The Landlady: analytical essay by Roald Dahl

The Landlady is a short story by Roald Dahl, and was published in 1959. The story is about the 17 years old successful businessman man, Billy Weaver, who went to the small city called Bath, to do some business. When he arrived to Bath, he was looking for a place to sleep. He had been recommended to stay at the Bell and Dragon hotel. While he was walking, looking after the Bell and Dragon, he saw a boarding house with a big sign saying “BED AND BREAKFAST”, which caught his interest. Billy rang the doorbell, and met the Landlady, who appeared to be very affectionate and caring towards him.

Billy started to get suspicious, given that the Landlady was almost being “too polite” and was complementing Billy a lot. Yet it did not scare him away.

While Billy was reading the guestbook, he stumbled upon that there had only been two visitors at the boarding house, except himself. He thought the two visitors’ names sounded familiar, but he could not recall where he had heard the names before.

When Billy was writing in the guestbook, the landlady offered him a cup of tea, which he accepted. When Billy ask about the only two visitors, the landlady interrupt him every time, as if there was something that she was hiding from him.