Although
I have only read a couple of the stories out of <Tales of the
Unexpected>, it was certainly enough for me to find several common traits
shared among the stories. The most significant of them was the “ironic”
attitude of the narrator. The irony appears when the narrator contradicts
himself by speaking of horrid things in such a moderate manner. The last scene
of <Lamb to the Slaughter>, where the detectives eat the murder weapon as
their supper, the narrator adds lines such as “One of them belched” as if the
men were eating an ordinary lamb chop. Like so, I think such narrating methods
made the overall tone of the stories sarcastic and cynical.
Unlike
his children’s’ novels, most of the Roald Dahl’s short stories in <Tales of
the Unexpected> portray the negative side of human nature. The dark themes
of the stories suggest that the author intended to show the negative human
natures through the actions of his characters. Revenge, in <Lamb to the
slaughter>, greed in <Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat>, and
dishonesty in <Man from the South>, all three are example of Dahl’s such
intentions. Almost as if it is a punishment, the main characters mostly end up
in a tragedy for pursuing immoral human deeds. Like so, not only did the author
try to portray the evil human nature, but also he tried to show his critical
attitude towards it.
Lastly,
another hint suggesting Dahl’s negative portrayal of human nature is perhaps the
theme “trust.” In <Man from the South>, the American Boy answers “Sure, I’ll
bet, why not?” to the South American man that he encountered for the first time;
and eventually he almost loses his finger for a Cadillac that didn’t even exist.
In <Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat>, Mrs. Bixby cheats on her husband
for 8 years. On the contrary, she herself, who refused to write the description
of the coat saying “I trust you” to the pawnbroker, is cheated in the deal with
the broker. By making the characters trust in the beginning and eventually get
betrayed at the end, I assume that Dahl intended two things. It’s either that
Dahl wanted to stress the evilness of the human nature by contrasting a crime
against trust and innocence, or simply to show the stupidity of human nature,
so carefree and lacking suspicion.