Foreshadowing In The Landlady By Roald Dahl

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In the story “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, Billy Weaver, the main character, finds himself in a strange situation. Billy needs a place to stay when he comes across a small, cheap, and quiet bed and breakfast. It is a cold night, in Bath, United Kingdom. The theme of the story is to always be aware of your surroundings, because things are not always as they seem in life. The author uses craft moves like point of view and foreshadowing. Overall, by using these craft moves, Roald Dahl is able to create a very clear theme, that you should always be aware of your surroundings.. The theme to always be aware of your surroundings is portrayed throughout the story in multiple ways. From the start, Billy Weaver can see that the landlady is “slightly …show more content…
Roald Dahl uses third person limited. An example of point of view is when Billy Weaver asks the landlady “Excuse my asking, but hasn’t there been any guests here except them in the last two or three years”(5)? Then the landlady responds with “No my dear, only you.” This uses point of view to help create the theme because on page four, the landlady also says “He’s still here. Mr. Temple is also here. They’re on the third floor, both of them together”(3). Because of the perspective, we do not know the landlady’s actual thoughts. It helps create the theme to be aware of your surroundings because if Billy would have known, he would notice that something is very wrong, before he would have gotten himself into the situation. The author uses foreshadowing in the story too. Perspective is not the only craft move the author uses. Roald Dahl also uses foreshadowing to show the theme. When the landlady says “…and we don’t want to go breaking any laws at this stage in the proceedings, do we,” it is foreshadowing that a law may be broken later in the proceedings (3). Due to the way she stressed “at this stage.” This demonstrates how throughout the story there has been numerous clues that something terrible will happen to Billy Weaver. This also helps create the theme to always be aware of your surroundings because once again, if he would have picked up on the little hints and clues, he would not be the landlady’s next victim. By using these craft moves, Roald Dahl is able to create a very clear theme, that you should always be aware of your
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