The Landlady

Task:

1. Copy and paste this document into a Word file.
2. Write both an introduction and a conclusion.
3. Save as an rtf. file and email me at robyn.cnockaert@gmail.com
4. In the object line write: your names + landlady

The Landlady: Our Class Essay.

Introduction

• -          Introduce author and short story
• -          Provide a basic outline of the story, pulling that description towards your essay question
• -          Give your essay question
• -          Give a roadmap, outlining key points of paper in order.

          The Landlady is a complex character who is both nice and deadly. At first, Billy Weaver thought the landlady was nice: “She had a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes” (l.22). Here, Billy seems to be describing her as a doll instead of an old woman.  Moreover, she was always “smiling at him” (l.112) which shows her kindness. He also said that she “had quite obviously a kind generous soul” (l.163) and that gave him a good impression of her. However, on the other hand, she is very creepy because she’s mad: “appeared to be slightly off her rocker” (l.305) because she appeared like a ghost. She’s also deadly: “I stuff all my little pets myself” (l.305). The words “little pets” are confusing because they could be the two missing men. The fact that she’s creepy is confirmed in Billy’s perception: “the old girl is slightly dotty”. This landlady is very contrasted in her personality. On one side, she is very nice and, on the other side, she looks very weird, completely deadly and psychopathic.

            Billy Weaver appears to be confident yet he is also unsure of himself. He seems confident because he is wearing new clothes and he acts like a business man by his « brisk » walk (line 28), which he thinks is « the one common characteristic of successful businessman » (line 29/30). The fact that he is wearing a new coat, hat and suit proves that he seems mature for his age. However, Billy is also a very naive and hesitant 17-year-old boy. We can say that he can easily get manipulated because «Billy found himself automatically starting forward into the house » (line 85/86). He is quite observant as well when he’s standing outside of the hotel where he catches sight of things about Bed&Breakfast like, for instance, a « printed notice propped up against the wall » (l.40/41) or « vase of pussy-willows, tall and beautiful » (l.42). Billy seems indifferent to what is going on around him because when « his landlady appeared to be slightly off her rocker », it « didn’t worry Billy in the least » (line 160/161). Those are the reasons why Billy is smart and sociable, yet still a hesitant and unsure of himself.

In this short story are lot of creepy elements can be found. At the beginning of the story, the reader feels a weird and scary atmosphere. There are some weird aspects in different settings. Firstly, the city is creepy because there are no shops and nobody in the streets. The character feels oppressed by the tall and identical houses. It is also creepy because of the façades cracked and the paint peeled. Nothing is alive around him. Then, the strangest aspect of the story is the Landlady. When Billy arrives, she seems to be waiting for him. She says “I knew you would. Do come in”. She also calls him “Mr. Perkins” instead of “Mr. Weaver”. She tells him that everything is ready for him and that chooses her guests. She keeps staring at him and asks him to sit next to her. She says “Sit down beside me on the sofa”. To continue with, she wants him to write his name on a book and he only sees to other entries since three years. In addition, these two names ring a bell. The Landlady tells him that they never left and describes them saying things like “his skin was like a baby’s” and “there wasn’t a blemish on his body”. Finally, the Landlady has a parrot who looks alive but at the end of the story, we find out that she stuffs her pets when die. She also stuffed her dog. She says “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. In conclusion, we can say that the story is full of creepy elements like the force which pushes Billy to the Bed&Breakfast “forcing him to stay where he was”. The general atmosphere is scary from the beginning to the end.

In the short story “The Landlady” written by Roald Dahl we can notice an interesting use of English. We can see three points that helps us perceive the strange atmosphere that takes place during the story. At the beginning of the play, the author tells us that the air is “deadly cold” and that the wind was “like a flat blade of ice” on Billy Weaver’s cheeks. It enters the lexical field of death. Moreover, we can mention a few elements as : “rapacious”, “eggs”, the fact that the Bed and Breakfast is described as very cozy and cheerful that give the impression to the reader that Billy is entering a nest. Here we have words such as : “pleasant”, “plump”, “animals (…) good sign”, “fire” that are a contrast with the lexical field of death, and that give a feeling of warmth, that are welcoming.

In this short story, Dahl also uses a lot of techniques to give special feelings to the reader. In our paragraph, we will discuss three techniques: words with a double meaning, literary techniques, the words that participate to the queer atmosphere. First of all, to give the reader a special impression, and to lead him on a way of seeing things under an angle he chose, Dahl uses words wisely and thoughtfully.  Here are a few examples: “bright fire burning in the hearth” which could refer to hell, “terribly nice” where the writer seems to insist on the word TERRIBLY and “strange bed” where the word strange could also help to create a strange feeling. Secondly, the writer uses literary techniques. For instance, we can see an alliteration with the sound [s] like: “starry sky over the houses opposite the station entrance”. Dahl also employs assonance with the sound [y] such as “slightly, dotty, Billy” and “teeny weeny bit choosy”. Alliteration are used to slow down the rhythm, whereas the assonance is supposed to speed up the lecture. The writer also uses repetitions to insist on the frightening case: “Bed and breakfast, bed and breakfast, bed and breakfast”.

Conclusion

• Resume your key points
• Draw your reader back to information presented in introduction... come full circle.
• As you are writing, remember that Roald Dahl is a writer who has crafted this fictional short story (eg: don’t treat your characters as real people).