The title of this story is very clever because it has multiple possible interpretations. Only one person is really being slaughtered. That is Patrick Maloney. He goes to the slaughter as meekly as a lamb because he doesn't suspect what is going to happen to him. The leg of lamb is used for the slaughter but it is not slaughtered--although it was slaughtered a long time ago and then frozen. Mary Maloney is not slaughtered,...
The title of this story is very clever because it has multiple possible interpretations. Only one person is really being slaughtered. That is Patrick Maloney. He goes to the slaughter as meekly as a lamb because he doesn't suspect what is going to happen to him. The leg of lamb is used for the slaughter but it is not slaughtered--although it was slaughtered a long time ago and then frozen. Mary Maloney is not slaughtered, but she does the slaughtering. She has been as meek and docile as a lamb up to the point where she succumbs to a fit of rage and uses the frozen leg of lamb to slaughter Patrick. The detectives who come to the Maloney house might be compared to lambs going to the slaughter of Patrick. These detectives are all led by Mary as easily as is they were innocent lambs. Patrick is the only one actually slaughtered.
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