Character Sketch: Dusty Hanson, The Lottery by Beth Goobie

June 14th, 2007
ELA9 Mrs. LaMotte
Elizabeth Selinger

The Lottery
Character Sketch: Dusty Hanson

Let’s say you’re in grade ten and have an older brother. He’s a few years older, taking university classes, and teaching you how to drive. However, let’s say he still lives at home, because your mother is distant workaholic, and he worries about you growing up. Let’s say he’s been the only strong person to look up to in your life. You love him more than any other person in the world. Let’s say that all the things being said are added up. The result is Dusty Hanson, from the viewpoint of the main character, Sal.

Dusty is a stereotypical older brother in the way that he’s overprotective. A good example of this is near the end of the book, when Willis visits the Hanson house to practice his and Sal’s duet. In one part it says, “— he’d kicked up a mini-uproar that morning when he’d heard Willis was coming over,” and he insists upon answering the door and somewhat defending Sal. Though he has the obvious reasons to be on guard – his past with Shadow, the fact that Sal is the victim and Willis the president – the fact is clear by the way he subtly banters with Willis, disgusted by him; demands a guarantee from him, and watches him so warily during practice. He wants to be a shield for his little sister, and keep her safe and well to an extreme. Another section of the book showing this trait in Dusty is when Sal thinks that he can’t get his own life because he cares too much about her’s.

Though he strives to keep his sister safe; Dusty’s desire to keep her well goes to a further extent – her psychological security. His character is very intelligent, or at least thoughtful. It is stated that Dusty is a psychology major at the University of Saskatchewan, and twice in the book he references his texts in attempts to explain Sal’s behavior to their mother. Also shown are segments where he is acknowledged to be studying or working on projects. While this may demonstrate academic intelligence, Dusty is also portrayed as a very thoughtful and observant person. He almost catches on when Sal primarily questions Lizard, very casually, about the Lottery. Throughout the book he seems to be noting her behaviors and trying to help and be a support, even though he doesn’t actually have an honest understanding of the situation.

If the original summary of this character was taken back into focus, Dusty Hanson looks the perfect person to have around at this point in Sal’s life. However, one feature holds him at a far from perfect position: his passive stance concerning confrontation. Right through about the first three-quarters of The Lottery, the main character maintains that her brother would never challenge any of her issues. For instance, when Sal mentions the Lottery while driving (to which Dusty gives a remarkably cold response), and then decides not to question Dusty about his reaction because she thinks he will only back off the subject. Or, another case in point is after one of Sal’s The Wall Live screaming sessions, when she knows Dusty won’t ask her straight out why she’d been screaming at such a level. According to Sal, no one in her family tackles important matters head-on, not even something as key as her father’s suicide. This explains Dusty’s mannerisms, and the wall he has to break down before he can conquer that passive trait.

At this point, all of the subject’s characteristics involve his younger sister. He cares for her visibly, and even beyond her, Dusty has quite a caring persona. The author illustrates this through Dusty’s quiet worry for his mother at the beginning of the book, when he warns Sal of their mother’s concern about her hypnosis while screaming, and requests Sal tell her good-night before bed. It even displays the previously mentioned section in which Dusty indicates toward his studies on scream-therapy to explain Sal’s actions. An event such as this really shows his concentrated nurturing and attention on both Sal and his mom. Later in the story, Dusty reveals the truth about his high school years: how, although Lizard won the Lottery, Dusty tried to stick by him. He was tremendously loyal and really troubled himself by caring about his best friend so much. This is a distinct quality in a young male person especially, because today’s society makes it a lot harder for that gender of teens to show real caring in a setting with peers.

Still on that note, Dusty continued to make more of an apparent break from his peers. Despite the fact that residing with Lizard didn’t work out, he started what is written in the novel as “random acts of intelligence” against Shadow Council. After he graduated, Shadow apparently still wanted a kind of vengeance, selecting Sal Hanson as Lottery winner. This only goes to show exactly how major a stand like Dusty’s was. No one during Sal’s term does anything remotely close to what Dusty describes he did. It appears this character is nonconforming as they come, if he wants to be. Indicating this furthermore is the mention of his supreme talent in basketball, and yet he’s never joined a basketball team. Even though basketball may have been his way to deal with his father’s death, in a conformist a talent such as that would only lead to teams. Another part that could be mentioned is his shag carpeting in the basement – definitely not something regular in modern day.

This material concludes that the character Dusty Hanson of The Lottery by Beth Goobie is overprotective, intelligent, passive, caring, and nonconforming. Additionally, that he’s thoughtful, observant, and loyal. Consequently, he could be seen as complex or entirely not, as typical older brother type, or an expressively pleasing character of many coats. Overall Dusty Hanson is much like the book itself – looking typical at first glance, but if explored, something quite unexpected and multifaceted.