frozen leg of lamb” to show the external conflict (person vs person) that Mary killed Patrick.

In my poem, it covers the concept of conflict because in this short story. I have included words that fully described the conflicts I have identified. Using red and black was a choice of mine giving the reader a scary emotion. Using bold letter in the red part was not only to help other read it but also to give the emphasis to these few words. In the section I have created the found poem, I was able to identify a lot of words that can give the reader a sense of conflict in this short story “Lamb to the Slaughter.”

Citations: https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roald-Dahl