Tales of the Unexpected- Roald Dahl

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.