ENG4U Short Story - the Ladyland
1. Early in the story, Dahl describes the Bed and Breakfast. What words and imagery are used to describe the Bed and Breakfast? What inference does Billy make about the Bed and Breakfast based on the look of the place?
Phrases like “pleasant,” “homely,” and “dainty” paint this place as a comfortable and warm place. This cozy image lets Billy infer that the place is decent and likely to provide a comfortable stay; nothing is affordable, and there are no other guests, which he interprets as a lucky find.
2. Dahl emphasizes the speed at which the Landlady answers the door. What might this foreshadow about the Landlady? (Jess)
Dahl mentions, “Normally, you ring a bell and you have at least a half-minute wait before the door opens. But this person was like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell–and out she popped!” This unusually quick greeting hints that she may be overly prepared or perhaps waiting for someone to come, which can create an eerie undertone for the readers.
3. When should Billy have been suspicious of the Landlady and why? When would you have been suspicious and why? (Jess)
Billy should have been suspicious when she checked him like a good, as Dahl described: " Her blue eyes travelled slowly all the way down the length of Billy’s body to his feet and then up again,” when the landlady failed to check his credentials or when she seemed overly eager to please.
4. Why does Dahl include the following text: "There were no other hats or coats in the hall. There were no umbrellas, no walking sticks - nothing." ? (Isa)
It is mostly to create suspense and foreshadow the unsettling nature of the place. It creates that sense of something unusual because that means that maybe there are no other guests and also creates doubt in the reader.
5. When Billy is in the living room, what first alerts you that something may be wrong and why? (Laura)
Everything was quite suspicious, mainly the fact that there’s nobody else staying at the place, and the fact that she had everything prepared. But we think that the two dissected animals are alert that something went wrong because it’s very unusual.
6. As Billy is remembering the connection between the two boys, what effect did the interruptions from the Landlady have on the story? (Laura)
We believe that the lady interrupts him because she somehow wants to distract Billy and make it difficult for him to remember who the other young people were. By making him move away from the main thought.
7. What can the reader infer, using evidence from the text, about the two boys that are missing? Does this help us figure out what happens to Billy? (Isa)
We can infer that maybe they are dead or they met a tragic ending because she said very weird things about them like the fact that they never left and how she had the animals dissected right in the entrance and how everything seemed so morbid and unusual in the house. And this helps us to figure out that Billy is probably going to have the same ending that the two boys before him.
8. What other evidence from the story suggests a possible, fatal demise for Billy?
We think that other evidence could be the dissected animals and the behaviour that the lady had when she was talking with Billy. and the fact that both of the boys were still there. Also the tea tasted like bitter almonds, which hints at cyanide, suggesting Billy’s fate was sealed the moment he drank it.