Discussion Topic
Dialogue and Irony in "The Lottery"
Summary:
The dialogue in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is deceptively ordinary, reflecting small-town chatter, which masks the sinister nature of the event. The irony lies in the casual tone, as villagers engage in mundane conversations, treating the lottery as a routine tradition. This normalcy lulls readers into a false sense of security, only to reveal its horrific outcome, illustrating how evil can be normalized. Jackson uses this technique to highlight the danger of accepting barbaric customs as part of everyday life.
How would you describe the dialogue in "The Lottery" and why do you think it was written this way?
The conversation in "The Lottery" sounds very much like ordinary, everyday small town chit-chat. A good example of this occurs when Mrs. Hutchinson is almost late to the lottery drawing. She explains that she was in the middle of everyday household tasks and had almost forgotten about it. To her, it seems like just another chore to check off her "to do" list, and she clearly hasn't thought much about it. We don't get any sense that has worried over it or dwelled on its implications. The passage is as follows:
"Clean forgot what day it was," she said to Mrs. Delacroix , who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly. "Thought my old man was out back stacking wood," Mrs. Hutchinson went on. "and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twentyseventh and came...
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a-running." She dried her hands on her apron, and Mrs. Delacroix said, "You're in time, though. They're still talking away up there."
As we can see, she engages in simple small talk about her day, and Mrs. Delacroix answers her as if they are participating in an ordinary drawing for a new washing machine, not a murder.
I think Jackson wrote the dialogue in this way to show how completely the lottery, though a barbaric custom, has been incorporated into the everyday rhythms of the village's life. Despite some rumblings about other town's dropping their lotteries, this village has accepted the lottery as a tradition as if it is a perfectly normal thing to do. Jackson wanted to show how people can get used to evil if is presented as banal and just the way life is.
What is the irony in the dialogue and tone of "The Lottery"?
By the time you have finished this terrifying and scary story, we realise as readers how we have been deceived and manipulated by the author. From the very beginning of this excellent modern Gothic classic, we are led to believe that we are being presented with a normal village fete scene and normal villagers, whilst all the time something much more sinister lurks beneath the innocent demeanour of the characters. An excellent example of how we are deceived can be found in the way that Tessie Hutchinson is introduced. As the villagers gather for the lottery, the nature of which we are unsure of, Tessie Hutchinson arrives late, and her arrival is described in the following way:
She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and began to make her way through the crowd. The people separated good-humouredly to let her through; two or three people said, in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, "Here comes your Missis, Hutchinson," and "Bill, she made it after all." Mrs. Hutchinson reached her husband, and Mr. Summers, who had been waiting, said cheerfully, "Thought we wre going to have to get on without you, Tessie." Mrs. Hutchinson said, grinning, "Wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now, would you Joe?," and soft laughter ran through the crowd as the people stirred back into position after Mrs. Hutchinson's arrival.
Note the way that the inclusion of "soft laughter" and the way that the people separate in a "good humour" to let Tessie through, and the kind of witty joke that Tessie makes to Mr. Summers clearly makes us believe that this is a perfectly innocent village meeting. It is only at the end of the story that we realise the sinister purpose of this gathering, and the tragic role that Tessie herself will play in it. The dialogue and casual tone is one of the principal ways in which Jackson achieves this masterful act of deception.