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Allusions
Dialect
Explanation and Analysis—Rural America:
The characters in “The Lottery” speak in a subtle rural dialect, meaning that Jackson changes her spelling and grammar when writing dialogue in order to capture the ways that some rural Americans would speak in the mid-20th century. The following passage—which comes as Tessie Hutchinson arrives late to the lottery—captures Jackson’s use of dialect:
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.
"Well, now," Mr. Summers said soberly, "guess we better get started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work. Anybody ain't here?"
Some of the subtle changes that Jackson makes in order to capture her characters’ rural dialect include having Tessie say “m’dishes” instead of “my dishes” and having Mr. Summers say “we better” instead of “we’d better,” as well as “so’s” instead of “so as” and “Anybody ain’t here?” instead of “Are we missing anyone?"
By employing dialect in this way, Jackson attempts to have her fictional community appear as “normal” as possible. In convincing readers that this town is just like any other rural American community, she communicates that this town’s normalization of violence and conformity could happen anywhere in the U.S. In this way, her story is a call to action to readers to challenge any practices or institutions that they view as violent or unjust.
Related Themes:
