Contrast between “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “Dip in the pool”

There are many many books all over the world today. Out of all books Roald Dahl is different compare to other authors in the world. His stories are so mysterious and unpredictable which interested me. Out of all stories he wrote, I have chosen to write about “lamb to the slaughter” and “Dip in the pool”. This is because I liked both of stories as I felt passion in the story and the fact that people cannot imagine what is going to happen next attracted me to the story. “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “Dip in the pool” have differences and similarities.

“Lamb to the Slaughter” is about a story of a couple. The husband came back one day looking very serious. The wife named Mary Maloney was wandering what was wrong with him. The husband Patrick Maloney wanted to divorce Mary due to the fact he has got a lover and wanted to be with the lover and not with Mary. Mary could not understand the fact that Patrick wanted to divorce her. She loved him so much that the love became anger and hatred, and out of nowhere she decided to kill Patrick as she is out of her mind. Mary kills him with leg of lamb and needed to make perfect alibi by destructing the evidence. Mary uses her friendship between her and policemen as her husband was policeman. She persuades policemen in order to destroy the evidence. Finally the policemen were persuaded by Mary and ate the evidence therefore Mary gained a perfect alibi.

“Dip in the pool” is a story about an auction on the ship. Mr. Botibol was on the ship for the auction. He was getting all the information he could get in order to win the auction. The auction was about how far ship could advance in limited amount of time. This depends on the weather of the sea. When the weather is sky blue, the ship could advance far far away. However, when the weather is bad ship doesn’t move as much as usual because ship need to advance safely. Mr. Botibol needed to win the auction in order to buy a car, which his wife wanted for a long time. He decided to bet all of his savings therefore if he loses him and his wife have no money. This was a very dangerous bet. On the day of auction weather was awful and there was no prophecy of moving so far. Mr. Botibol therefore decided to bet on a least distance ship would move. However, next morning the weather was all sunshine which means he would lose the bet, so somehow he needed to turn around his fortune. He came up with a plan which he thought would work. This plan was to fall in the sea, so the ship would stop. However, this plan did not work as witness he found was mentally ill, so nobody believed her, therefore Mr. Botibol was left in the sea.

The difference between two stories is love between the couples. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the love between the couple is completely broken. The husband wanted to divorce with the wife, and love is turning into anger which eventually turns into murdering her husband. However, in “Dip in the pool” the husband tried to win the auction for his wife. There is love in what he was trying to do. He wanted to win the auction to buy a car for his wife. He just wanted to see his wife smiling.

Next difference is in how a witness helps the convict. In “lamb to the Slaughter” Policemen is the witnesses for the murder of Mr. Maloney. They help the killer by eating the evidence as they were persuaded by the murderer, Mrs. Maloney. However, in “Dip in the pool” the witness doesn’t help the main character at all. The witness seemed to be a nice person and it looked as though she would help him, but the person was mentally ill, and people did not believe what comes out from her mouth. Therefore this prevented her from saving Mr. Botibol, who was going to lose the bet.

The similarities between the two stories are that both of the main characters tried to get away from the wrong thing they have done. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney tried to get away from the crime she has done by destroying the evidence and making alibi for herself, and in “Dip in the pool”, Mr. Botibol also tried to do similar thing. Mr. Botibol tried to win the bet by stopping the ship. He didn’t want to lose the bet as he would lose all of his and his wife’s life savings, so he needed to do something. The plan he came up with was stopping the ship in order to get away from the mistake he has made.

The next similarity is that both of settings are very similar. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the couple is not very rich and this was same in “Dip in the pool”. Both of couples are not very rich, however, wanted to be rich, so they needed to do something in order to become rich. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the husband wanted to divorce with the wife, because he wanted to concentrate on his job. In “Dip in the pool”, Mr. Botibol must have thought that betting was the only way to become rich.

Both of stories are very interesting and I recommend both of stories. However, if I had to choose one of the stories I recommend “Dip in the pool”. This is because this story is so unpredictable that it is just unimaginable. This story was completely different from all of other books I have read. “Lamb to the Slaughter” was also fascinating and people can see the dark side of human. Both stories are thrilling and enjoyable.