PLOT   EXPOSITION: introduces the reader to the main characters, the setting and hints at the conflict to come (background information, engages readers)  

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   RISING ACTION   CLIMAX CRISIS FALLING ACTION INCITING FORCE EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated   RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT

PLOT   INCITING FORCE: Also called the “trigger incident”… an incident/action that starts/ ignites (“sparks”) the conflict, begins the rising action, and sets the plot in motion by changing the initial situation  

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   RISING ACTION   CLIMAX CRISIS FALLING ACTION -Patrick has some news for his wife: “ ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ ” INCITING FORCE EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated   RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT

PLOT     CRISIS: the primary conflict is fully exposed  

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   RISING ACTION   CLIMAX -Patrick reveals the news that he is leaving his pregnant wife: “ ‘So there it is,’ he added. ‘And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.’ ” FALLING ACTION CRISIS -Patrick has some news for his wife: “ ’Listen,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ ” INCITING FORCE EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated   RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT

PLOT     RISING ACTION: everything between the exposition and the climax that complicates the plot and makes the story more exciting (build up to the climax)  

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   -Mary does not want to believe what Patrick has just told her, even pretend that he had not even spoken. -Mary lost all sensation of feeling; all, except for a feeling of nausea and a desire to vomit. -Mary decides she will follow her daily routine. She goes to the freezer in the basement and takes out a frozen leg of lamb. -Patrick snaps at her when she comes back upstairs: “ ‘For God’s sake,’ he said, hearing her but not turning around. ‘Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’ ”   CLIMAX RISING ACTION -Patrick reveals the news that he is leaving his pregnant wife: “ ‘So there it is,’ he added. ‘And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.’ “ CRISIS FALLING ACTION -Patrick has some news for his wife: “ ’Listen,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ ” INCITING FORCE EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated   RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT

PLOT     CLIMAX: it is the highest point of interest or excitement, the point at which the conflict of the crisis begins to be solved. The climax is the incident in which the protagonist makes a clear decision or takes an action which will either end in victory or defeat.  

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   RISING ACTION -Mary does not want to believe what Patrick has just told her, even pretend that he had not even spoken. -Mary lost all sensation of feeling; all, except for a feeling of nausea and a desire to vomit. -Mary decides she will follow her daily routine. She goes to the freezer in the basement and takes out a frozen leg of lamb. -Patrick snaps at her when she comes back upstairs: “ ‘For God’s sake,’ he said, hearing her but not turning around. ‘Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’ “   -Mary hits Patrick with a frozen leg of lamb: “…Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.” CLIMAX -Patrick reveals the news that he is leaving his pregnant wife: “ ‘So there it is,’ he added. ‘And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.’ “ CRISIS FALLING ACTION -Patrick has some news for his wife: “ ’Listen,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ ” INCITING FORCE EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated   RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT

PLOT     FALLING ACTION: everything between the climax and the resolution that helps to tie up the loose ends of the problem  

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   RISING ACTION -Mary does not want to believe what Patrick has just told her, even pretend that he had not even spoken. -Mary lost all sensation of feeling; all, except for a feeling of nausea and a desire to vomit. -Mary decides she will follow her daily routine. She goes to the freezer in the basement and takes out a frozen leg of lamb. -Patrick snaps at her when she comes back upstairs: “ ‘For God’s sake,’ he said, hearing her but not turning around. ‘Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’ “   -Mary hits Patrick with a frozen leg of lamb: “…Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.” CLIMAX -Mary realizes that she has killed her husband. -Her mind clears, she starts to think quickly. -She puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook. -She tidies up her appearance in front of the mirror. -She practices smiling and speaking in a natural, calm voice. -She goes to the grocery store where Sam helps her purchase potatoes, a can of peas, and some cheesecake. -She hurries home, acting as if nothing has happened, convincing herself that if she should find something out of the ordinary in her house then she would react to it as if she had just seen it for the very first time. -She finds Patrick’s dead body, kneels down beside it, and starts crying her heart out. -She telephones the police informing them that Patrick is dead. -Sergeant Jack Noonan and other officers arrive and perform an investigation, examining the body, checking for clues/ fingerprints, searching for the murder weapon, conducting interviews -Mary offers the police officers a drink of whiskey and something to eat: the leg of lamb. FALLING ACTION -Patrick reveals the news that he is leaving his pregnant wife: “ ‘So there it is,’ he added. ‘And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.’ “ CRISIS -Patrick has some news for his wife: “ ’Listen,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ ” INCITING FORCE EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated   RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT

PLOT     RESOLUTION/DENOUEMENT: the solution to the conflict and often presents something that the characters have learned (moment of discovery/recognition); tying up of loose ends. “Denouement” is a French word which means “unravelling”. It is the concluding incident or comment that throws additional light on the climax, explaining details that the climax has not explained.

Plot Map for “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl   RISING ACTION -Mary does not want to believe what Patrick has just told her, even pretend that he had not even spoken. -Mary lost all sensation of feeling; all, except for a feeling of nausea and a desire to vomit. -Mary decides she will follow her daily routine. She goes to the freezer in the basement and takes out a frozen leg of lamb. -Patrick snaps at her when she comes back upstairs: “ ‘For God’s sake,’ he said, hearing her but not turning around. ‘Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’ “   -Mary hits Patrick with a frozen leg of lamb: “…Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.” CLIMAX -Mary realizes that she has killed her husband. -Her mind clears, she starts to think quickly. -She puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook. -She tidies up her appearance in front of the mirror. -She practices smiling and speaking in a natural, calm voice. -She goes to the grocery store where Sam helps her purchase potatoes, a can of peas, and some cheesecake. -She hurries home, acting as if nothing has happened, convincing herself that if she should find something out of the ordinary in her house then she would react to it as if she had just seen it for the very first time. -She finds Patrick’s dead body, kneels down beside it, and starts crying her heart out. -She telephones the police informing them that Patrick is dead. -Sergeant Jack Noonan and other officers arrive and perform an investigation, examining the body, checking for clues/ fingerprints, searching for the murder weapon, conducting interviews -Mary offers the police officers a drink of whiskey and something to eat: the leg of lamb. -Patrick reveals the news that he is leaving his pregnant wife: “ ‘So there it is,’ he added. ‘And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.’ “ CRISIS FALLING ACTION -Patrick has some news for his wife: “ ’Listen,’ he said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ ” INCITING FORCE -The 4 police officers accept Mary’s hospitality, go to the kitchen, and eat the leg of lamb. -They continue to discuss the type of murder weapon used and its possible whereabouts. -Mary Maloney giggles from the other room. EXPOSITION / INTRODUCTION RESOLUTION / DENOUEMENT -Protagonist: Mary Maloney -Antagonist: Patrick Maloney -Secondary Characters: Sam the grocer, Sergeant Jack Noonan, police officers -Setting: inside the Maloney home around supper hour (10 minutes to 5:00), grocery store -Background information: Mary is pregnant, the husband works hard, Mary is a dutiful, loving, and caring wife, Patrick is tired and irritated  

PLOT   EXPOSITION: introduces the reader to the main characters, the setting and hints at the conflict to come (background information, engages readers)   INCITING FORCE: Also called the “trigger incident”… an incident/action that starts/ ignites (“sparks”) the conflict, begins the rising action, and sets the plot in motion by changing the initial situation   CRISIS: the primary conflict is fully exposed   RISING ACTION: everything between the exposition and the climax that complicates the plot and makes the story more exciting (build up to the climax)   CLIMAX: it is the highest point of interest or excitement, the point at which the conflict of the crisis begins to be solved. The climax is the incident in which the protagonist makes a clear decision or takes an action which will either end in victory or defeat.   FALLING ACTION: everything between the climax and the resolution that helps to tie up the loose ends of the problem   RESOLUTION/DENOUEMENT: the solution to the conflict and often presents something that the characters have learned (moment of discovery/recognition); tying up of loose ends. “Denouement” is a French word which means “unravelling”. It is the concluding incident or comment that throws additional light on the climax, explaining details that the climax has not explained.