The Lottery: A Short Story

The story started when people are gathered every end of June for the annual lottery ritual in a small village. All the head of each family are required to grab a slip a slip of paper in the box that is placed in the middle of the village. The in charge of the lottery was Mr. Summer. The conflict occurs when Tessie found out that her husband Bill was the center of the Villager’s attention. There is something on the paper that he picked. Because of that Tessie can’t even accept it and she keep on yelling that it is not fair. She believed that the time given to Bill was not enough to pick the paper that he wanted from Mr. Summer. The entire Hutchinson family, are

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 contrast of this story begins almost immediately, and can be found throughout the remainder of it. The story begins harmlessly, on June 27th, which is described as clear and sunny. The children are on summer vacation from school, the grass is green, the flowers are blooming, all things that invoke more hope of a positive story. The townspeople are all congregating for the lottery, where they will stone someone to death, in the place where they also host square dances and Halloween activities, as though it is a spot reserved for fun. Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late, as she “Clean forgot what day it was” (Lawn, P.257) and “then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running” (Lawn, P.258), and then she laughs softly with Mrs. Delacroix, showing that Mrs. Hutchinson would likely participate in stoning the winner of the lottery, even though she later screams “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Lawn, P.263).

In this story everyone is allowed to freely share their opinions and beliefs without being discriminated, but the way they feel does not have a impact on the tradition that their town still continues. “There's always been a lottery he added petulantly… said old man Warner.” (Lines 200) this piece of text evidence shows that the town carries on their tradition and old man Warner makes sure they do. In the next text evidence it will explain how others feel towards the lottery and it says in lines (202) “Some places have already quit the lotteries, Mrs. Adams said”, This piece of text evidence is one of many that shows that the people in the town do not agree with the act of the Lottery anymore and they are always aloud to express their feelings and beliefs towards the Lottery. The only problem is that the man in charge of the lottery who is old man Warner, does not except how the town feels because their feelings are not the same as his which relates back to the quote. If old man Warner had accepted the people of the towns different feelings and beliefs of the people in the town even though they differ from his. In this story Ms. Hutchinson a ordinary person in the story who was randomly picked no matter how she felt. She was chosen to get stoned even though everyone

In Shirley Jacksons story, The Lottery, a small town is stuck in a deadly tradition. A tradition that was continued in the hopes that the towns crops will be plentiful. The character Old Man Warner even talking about the old saying “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon“ when talking about the lottery to Mr. and Mrs. Adams. The story shows a small town stuck in old ways, and the victim of mob mentality.

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.

“The Lottery” takes place on a warm sunny summer day of June 27, 1948 in New England. The small farming village all gather around ten o’clock around the post office and the bank for the yearly harvest for the lottery. This village is very small compared to other villages, this particular village has only about three hundred people and we know that because the lotter only takes about two hours where other take days. The

“You may begin!” Everybody dived into the paper. I stood at the front of the room with the timer in my hand. As the timer went off, I yelled,

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

The townspeople believed they earned the right to murder a member of their community because they were all at risk to be the victim. Mrs. Graves claimed, “All of us took the same chance.” Although, the lottery unified the community through an adhesiveness to tradition, the divisive tradition destroyed families and slowly killed off members of the community. When Tessie arrived, her neighbor, Mrs. Delacroix, greeted her and engaged in a friendly conversation. As Tessie moved toward her husband a slight cheer and laughter emerged from the crowd. Jackson wrote, “The people separated good-humoredly to let her through…” Mrs. Hutchinson even grinned and joked, “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” and a soft laugh rang out. However, the crowd became very defensive when Tessie Hutchinson claimed her husband didn’t have enough time to draw, and insisted it wasn’t fair. Earlier though, she hurried him by calling out, “Get up there, Bill.” When the Hutchinson family was announced the winner Tessie panicked and was soon distraught. When Mr. Summers asked if there were any other households in the Hutchinsons, Tessie exclaimed, “There’s Don and Eva. Make them take their chance.” Tessie desperately offered her daughter and son in law in an attempt to

An old tradition in an even older town has begun tearing apart a small community. Last week, Tessie Hutchinson won the annual Little Town lottery. In Little Town, a village just outside of Big Town, all the townspeople gathered in the main square. It was a seemingly normal summer day, however a large cloud hung over them all.

In today’s society we perceive the lottery as being a great fortune brought down upon you by Lady Luck. It is a serendipitous event, even if the person has done nothing to earn it. One would never see the lottery as an unfortunate occasion that occurred in your life because it is supposed to bring prosperity into your life. Also, one would not dare to think that winning the lottery would bring such repercussions as injury or death. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author could have used Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson as the town’s scapegoat due to their reluctance to change traditions, her horrible work ethic, and minority status as a woman.

“Chips of wood, Mr. Summers had argued, had been all very well when the village was tiny, but now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep growing” (Jackson, 2). The town never had an overpopulation issue, there was never a good enough reason to continue the lottery and even less start it for that matter. The social hierarchy of the town did not allow the people to have a voice and that made them feel intimidated. The people were almost programed and expected to accept and carry this unfair tradition; not because of the meaning of it but because they were scared to ask to let it go in results of things getting worse.

At the beginning of the passage, Nancy Hutchinson steps up to take her turn in selecting a paper out of the black box. Immediately, it is apparent that the narrator is telling the story in the third-person and has a high level of knowledge about the characters and event taking place. The narrator is knowledgeable but by no means intrusive. The family members, Nancy, Tessie, and Bill, are described as they grab a folded piece of paper containing their fate. Nancy “took” one “daintily”, Tessie “snatched” it “defiantly”, and Bill simply “reached” in and “felt around” before taking the last one (234). The narrator clearly sees how each person is acting and, in turn, feeling about the lottery. There are a few remarks by the townspeople included. However, there is no commentary or opinion from the narrator

“He was okay. I thought he was cute… in a skinny, nerdy kind of way,” Lisa argued. “And his name was Bill Brannon.”