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Clyde Dunbar’s wife and the only woman to draw in the lottery. Husbands, as the heads of households, draw for their families. A grown son might also take on this role, but the Dunbars’ children are too young. Mrs. Dunbar seems to subtly resist the proceedings of the lottery. When the killing is about to start, she tells her son to run and tell his father who was chosen—perhaps saving the boy from witnessing the experience that year. Mrs. Dunbar also tells Mrs. Delacroix to run ahead of her as the crowd pursues Tessie—perhaps trying to avoid taking part in the murder.
Mrs. Janey Dunbar Quotes in The Lottery
The The Lottery quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Janey Dunbar or refer to Mrs. Janey Dunbar. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Lottery Quotes
“Me, I guess,” a woman said, and Mr. Summers turned to look at her. “Wife draws for her husband.” Mr. Summers said. "”Don't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?” “Horace’s not but sixteen yet,” Mrs. Dunbar said regretfully. “Guess I gotta fill in for the old man this year.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
The first stage of the lottery requires the head of each household to draw a slip of paper from the black box on behalf of his household. This task is always completed by the men of each family, with one exception this year: Mrs. Dunbar must draw for her incapacitated husband, who cannot attend the lottery. The discussion around this event shows the sexist assumptions behind the system of the lottery itself. The "head of household" is always assumed to be a man, meaning that a grown son will draw for his mother, as Mr. Summers wonders about in this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum vol
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Mrs. Janey Dunbar Character Timeline in The Lottery
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Janey Dunbar appears in The Lottery. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Lottery
...Delacroix is called forward, and Mrs. Delacroix holds her breath. “Dunbar” is called, and as Janey Dunbar walks steadily forward the women say, “go on, Janey,” and “there she goes.”
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Mrs. Dunbar says to her oldest son that she wishes everyone would hurry up, and Horace replies...
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...crowd begins to ask who has it. Some begin to say that it’s Bill Hutchinson. Mrs. Dunbar tells her son to go tell his father who was chosen, and Horace leaves. Bill...
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...Mrs. Delacroix selects a large stone she can barely lift. “Hurry up,” she says to Mrs. Dunbar beside her. Mrs. Dunbar gasps for breath and says that she can’t run. Go ahead,...
(full context)
