Narrator and point of view

The short story “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl is told from the perspective of a third-person narrator. The story follows Billy’s point of view, so the narrator is limited. For instance, the readers only realize that the parrot and the dog sleeping in front of the fire are actually stuffed when Billy does (ll. 445-468). 

The readers have access to Billy’s thoughts and feelings. However, Billy’s perspective is so out of touch with reality that the readers realize what is going on before he does. Therefore, even though the readers are able to guess what is happening from all the clues provided in the text, Billy’s limited perspective makes him unable to escape his fate. 

As we have no insight into the landlady’s mind, we can only guess her thoughts ...