The Landlady

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Good afternoon, members of the magazine committee. I am Sienna Austin and I’m here to recommend a short story for the next edition. With an elegant writing style and engaging plot, The Landlady will certainly appeal to the magazine’s audience and capture readers’ interest from beginning to end. Written by Roald Dahl in 1959, this is a haunting tale of a young man, Billy, who arrives in Bath looking for a place to stay. He finds an enticing Bed and Breakfast and meets its interesting landlady. The Landlady will keep readers on the edge of their seats! I’d like to see the The Landlady included in the next edition because it is a powerful story, taking elements from everyday life to create a situation that any of us might face. We can imagine…show more content…
The following techniques work in unison to create a thick tone, suspenseful atmosphere and a hair-raising mood. First, a technique Dahl used consistently is foreshadowing. During the story, we subtly learn what will happen next. This not only keeps the reader wanting more, but creates a tone of suspense for the audience. Foreshadowing creates an eery, suspenseful mood and atmosphere. Foreshadowing is mostly done via dialogue. However, what I call descriptive foreshadowing is also used: In the opening of the story, Billy arrives in Bath. Upon his arrival he thinks, ‘The air was deadly cold’. The cold of death, perhaps? He arrives at the B&B where the landlady explains that there aren’t many visitors as she is inclined to be just a teeny weeny bit choosy and particular. Her being choosy when it comes to guests subtly suggests to the audience that she may be waiting patiently to select her next victim. In the guest book, Billy finds just two names and he remembers them from somewhere. The landlady must have been involved. They sit down for tea together, which to Billy tastes like almonds. This suggests Billy has been poisoned by the landlady with…show more content…
The story flows well because of Billy’s personality and character. A tone of youth and newness can be gathered from Billy’s appearance and cheerful mood. Billy is susceptible to being duped due to his lack of worldliness. It is imperative that Billy is naive for the story to work. If he were observant and cautious, he would have avoided the landlady’s drop altogether or quickly noticed that something was wrong and escaped. Billy is described as wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat, and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. Billy is at the start of life, hoping to become a successful businessman excited about wearing his brand new attire. At this point the mood is light, the audience suspects that it will be a cheery story and the atmosphere will remain the same. However, the moment when the landlady opens the door, the mood becomes grim and the tone suspenseful. Billy suspects that the landlady was slightly off her rocker but that didn’t worry Billy in the least. She was not only harmless but was also quite obviously a kind and generous soul. Billy’s unquestioning personality leads him to trust the landlady and stay in her care, thinking she is kind at

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