(Link to my found poem)

My found poem is about “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. The conflict in this poem is about how Mary Maloney, a housewife, gets away with the murder of her husband.

An external conflict appears in the story when Mary uses a frozen lamb chop to kill her husband, which is an example of physical violence between two characters. I know this because the conflict in this story, a person-to-person conflict, is characterized by two characters struggling for victory against each other; therefore the physical violence at the rising action between Mary Maloney, the protagonist and antagonist and Patrick, her husband in this story can be categorized as an example of person-to-person conflict.

Although a person against self conflict usually has a main character who is both a protagonist and antagonist, this story is not a an example of person against self as although Mary Maloney shows remorse for the murder, she does not appear to be conflicted before killing her husband, proving this story is not an example of a person against self conflict. A direct quote from the story is “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head. ” The words “without any pause” show that she did not hesitate to kill her husband.

Another type of conflict that appears in this story is person against society. In this short story, Mary Maloney struggles against the laws against murder as she uses a variety of ways to cover up her murder, meaning she was fighting against society’s laws when she killed her husband and successfully made the police believe that she was innocent.

My poem shows the concept of the story by including the conflict, showing what type of conflict it was (internal or external) , and showing the plot and the most important sections of the story. For example, this short story is essentially about how Mary murders her husband with a frozen lamb chop after hearing that he must leave her and the steps she takes to cover up her murder. The first sentence of my poem, “Mary Maloney moved uneasily, bewildered.” hinted at some tension and foreshadows the murder. “Without any pause, She swung the leg of lamb on his head.” introduces the person to person conflict while showing that this is not a person against self conflict as Mary was not hesitant to kill her husband. The sentences “She went to the phone. The detectives came.” informs the reader of the first Mary takes to hide her murder. The sixth sentence of the poem, “Mrs. Maloney said, “Have that lamb, please” brings out the climax of story where the police accept Mary’s offer of the lamb, unknowingly destroying all evidence of the murder weapon. Lastly, the sentences “It’s probably under our noses. Mary began to giggle.” expresses the irony of the twisted crime and the dark humor of the story.

My choice of the image of a blood splatter indicates the poem revolves around a crime, hinting at the center of the poem to the readers before they read my poem. I used larger font for the last two sentences of my poem as they are drawing attention to the irony of the story.