I think you need to be aware that the tone of any given
work does not necessarily stay the same. This is a case in point with "The Lottery",
because the tone has a distinct shift from a peaceful, normal, everyday kind of tone to
a grimly horrific tone that finishes the tale. Note how Jackson almost from the first
sentence deliberately misleads us into thinking that this story is going to be something
very different from what it actually is:
The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny,
with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day. the flowers were blossoming profusely
and the grass was richly
green.
This creates a happy,
cheery kind of tone and as we read on and discover that the villagers are gathering
together, we expect the lottery to be some form of village fete or festival. Note too
how the children, men and women engage in "normal" kinds of activities - the men swap
jokes, the women engage in gossip, the children play with stones. There is nothing to
indicate the sudden change of tone that leads to the devastating
finale.
However, it is as the villagers get whittled down
to the Hutchinson family it is clear that the tone subtly changes as Mr. Summers asks
Bill to show Tessie's paper in a "hushed voice." As the villagers, and even the friends
of Tessie like Mrs. Delacroix rush to gather stones, the tone shifts to one of horror as
we realise that the villagers are going to stone Tessie to
death.
Thus in this story the tone is not constant - it
shifts towards the end of the story from a normal, peaceful tone to one that is
frighteningly disturbing.
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