Question

In at least one hundred words, explain the significance of repetition in Bob Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.”

Answer 1

In this song, Dylan repeats the lines "Take the rag away from your face / Now ain't the time for your tears."

He uses these lines throughout the song in order to tell the listener that *this* isn't what they should be upset about. Don't get upset that this woman was murdered. Don't get upset that she was only a maid. Now isn't the time to get upset about these things.

By the end of the song, however, this line changes. It now becomes "Bury the rag deep in your face/ For now's the time for your tears." Dylan says that now is the time to cry because justice was not served. Zanzinger only got six months for the murder of an innocent woman.

Therefore, the repetition of these lines allows Dylan to indicate the true tragedy of this story.