The title of this story is an allusion to the sacrificial lamb, or Lamb of God, a term from Christianity used to describe Jesus. Specifically, Jesus is called the Lamb of God because he sacrificed himself as atonement for the sins of others.
As a result of this allusion, a potential reader might expect to find a couple of things. Firstly, like Jesus's sacrifice, the reader might expect that this story is one about death....
The title of this story is an allusion to the sacrificial lamb, or Lamb of God, a term from Christianity used to describe Jesus. Specifically, Jesus is called the Lamb of God because he sacrificed himself as atonement for the sins of others.
As a result of this allusion, a potential reader might expect to find a couple of things. Firstly, like Jesus's sacrifice, the reader might expect that this story is one about death. Secondly, they might expect to find a "sin" of some description to feature in this story.
By using this title, Dahl sets the reader up for Patrick's death, the sacrificial lamb, and the "sin" he commits by ending his marriage to Mary. However, by not alluding directly to these events in the title, Dahl effectively build's the reader's anticipation for how the title will apply to the parts of the story.
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