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.
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