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The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson took place in a small village with a population about three hundred people. On the sunny morning of the 27th around 10am, all the villagers began to gather in the square for a mysterious lottery drawing. The boys, Bobby Martin, Harry Jones, and Dickie Delacroix rounded up a big pile of stones in one of the square’s corner; guarding the stones from the other boys. The girls stood on the side, chatting among themselves. Men were talking and joking about various subjects, and later joined by their wives. Mr. Summers, who has no children and “his wife was a scold”, is conducting the mysterious lottery. He brought a black box with him as he entered on to the stage, accompanied by Mr. Graves, who carried a stool for the black box. Mr. Summer stirred the slips of paper in the black to prepare for drawing. In the past lottery, wood chips were used for drawing, however, as the town’s population grew, Mr. Summer switched over to papers to accommodate all the families. Just as Mr. Summers finished chatting with the official and turn to the crowd, Mrs. Hutchinson hurried to the square to join her husband, …show more content…
Summers made sure all the villagers showed up to began the lottery. He start to call the names of each family, and the head of the household went to the black box to pick a slip of paper without looking. Once each family received a paper, they check their paper simultaneously. After a long pause, villagers learned that Bill Hutchinson received the “winning” ticket. Ms. Hutchinson protested about been the “winner”, calming her husband did not get enough time to draw the ticket. Ignoring her discontent, Mr. Summers inserted five slips of papers in to the black box, for Mr. Hutchinson’s family to draw. After revealing Mr. Hutchinson and his children revealed their blank paper, all eyes were on Ms. Hutchinson. Ms. Hutchinson screamed in terror that this is not fair, while villagers picked up stones to stone
Mr. Summers ran the lottery because he does things for the village. A black box is brought out in front of everyone. Mr. Summers mixes up the slips of paper in the box. Then he calls everyone’s name in town. After he finishes calling names, everyone in town opens their papers.
Toward the finale of the short story, Shirley Jackson, the author of “The Lottery” declares, “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the black box, they still remembered to use stones” (873). Many of the residents display no knowledge of the lottery and only participate because of tradition. In fact, only Old Man Warner recollects the authentic purpose of the lottery. He furnishes some insight behind the tradition of the lottery by declaring, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 871). Old Man Warner reveals the original reason for holding the lottery, but Jackson clearly demonstrates that the original purpose no longer exists. The villagers comprehend the procedure of stoning the victim but nothing else. Nick Crawford articulates in an easy about “The Lottery,” “The most disturbing thing about Tessie Hutchinson’s unexpected demise is its...
The short story ‘The Lottery’ reveals a village of 300 that assemble for a lottery on June 27th every year. The lottery has been held this day for years and years, and has become a classic tradition. The lottery itself is holy to much of its residents, like Mr. Watson, who states that the village in the north is a pack of young crazy fools for removing the lottery. “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanti...
In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Jackson illustrates an average agricultural town that usually wouldn’t be given a second thought, but in this case the innocent appearance is holding a dark secret. Every year in the summer an annual tradition is held known as the lottery. The lottery is held in the small town in order to have a bountiful harvest. All the towns’ people gather and each head of the families must reach into an old black box to grab a white slip of paper. The lottery is then narrowed down to one family once all the white slips of paper are opened. The individual who is possession of a white slip of paper with a black dot has their family each reach into the box and grab a slip of paper of their own. Unfortunately the family member who has the slip of paper with the black dot is sacrificed in order to receive a good season of crops.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the theme of the story is dramatically illustrated by Jackson’s unique tone. Once a year the villagers gather together in the central square for the lottery. The villagers await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black box. Within the black box are folded slips of paper, one piece having a black dot on it. All the villagers then draw a piece of paper out of the box. Whoever gets the paper with the black dot wins. Tessie Hutchinson wins the lottery! Everyone then closes in on her and stones her to death. Tessie Hutchinson believes it is not fair because she was picked. The villagers do not know why the lottery continues to exist. All they know is that it is a tradition they are not willing to abandon. In “The Lottery,” Jackson portrays three main themes including tradition, treason, and violence.
Mr. Summer states, “Now I’ll read the names- heads of families first- and the men come up and take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has a turn. Everything clear (568)?” Given that today’s lottery winners receive money, a reader might assume winning in this short story would be a good thing. The men held the slips over papers nervously in their hands. After a long, breathless pause, Mr. Summers says, “All right, fellows (568).” The head of the family opens the slip of paper and the terrible fate awaits the winner. The winner was the Hutchinson family. Tessie Hutchinson instantly states, “I think we ought to start over… I tell you it wasn’t fair. You didn’t give him enough time to choose. Everybody saw that (571).” The reader may still not understand what the prize is or may be confused on why each family member now needs to draw a slip of paper from the old black
Written by Shirley Jackson and published in 1948, “The Lottery” is a dystopian short fiction about a cruel and barbaric lottery ritual. The plot and characters illustrate that certain traditions ought to be abolished for the betterment of society. At the beginning of the story, the entire village gather around every year on June 27th to attend the lottery, which is mandatory. Once everyone arrived to the center, an old man named Joe brought a black box. Eventually, the heads of each family have to pull a ticket from this box, but they cannot be opened and must remain folded until everyone took their turn. Eventually, after everyone had their turn, everyone has to open up the paper and show it up for everyone to witness. If the head of the family pulled a blank ticket, then the family has nothing to
In “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, tone and symbolism are equally important elements in comprehending this eerie short story. This dark tale takes place in a small town of about 300 people during the summer. The writer begins by painting a picture of children playing, women gossiping, and men making small-talk of home and finances, putting the reader at ease with a tone of normality. The people of the town coalesce before the lottery conductor, named Mr. Summers, appears to begin the annual town ritual of drawing from a box which will result in the killing of one townsperson by stone throwing. It isn’t until the fateful conclusion when the reader comes to realize there is nothing normal about the
On the morning of June 27 of a recent year, the 300 villagers of an American village prepare for the annual lottery in a mood of excitement. The horrible tradition of the lottery is so old that some of its ritual has been forgotten and some has been changed. Its basic purpose is entirely unremembered, but residents are present to take part in it. The children in the village created a “great pile of stones” in one corner of the stoning square. The civic-minded Mr. Summers has been sworn in and then he hands a piece of paper to the head of each family. When it is discovered the Hutchinson family has drawn the marked slip, each member of the family Bill, Tessie, and the children is given another slip. Silence prevails as suspense hovers over the proceedings. After helplessly protesting the unfairness of the first drawing, Tessie finds that she holds the marked slip.
In "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, there are a series of traditions the story revolves around. The characters in the story don't seem to follow their traditions anymore. The story begins by explaining how the lottery works. The lottery takes place in many other towns. In this town it takes place on June 27 of every year. Everyone within town would gather at the town square, no matter what age. The black box is brought out and each head of the household pulls a small paper out of it. Only one of the papers will not be blank, it will have a black-penciled spot that is put on by the owner of the coal company. The black spot will send someone, from the family who chose it, to death. This is decided by a draw. The family member who pulls out the spotted paper will be stoned to death. After a long period of time, people forget the traditions by slowly disregarding as the years pass.
Even though the story took place in the United States, where democracy is the primary form of government, the villagers in “The Lottery” are forced to join and follow the tradition. As a wealthy coal business owner and the official of the lottery, Mr. Summer is the authority figure in the village. He has the power to command and manipulate the villagers by exploiting their desire to preserve the lottery tradition. Jackson explicitly reveals that Mrs. Hutchinson’s lottery paper “[has] a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summer [has] made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office” (Jackson 7). Since Mr. Summer is the government official of the lottery, he is able to mark the winning lottery paper to avoid picking it himself; therefore, eliminating his chance of becoming the winner. This passage demonstrates the dictatorship and corruption of Mr. Summer. The passage is also consistent with the characteristics of dystopian literature. The villagers are not only controlled by the tradition, but their lives are also in the hands of a corrupted official. Mr. Summer is trusted and seen as a leader by many villagers because he “[has] time and energy to devote to civic activities” and can provide employments due to owning a coal business (Jackson 1). Being a leader, Mr. Summer is expected to be honest, kind and selfless; however, he is cruel and manipulative according to his
The lottery is a ritual that has been around for years and years and it has developed into a way of life for the people of the town. When June comes rolling along everyone is anticipating the lottery. Kids fill their pockets full of rocks and plans are discussed about making a new box. They can not wait to attend and finally get it over with. This drawing seems to transform the people. Tension builds before the lottery occurs, but the townspeople are still able to joke with one another. Tension increases in the story when the author, Shirley Jackson, implies to the reader that Mr. Hutchinson has drawn the marked paper. We assume he does because he walks up on to the stage with his family and they are then made to draw again from the worn out black box. Mr. Hutchinson reaches his hand in and grabs out a piece with his children and his wife following in succession. The one that holds the winning ticket is Mrs. Hutchinson.
The lottery begins on June 27 in the village square as the villagers are beginning to pour in for the annual town lottery Children play, collect stones and begin to make a pile in the town square. The men and women soon follow slowly. Mr. Summer, the coordinator of the lottery, enters the village square with a black box followed by Mr. Graves. The reader is informed that the lottery use to be conducted on wood chips but Mr. Summers eventually confidence the village to switch to small pieces of paper. The crowd grows silent as Mr. Summers approaches the black box and begins to mix the paper within it around. Simultaneously the reader is introduced to Tessie Hutchinsons, a village member, as she joins her family in preparation for the lottery. Mr. Summers restates the lottery rules; the head of the family will come draw from the box plus no one open their piece of paper until everyone has picked one; and then declares the lottery open. One by one a person from each family approaches the box and draws one piece of paper. They slowly return to their place in the crowd and wait to reveal their luck. Mr. Summers completes the calling of names, instructs everyone to open his or her paper and to look for a black mark. Very quickly the villagers begin to converse asking “who got it”. It is s...
The ability of the story to create suspense lies in the fact that the narrator never reveals what the characters are thinking. Therefore, the reader begins to wonder why the lottery box is black, and why the villagers seem to be afraid of it even when they seem excited about the occasion. The mention of chants and other forgotten rituals that had accompanied past lotteries further mystifies the event, but then Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late at the town hall with her lighthearted jokes, the scene again appears to be an ordinary lottery drawing. As the drawing begins, the villagers are suddenly "quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around" (NA, 784). The reader is left to interpret the somber atmosphere; humorless grins of the townspeople reveal little about the source of their nervousness, even though something seems amiss. The suspense quickly builds and the scene becomes ominous as Mrs. Hutchinson cheerful countenance suddenly gives way to anxiety when her husband draws the winning slip. The narrator's perspective reveals only enough to allow the tension to build until the reader finally comes to the shocking realization that the lottery is actually a ritualistic murder.
“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a disturbing social practice in a village. Besides, there were about three hundred citizens in the small village where the setting took place. The introduction of “the lottery” is about an event that takes place every year on 27th in the month of June, where the community members of this tradition organize a lottery. Everyone in the village including small children to adults is expected to participate. Besides, when this story was introduced at the very first in 1948 by Shirley Jackson, many people were upset. This is because this story was so strange to undertake in modern enlightened times.