This day in English class we had to
choose between three short-stories and read one of these. I chose "The
Landlady" by Roald Dahl. He is well known for unexpected endings, and this
one was not an exception.
The short-story is about the 17 year old
boy Billy Weaver who traveled to Bath and needed a place to stay for the night.
He found a sign with “Bed and Breakfast” and went inside. An old welcoming lady
showed him his room and let him write his name in the guestbook. The boy thought
it was strange that only two other men had visited the house for about three
years. Besides there were something familiar with the two boy names, but he
could not find out where he had read the names before. Billy and the landlady
started to drink tea, and everything she said became more and more weird. She
began to compare him with the two other boys and said they never left, but
lived in third floor. While talking he spotted that the lady’s dog was stuffed
and the lady told him she stuffed all her pets herself. Later Billy remembers
that the two boy names were missing and mentioned in the newspaper…
The short-story definitely had an
unexpected ending, I would never have guessed that the lady would kill the
people who stayed there and kept them in third floor. It is also disgusting
that she stuffed her dead animals as well. I do not know what happens next in
the short-story, but I am pretty sure that the landlady kills Billy and keeps him in
third floor with the others.
In class we also watched the movie “The
Landlady” by Alfred Hitchcock, and I found some things which were different
from the short-story and the movie. For instance in the story-story Billy was 17 years old,
but he was 22 in the movie. As well he
seemed a bit suspicious by some things along the action in the movie. I think I
liked the short-story the best because I read it first and you could think and find
out more yourself in it.
This is the movie, and here is a link to the short-story:
I agree with you, I also enjoy reading the short story first, and think about it. The movie gives you less time to think and wonder what will happen.
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