Roald Dahl

Task:

Copy this beginning of an essay into a Word Document and work to improve.

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.