The Landlady, written by Ronald Dahl, is a chilling and dark story about Billy Weaver, a seventeen year old buisnessman. Billy is trying to find a good place to stay after a long train ride. He spots a cozy looking place, and deserts his original plan to find the Bell and Dragon hotel. When he arrives, he comes to the conclusion that the owner of the place, and old lady, is a nice and harmless person. He was wrong, and sadly meets his fate after being poisoned by the lady with a cup of “tea”. This story The Landlady, is a tale about judging things based on what is on the outside.
There are many accounts where the main character Billy Weaver, stereotypes groups, people, and places. In the beginning, Weaver was briskly walking through the city, because according to him, buisnessmen are always brisk, and that was the key to their success. This was one way he was being cliche. Another time when Billy “judged a book by its cover”, was when he found the Bed and Breakfast Inn. When he peered through the windows, he saw the cozy interior and exterior of the house, so he decided to abandon his other plans and decided to stay at the Bed and Breakfast. He even saw the animals and was very pleased, as it meant that it “was a good sign in a place like this”. Another time Billy was greatly mislead was when he met the owner of the Inn. Billy thought that the lady was “off her rocker”, and “dotty”, which should have been enough for Billy to leave the Inn, but he did not. He saw that the owner was an old lady, who seemed like a “kind and generous soul”, so he came to the conclusion that she was not harmful. This caused Billy to think that he was safe, which later, he ironically was proven wrong. Throughout the whole story, Billy was greatly mislead countless of times by how things looked on the outside.
Billy’s actions throughout the story taught a very important lesson, to never judge a book by its cover, or to never stereotype. Billy was constantly judging things by their outer appearance, and these small actions eventually led to his death. So, Ronald Dahl teaches to never stereotype, whether it is negative or positive, because in the end, it will be harmful.