Why does the author most likely have the men behave in a reserved manner?
Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own
children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and
taxes. They stood together, away from the pile of stones
in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled
rather than laughed.
- "The Lottery,"
Shirley Jackson
O to build a sense of uneasiness
O to describe the joy of the lottery
O to show how rundown the farm town is
O to depict the blue-collar nature of the town