Stuffed Pets

The chilly reception the Landlady had told Billy, " I stuff all my little pets myself when they passed away." suggested that Billy was falling into the Landlady's trap of, as ironic as it sounds, being stuffed and kept forever. Just like the two other guests before him, and many that may follow in his footsteps. I felt very much sorry for Billy and the two other gentlemen in the story, having a bright future in front of them yet ended their lives earlier than they were supposed to. Just because they entered the Landlady's deadly little trap like blind rats.  

This story not only expressed deadly schemes and terror, but also taught the readers a very important lesson: There is no such thing as a free lunch. No one would just be nice to you without a reason. Many heroes and story characters had proven that, just like Billy had. And when there is a person who is being nice to you without a reason (though sometimes you can make an exception for your family and friends), you better let your guard up. That is not saying you should simply avoid every single kind person you've ever met, just to beware of their actions and do not trust them entirely until you felt that you can trust them entirely. After all, there are some people really do gain contentment by extending others a helping hand. The main literal device the story used was the element of Foreshadowing and was very successful. The story seemed to always arouse the reader’s interests, and most of us were pretty frustrated, since we did not find out what had happened to Billy afterwards.