Landlady By Roald Dahl

“Landlady” is a tragic fiction story; one with a peculiar ending written by Roald Dahl. In the short story, Billy (protagonist), a young, handsome man is in search of an affordable hotel out on a chilly night at Bath, England. One of the shopkeeper’s tells Billy ‘to try the Bell and Dragon”, a quarter of a mile down the street. Ordinarily, Billy was planning on heading straight to the Bell and Dragon, but on the way, there was a notice that said BED AND BREAKFAST. Billy rang the doorbell, and out came the landlady; a perfectly normal landlady. Conversely, it is revealed that she’s not normal; she’s the one who murdered the people from the headlines, and her next prey was Billy. In my opinion, the foremost message of the story is that appearance
can blind reality.

The hotel itself was unrealistic. The price of the hotel was extremely cheap. It was less than half of what Billy had originally planned to pay. It felt zany to Billy, but at five and sixpence a night, he does not give a damn.The place was empty; Billy and the landlady were the only ones there. When Billy states that he expected the place to be swamped by applicants, she replies “Oh, I am, my dear, I am, of course I am. But the trouble is that I'm inclined to be just a teeny weeny bit choosy and particular – if you see what I mean.” This text seems peculiar, was she expecting a young, tall, and handsome man like Billy to come? The dachshund on the carpet was well preserved and it looked as if it was still alive, but it is later discovered that the landlady stuffed it. The fact that she could do that seemed dubious. I know that there are multiple different themes that show what the story’s message is, but I strongly believe that my theme is the most salient one.

There are thousands of hints in the story that prove that the landlady is eccentric.
Even Billy himself stated that the landlady is slightly dotty. When she says “But I’m always ready. Everything is always ready day and night in this house just on the off-chance that an acceptable young gentleman will come along. And it is such a pleasure, my dear, such a very great pleasure when now and again, I open the door and I see someone standing there who is just exactly right.” Something seems peculiar about the Landlady, and Billy perfectly fitting into her category. Therefore, I think this shows that the Landlady wants to be alone with Billy. The fact that the Landlady would always force Billy to drink tea seemed odd. Especially, when he started thinking about the headlines. Was there a reason she would force tea on him? When BIlly finds out that Mr Mulholland, and Temple are still here, he should have realized what she was up to. But how can such an innocent looking landlady do that. Also, the landlady acts as if she knew that Billy was going to come to the Bed and Breakfast. I’m not sure if that is possible, but it means that Billy was destined to fall for her trap. Billy himself states that the landlady seemed slightly off her rocker. Nevertheless, Billy could not believe the truth. How can such an innocent appearing landlady execute such a
crime.
Reality can be lost if you get deceived by the appearance of a person, place or an object. Billy is so amazed by the Bed and Breakfast that the reality fades away from him. The place being so cheap, empty and stuffed dead animals seems suspicious. The landlady seemed slightly off her rocker as well. Although she appeared to be innocent and gentle, the fact that she “chooses” her customers, forces tea on Billy and stuffing dead pets seems out of the ordinary. There was multiple reasons why Billy choosing to stay at the bed and breakfast was an unpleasant decision. This story emphasizes on the fact that something or someone cannot be trusted even if it seems “terribly nice”.