3. The Landlady By Roald Dahl

(1) Book Cover

Though a short story, the effect that Roald Dahl has made in this chilling tale is fantastic in producing an eerie paranoia for the reader. The protagonist Billy stays at a Boarding House with a suggestion that the Landlady poisons him by putting cyanide in his tea. This shown as the tea taste of almonds:

“Not in the least,” she said. “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?” “No, thank you,” Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it." (5)

For those who don't know, if anything tastes like almond, apart from almonds of course, it can suggest cyanide poisoning, with victims of this poison tending to smell of almonds: 'In murder mysteries, the detective usually diagnoses cyanide poisoning by the scent of bitter almonds' (Lutz). Placing this in the story in such a light tone subtly and cleverly communicates the dangers of the Landlady.

Further suggestions of food and poison can be seen through the rest of the short story, where Dahl has focused on the use of senses as a way of portraying the foreshadow of Billy's fate at the boarding house:

"Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke. But Billy knew that she was looking at him. […] he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell that seemed to emanate directly from her person. It was not in the least unpleasant, and it reminded him – well, he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of. Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital? “Mr Mulholland was a great one for his tea,” she said at length.” (4)

(2) Cyanide Teacup

Peculiar about this description is Billy's lack of reaction to the strange comparisons he makes to the smell of the bed and breakfast, referring to hospitalized smells and leather, suggesting to the Landlady's hobby in taxidermy, but also her more sinister motives. The feeling of her watching over him as he drinks his tea, the taste of his tea and chilling warmth of the fireplace further this foreboding.



Overall, the text is valuable in presenting an effective form of foreshadowing, but with a tantalisingly sinister open ending. The reader can feel the eeriness of the boarding-house, as well as several the visible suggestions of what could later become of Billy.

Film

Although its effects and acting are a bit dated, I found a ITV film of the short story it is still a good watch to understand the interaction between Billy and the Landlady. 

Works Cited:
(1) Goddard, Tasha. The Land Lady - Patternmash Project. 2015. England. TashaGoddard, http://www.tashagoddard.com/2015/02/02/the-landlady-patternmash-project/.Accessed February 2017.
(2) BeatUpCreations. Cyanide Poison Altered Vintage Tea Cup. n/a. United States. Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/502072707/cyanide-poison-altered-vintage-tea-cup?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cyanide%20tea&ref=sr_gallery_1. Accessed February 2017.
Dahl, Roald. The Land Lady. 1959. England. Reprinted: David Highham Associates. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/landlady_text.pdf. Accessed February 2017. 
Lutz, Diana. Beware the smell of bitter almonds: why do many food plants contain cyanide? 2010. Washington University, St. Louis: The Source. https://source.wustl.edu/2010/07/beware-the-smell-of-bitter-almonds/. Accessed February 2017.

2. Context: Poison and Food, Why?

(1) Bottle of Poison

Before we get our teeth into the poison in novels, we must understand what its use accomplishes - why it is so frequent in mystery fiction. An excellent essay on food and poison is Toxic Encounters: Poisoning in Early Modern English Literature and Culture by Catherine E. Thomas, congruent to this blog's idea of poison and food as an invasion of security and endangerment of a living need.

Thomas explores poison in literature as something with multiple meanings: ‘So what made poisoning so fashionable as a subject during the period? Simply put: it made good theatre, whether onstage or off. But more significantly perhaps, poisoning offered a sufficiently rich network of meanings to express key cultural concerns of the time.’ (48). Therefore ‘Poisoning, an act defined by the physical bodies and intimate desires of individuals, illustrates how early modern authors conceptualized subjectivity with respect to gender, sexuality, class, race, and nationality.’ (49).

Poison in food can explore a variety of traits such as empowerment of women: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, presents a female protagonist who controls her home with the threat of plant-based poisons, killing off her family if she was slighted. I will be analyzing this book in a later post. Thomas continues, ‘She classifies poisoning as a method of murder that upsets traditional early modern domestic hierarchies and allows women to gain power over the men in their lives (either by killing them off or manipulating them).’ (50).

Thomas ends with an insightful description of the metaphorical implications of poison: ‘Poisoning as an act invokes questions of wilful versus unsuspecting ingestion. […] narratives about poisoning, fictional or not, cogently express how English writers thought about its power and pervasiveness in bodies both natural and political.’ (51). Therefore, poison in food is more than a murder weapon but symbolic as showing thematic values of power, gender and societal views in literature. With these in mind, can we understand the value of poison in each text that will be analysed in this blog. 

Works Cited

(1) Chantal, Julie. Bottle of Poison. 2013. Canada. Julie-Chantal. <http://julie-chantal.deviantart.com/art/Bottle-of-Poison-386595328> Accessed February 2017.

Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Live in the Castle. London: Penguin, 2009. Print.

Thomas, C. E. (2012), Toxic Encounters: Poisoning in Early Modern English Literature and Culture. Literature Compass, 9: 48–55. 2012. Web. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2011.00861.x/pdf> Accessed February 2017.

1. Introduction - Hello Everybody! Welcome to my Lair...

Grab a seat, kick up your feet, enjoy the ambiance of the warm fireplace... fancy a cup of tea? Promise there's no arsenic in it. 

(1) Pink-Skull Tea Set

I always had a passion for mystery in novels - a puzzle to solve as I progress through a book. Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle and Stephen King, famous authors all, crafting incredible crime novels, inviting us to solve the mystery with the protagonist. What I have found the most interesting is the tool used to commit the murder, so often a crime of violence: axe-chopping, gun-firing, knife-stabbing. The most fascinating of all, however, is the most cleverly hidden: poison. 

Poison has ever made a presence in our everyday lives, whether it's bleach in our bathroom, hemlock in our gardens or just the common toxic chemicals found in hardware stores. However, revealed in the history of poisons is more than a simple method of destruction. Contextual understanding of poison lets us understand how authors have exploited poisons, and their inherent subterfuge, to heighten the mystery in their fiction.

(2) Groom Pink-Skull Tea Cup

With each post in this blog, I will be discussing a novel, from Victorian to modern literature, that explores the use of food (or drinks), and its relation to poison. There will be critical analysis of passages of the text, supported by academic research. So, brace yourselves for a blog full of murder, poison, and some very dangerous food. I'm sure you'll look twice at your meals after this! Enjoy. 

Works Cited:
(1) Angioletti, Yvonne. "Installments 1-4, Gold Rose Skull Tea Set." n/a. AngiolettiDesigns, Etsy.com. <htttps://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/499318490/reserved-for-christine-installments-1-4?ref=shop_home_active_21.> Accessed February 2017.

(2) Angioletti, Yvonne. "Pink & Gold Skull Rose Bride / Groom Skull Tea Cup and Saucer, Available as Tea Set, Goth Wedding Couple Cup, Steampunk Wedding, Wedding Tea". n/a. AngiolettiDesigns, Etsy.com. <https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/478328148/pink-gold-skull-rose-bride-groom-skull?ref=shop_home_active_89> Accessed February 2017.