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How does
Roald Dahl create a sense of foreboding in his short story, « the Landlady » ?
Introduction
Setting
In order to increase the sense of foreboding,
Dahl uses contrast in his setting. First of off, when Billy is outside the house, a worrying and
disturbing atmosphere is created. Indeed, Dahl uses sharp words such as “deadly
cold air” and the houses are “crooked and blotchy from neglect.” However, once
he is attracted inside the house, the setting is totally different. From this
point onwards, the environment feels reassuring.
Character
Billy Weaver is a young man who is trying to
fit into society by acting and dressing like his superiors.
Plot
The reader feels frustrated as he is reading the
text because he is a little head of time compared to Billy. The reader barely knows more than
him yet he knows enough to feel frustrated when Billy doesn’t react to his
instincts. Billy, for example, “didn’t worry” that the landlady “appeared to be
slightly off her rocker”, though he should have done. Furhermore, when the
landlady keeps talking about the need to drink tea , we understand that
something is up, or why would she insist so? Unfortunately, Billy doesn’t
notice anything which maddens us and so makes the story much more interesting. We
feel uncomfortable when the narrator notes, “[the landlady] looked up at him
out of the corner of her eyes and gave him a nother gentle little smile.” We
understand there is nothing “gentle” about this lady and so we feel frustration
as we want Billy to get away from her as fast as possible.
Use of
language
The author uses terms that build a creepy
atmosphere. For
example, the “air was deadly cold” (l.7) which directly reminds us of death. The
narrator continues, “the wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks”. Dahl
repeats several adverbs such as “suddenly” (l.79), when the notice appears
without warning, and “normally” showing the landlady opened the door way too
quickly.
