The Importance Of The Lottery In Hutchown

Now that all the papers are handed out the men begin to unfold the slips of paper to reveal blank pieces of paper. However one man is left with a paper with a black dot on it. The man unlucky enough to receive this slip of paper is Bill Hutchinson. Promptly Tessie Hutchinson, Bill’s wife, begins to panic saying he didn’t have enough time to pick his paper. Being a reasonable official Mr. Summers allows Hutchinson and each of his family members to reselect a paper. Bill, his two sons, one daughter, and wife Tessie each take a paper and Tessie Hutchinson is left with the paper with the black dot. The townspeople begin to clear a space around Tessie Hutchinson. One of the younger boys from earlier in the story hands her son a stone. While she screams “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” the townspeople begin stoning her, the lottery “winner”.

The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, is about a small town that dedicates a day to killing one person from the town by stones. The head of the household each draw a paper from the box and whoever receives the one with the black dot, their family has to draw again. Whichever family member has the black dot, essentially wins the lottery. One character in the story, Old Man Warner, has survived each lottery that has happened. Warner has a lack of guilt and claims the lottery should be an occurrence each year. The mention of discontinuing the lottery irritates Warner. “‘Pack of crazy fools,’ he said… ‘There’s always been a lottery…’” (Jackson). He also expresses his dislike for the lack of seriousness when he comments on Mr. Summers, a man “who had the time and energy to devote to civic activities” (Jackson), joking around with the crowd. Perhaps the reason Old Man Warner is accepting towards this event is because this is the “Seventy-seventh year [he][has] been in the lottery” (Jackson). He also comments on how the people have changed. Exclaiming “‘It’s not the way it used to be… People ain’t the way they used to be’” (Jackson). Warner feels no remorse towards the lottery and believes it should continue as a tradition.

As Tessie’s protests continue and the Hutchinson family prepares to draw again the sense of apprehension is one again mounting, this time fearing for whoever wins yet still not knowing what their “prize” will be. “The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, ‘I hope it’s not Nancy’”, the silence and fear of the crowds manifests in the reader as the three children and their parents all draw slips of paper. Tessie “wins” the lottery and when the narrator explains “although the villagers had forgotten the ritual, and lost they original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (6) its suddenly shockingly clear to the readers what the winner is to receive. The drastic switch from a light and cheerful tone with talk of the beautiful day and children playing to the closing like of “and they were upon her” (7) is in part why this story is so effective. The unforeseen sinister end of the story makes the revelation of the tradition much more shocking and unsettling than had the reader known from the beginning what the outcome would be. Jackson very effectively builds a sense of apprehension and foreboding as she slowly cues the reader into the reality of the situation.

Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is about a bizarre ritual performed in a town in which the townspeople proceed to follow every year. In a black, worn box they place all the names of the community. Once all the names are placed inside, Mr. Summers draws a name. After the name is chosen, this member will be stoned to death by the others in the community. Tessie Hutchinson in the story tries to reject the repetitive tradition of the lottery.

Tess’s tone in her last words before being stoned is desperate and hysterical, because she knows that her protests will not result in anything but death. The black box used in the lottery each year isn’t something that the reader would usually associate with a happy lottery. The box is described as, “shabby…splintered…faded and stained,” yet no one in the community wants to replace it because, “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” The color black symbolizes the savage and evil nature of the lottery as well as the townspeople’s participation in it and the shabbiness of the box indicates how outdated the tradition truly is. Like the lottery, the box is well worn with its real purpose lost, and the townspeople are extremely reluctant in letting it go, even getting defensive when the idea of it is brought up. After the stoning of the “winner” occurs, the townspeople go on with their lives as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The lottery takes less than two hours so that the townspeople could, “…get home for noon dinner,” immediately following the execution. The normalcy of the lottery to the townspeople is horrifying and all throughout the story everyone seems ok with this evil tradition, children are shown laughing and their parents, gossiping and talking about work. When Tess Hutchinson chooses the paper slip with a black dot making her the “winner”, Bill Hutchinson, her husband, as

“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story with an unexpected outcome. The townspeople gather on June 27th in the warm summer air to hold their annual lottery. The lottery starts off by each head-of-household drawing. The family who receives the slip of paper with the black dot then has each member of the family draw. The final winner--the one who has the paper with the dot--receives the shocking and vile prize of being stoned to death by their fellow townspeople. The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, uses irony to show how the actions of the townspeople directly reflects ideals society has placed on the entire town.

In “The Lottery”, author Shirley Jackson portrays the importance of violence and inhumanity that is being shown throughout the community and how the townspeople play a major roll in it. Shirley Jackson believes that violence is huge within this community and she also believes that the community isn’t aware of their actions. Every year on June 27th, the community gathers at the town's square to attend the lottery. The folks who run this lottery are Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves (The Postmaster). Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves will randomly announce names from the lottery box. If the name announced was on the paper the family member selected, then the audience would throw stones at them until they were dead.

there is quiet conversation between friends. Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery, arrives with a black box. The original box was lost many years ago, even before Old Man Warner, the oldest person in the village, can remember. Each year Mr. Summers suggests that they make a new box, but no one is willing to go against tradition. The people were willing to use slips of paper instead of woodchips as markers, as the village had grown too large for the wood chips to fit in the box. A list of all the families and households in the village is made, and several matters of who will draw for each family are decided. Mr. Summers is sworn in as the official of the lottery in a specific ceremony. Some people remember that there used to be a song and salute as part of the ceremony, but these are no longer performed. Tessie Hutchinson arrives in the square late because she has forgotten what day it was. She joins her husband and children before the lottery can begin. Mr. Summers explains the lottery’s rules: each family will be called up to the box and draw a slip of paper. One of the villagers tells Old Man Warner that the people of a nearby village are thinking about ending the lottery. Old Man Warner laughs at the idea. He believes that giving up the lottery would cause nothing but trouble, and a loss of civilized behavior. A woman responds that some places have already given up the lottery. Everyone finishes drawing, and each

In “The Lottery” a representative for every family in this small town is to pick a paper out of a large black box that is either blank or has a black dot on the center. When Mr. Hutchinson chooses the dreaded black dotted paper, his wife Tessie is quickly on his defense. But, as soon as the family has to each choose a paper themselves and it becomes clear that Tessie has chosen the black dotted paper, he is quick to pull her paper out of her hand and show the towns people that she had the paper of death. The “Lottery” is an age old tradition that doesn’t seem to have any real reasoning. If your family is so unlucky as to get the black dotted paper it doesn't matter if you are a man, women, or a child, if you yourself choose the black dotted

Displayed in the short story, “The Lottery”, author Shirley Jackson demonstrates the actions of a group of people who live with ways of tradition. Each year on June 27th, entire villages of people gather in the town square and each family pick a paper to determine which will continue the tradition of the lottery. The true intentions of this story is not fully revealed until the end, where the reader learns what the ‘lottery’ really is. As part of the tradition, the person who is unlucky enough to get the only paper with a black dot drawn on it is to be stoned to death by the remaining townspeople. When faced with the results of this tradition, hesitation is not shown by the people of the town as they pick up stones to kill the chosen person with.

On the morning of June 27th, a primitive town gathers in the town square to follow a strange tradition that has been around for years; The Lottery. The children gather stones to put into a pile in the middle of the square, and then go stand with their families. A household name is drawn out of a box, and then family members’ names. One villager is selected to win the lottery – the brutal prize is being stoned to death by the town. This tradition is paralyzing their town from moving forward because it normalizes murder for the supposed greater good of the town – a theory which has no evidence. THESIS

The story of the lottery takes place in a little town where it seems like all the families are familiar with each other. They gather in what seems to be the city’s town square. It looks like the people are gathering for something good, maybe something as to winning a prize but in reality it’s like a town reaping. Two people get to pick random folded papers from a black box to give to everyone in a family. And whoever gets the first black dot has to get their family together and choose a random paper again and from there whoever receives a black dot on their paper has to go up in front of the whole town and get stoned to death by everybody including their own family members.

“The Lottery” a short story by Shirley Jackson, features a small town during the time of their lottery. The lottery is an annual event, organized by Mr. Summers. It is a highly important time, as the whole town comes to the town square on the day of the lottery. The guidelines are quite simple: everyone takes a slip of paper out of the symbolic black box, and the slip of paper with the black mark carved on it, is the “lucky winner”. But their definition of the lottery is different一usually, a lottery is a valuable thing to win. But when Tessie Hutchinson, the “lucky winner” gets her reward by getting stoned to death by the rest of the villagers, it is clear that winning this lottery can't be a good affair... So what is the purpose of this lottery? Rather than discontinuing the lottery, the town continues with it because they don't want to upset an old tradition.

The lottery must be discontinued immediately, as it does nothing but turn the community against each other, discourage free thinking, and promote unnecessary dependence on an unknown deity to meet the needs of the people. As long as this heathen ritual is still in place, the town can never form the strong bonds of friendship and trust essential in keeping a community healthy and thriving. Although it may be functional in keeping the peace, removing the looming fear of being stoned to death by your family from the back of everyone’s minds would bring a flood of innovative thoughts and ideas, far outweighing any benefit the lottery might have had. Once this twisted system of thinking is demolished it will be obvious to see that such blind dependence

Throughout the duration of this class, I had the opportunity to encounter a great deal of fantastic examples of literature. The stories were as similar as they were different, each one with a unique premise but somehow also reflective of one another. Perhaps it is be accident, or more likely it is because the stories are a part of the fabric of our nation and the American condition. The stories are of their respective times while also being able to fairly and accurately critique American society, culture, and values. From capitalism to America’s changing thoughts on morality throughout the decades, the writings were introspective to the story of our nation.