Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

 

The Lottery

(1948)

 

Shirley Jackson

(December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965)

 

 

"The Lottery" Notes

This short story was first published in the June 26, 1948 issue of The New Yorker.


138  civic:

138  paraphernalia:

 
 

145  A stone hit her on the side of the head: Stoning as a form of punishment and execution has a long history. Like execution by firing squad, the group killing the subject will simultaneously and continuously hit the subject until he or she is dead.
  
stoning Jews in Lent
Stoning Jews in Lent.—A custom.

martyrdom of St. Stephen
Doré, Gustav. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen. The Dore Bible Gallery. Chicago: Belford-Clarke, 1891. 

stoning of St. Stephen
Weigel, Christoph. St. Stephani Protomartyris Lapidatio. Biblia Ectypa. Augsburg: n. p., 1695.

stoning of St. Stephen
Erasmus, Desiderius. Noui Testamenti æditio postrema. N.p.: apud Io. Frobenium, 1523.
  • stone (transitive verb) (Merriam-Webster)
    1: to hurl stones at; especially: to kill by pelting with stones
    2 archaic: to make hard or insensitive to feeling
    3: to face, pave, or fortify with stones
    4: to remove the stones or seeds of (a fruit)
    5 a: to rub, scour, or polish with a stone  b: to sharpen with a whetstone
    Examples of STONE
    He was stoned to death for his crimes.
    Stone the peaches before serving.
  • to cast the first stone (The Phrase Finder)
  • John 8:1–11:
    1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
    2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
    3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
    4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
    5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
    6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
    7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
    8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
    9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
    10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
    11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
  • John 10: 31–39:
    31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
    32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
    33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
    34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
    35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
    36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
    37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
    38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
    39 Therefore they sought again to take him

 




 

 

Comprehension Check

  • What is the meaning of Delacroix in French?
  • What does "my old man" (140) mean?
 

     

Study Questions

  • Compare the first sentence of the story to the last. What image does each describe? How clear is the scene introduced in the beginning sentence of the story? In what way is the clarity of the first sentence different from that of the last? Can one say that the last sentence is vivid even though it is not a direct depiction like "the flowers were blossoming profusely" (137)? Explain.

  • "The villagers kept their distance" from the stool with the black box on it, and were hesitant to step up when Mr. Summers asked for help holding it (138). How does the later description of the history and physical condition of the black box including how it is treated and kept during the rest of the year (139) affect that initial impression of the lottery box?

  • What associations does the word lottery normally evoke? How does its being the title of this story affect its meaning and that of the unfolding events?

  • At what point did you begin to suspect that the lottery in the story is not our usual understanding of it? What in the text tipped you off?

  • Do you think aligning the lottery to "the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program" is appropriate (138)? Why or why not?

  • How do you explain the smiles and laughter in the story? The villagers are constantly joking with each other and expressing good humor, yet what are we to make of Mr. Summers and Mr. Adams "grinn[ing] at one another humorlessly and nervously" (141)—presenting an expression of good humor that is humorless? What is the difference between Mrs. Hutchinson saying "'Get up there, Bill...and the people near her laughed" (142) and "Davy put[ting] his hand into the box and laughed" (144)?

  • Laurence Jackson Hyman, Jackson's son, mentioned in an interview that "My mother took great care with the names of her characters. When their names are common, that is intentional, and when she names them Summers and Graves and Constance and Oakes she does so with much meaning." Notice how the names of characters in "The Lottery" are used. Are they critical and evocative in the same way the word lottery is used? What meaning do they give to the story?

  • Browse through the list of common errors in reasoning on Purdue Owl or on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. What fallacies do you find the villagers committing in "The Lottery"?

  • How does Mr. Adam's mentioning the north village considering not doing lotteries set up for his actions at the end of the story?

  • What significance do you find in Jackson's making a point to describe several individuals' behavior in quite attentive detail as each draws the lottery?

  • Time

    • What consequences of the passage of time are shown in the story? How does time affect physical things like objects and population compared to non-physical or less tangible things like language, memory and attitude?

    • After finishing "The Lottery," how differently do you view the various expressions that have to do with time (ex. "Little late today, folks," "get this over with," "You're in time," "Time sure goes fast," "Go on," "Get up there," "Come on," "hurry up") throughout the story?

    • The description early in the story, "no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box" seems to indicate a strong resistance to change among the villagers (139). Yet, "so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded," this latter even suggesting intentional doing away with something. If the people are so unwilling to instigate anything new, how is it that so many changes or transformations have happened in the village? Consider what remains static and what becomes different (also how much and how long ago), and how these affect or will affect the lottery.

    • Aside from the movement of time itself, notice also the movement in time of the characters in the story. In some instances, like for Jack Watson, he is urged to "'Take your time, son'" as if to slow him down (143), in others, like for Mrs. Dunbar, she is prompted with "'Go on, Janey'" as if to hurry her up (142). Mrs. Dunbar repeats "I wish they'd hurry." Mrs. Hutchinson says "'You didn’t give him time enough to choose'" and "'I think we ought to start over'" (144); she does not say "I think we should stop." "There was a long pause, a breathless pause" (143) and there were hesitations (138, 144). Mr. Summers oddly comments "'that was done pretty fast, and now we've got to be hurrying a little more to get done in time'" (143). Why these dances in time or with time?

  • Like the word lottery, several terms and phrases alter in meaning once you have finished the story and look back on them in hindsight. Consider the charged implications of the following, for example:
    • The children assembled first, of course.
    • "Bill, she made it after all"
    • "Wife draws for husband" (141)
    • "Horace's not but sixteen yet," Mrs. Dunbar said regretfully. (141)

Writing Prompts

  • Discuss forces at play in “The Lottery.”
    Consider forces at play in the story. What factors influence behavior, happenings, outcome, or changes that occur? What conditions shape events? Which people determine actions? Consider the ways these players enhance or interrupt another. Also worth noting is the trajectory of such social, personal, familial, natural, or ideological forces in relation to the plot.

  • Discuss the central figure of the lottery.
    What is “the lottery”? What does it entail? Track its movement throughout the narrative. Consider also its backstory. How and when does it begin? How does it transform along the way? What continuities, shifts, ironies, or inconsistencies do you see in its depiction and role in the story?

  • Discuss kinds of violence in the story.
    What kinds of violence are in evidence in “The Lottery”? What words suggest or describe violence? Where is violence? How is it presented? What does it do? In what way are the types of violence different? How does each form of violence develop through the story?

  • Discuss fact and fallacy in “The Lottery.”
    What are the facts in the story? What are the fallacies? What are the fallacies about? You might wish to examine, for example, the way truth and mistaken belief are given in the narrative and the extent to which each affect people’s knowledge and actions.

  • Discuss names and meanings in “The Lottery.”
    Consider the names and meanings of people, things, and actions in this story. How do words’ denotations compare to their meanings and connotations created within the story? What connection or contrast might the characters’ names have to their personality, position, or behavior?

 

 


 

Review Sheet

 

Characters

Mr. Graves, Harry – the postmaster (138); "The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box" (139); "it [the black box] had spent one year in Mr. Grave's barn" (139); "There was the proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery" (139)

Mr. Summers, Joe – "the official of the lottery" (139); "a round-faced, jovial man...ran the coal business" (138); "The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program—by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities" (138); "Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box" (139); "declared the lottery open" (139); "in his clean white shirt and blue jeans" (140)
Old Man Warner – "the oldest man in town" (138); "'Pack of crazy fools,' he said. 'Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them.'" (142); "'Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery'" (142); "'It's not the way it used to be,' Old Man Warner said clearly. 'People ain't the way they used to be" (145)

Tess Hutchinson, Tess, Mrs. Hutchinson – wife of Bill (145); "came hurriedly along the path to the square...'Clean forgot what day it was'" (140); "'It isn't fair, it isn't right,' Mrs. Hutchinson screamed" (145)
Bill Hutchinson – husband of Tess (145)
Bill Hutchinson, Jr., Billy – son of Tess and Bill (144); "his face red and his feet overlarge, nearly knocked the box over as he got a paper out" (144)
Nancy Hutchinson – daughter of Tess and Bill (144); twelve years old (144);

Davy Hutchinson – youngest son of Tess and Bill (145); "Davy put his hand into the box and laughed" (144); "someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles" (145)

Mr. Adams, Steve – "'They do say,' Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, 'that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery'" (142); "Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him" (145)
Mrs. Adams – "'Some places have already quit lotteries,' Mrs. Adams said" (142)

Mrs. Delacroix – "'Seems like there's no time at all between lotteries any more'" (141)

Clyde Dunbar – "'He's broke his leg, hasn't he?'" (140)

Mrs. Dunbar, Janey – wife of Clyde (141)

Horace Dunbar – son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar (141); sixteen years old (141)

Mr. Martin – "there was a hesitation before two men, Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it" (138)

Baxter Martin – oldest son of Mr. Martin (138, 139)

Jack Watson – "'I'm drawing for m'mother and me" (141)


Setting

Place
village
    square – "The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock" (137)

Time
June – "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day" (137)


 

Vocabulary

irony, ironic

contrast

setting

diction; denotation, connotation

imagery

allegory, allegorical

symbol, symbolic, symbolism


Character, Characterization

major characters
minor characters
stock or type characters
stereotypes
double
confidant(e)
villain
hero
anti-hero
foil
self-revelation
personality
direct presentation of character
indirect presentation of character
show v. tell
consistency in character behavior
motivation
plausibility of character: is the character credible? convincing?
flat character
round character, multidimensional character
static character, unchanged
developing character, dynamic character, active character
direct methods of revealing character:

indirect characterization


Plot

Freytag's Pyramid
beginning, middle, end
scene
chance, coincidence

plot, main plot, minor plot, subplot, underplot, double plot,

story
conflict, internal conflict, external conflict, clash of actions, clash of ideas, clash of desires, clash of wills, major, minor, emotional, physical

protagonist
antagonist (antagonistic)
suspense (suspenseful)
mystery (mysterious, mysteriously, mysteriousness)
dilemma
surprise (surprising, surprised)
plot twist
ending

artistic unity (unified)
time sequence
exposition
in medias res
complication (complicate)
rising action
falling action
crisis
climax
anti-climax (anti-climactic)
conclusion (conclude, conclusive)
resolution (resolve, resolving)
denouement
flashback, retrospect
back-story
foreshadowing
causality
plot structure
initiating incident
epiphany
reversal
catastrophe
deus ex machina
disclosure, discovery
movement, shape of movement
trajectory
change
focus


Point of View 
third-person point of view
intrusive narrator
unintrusive/impersonal/objective narrator
limited  point of view
omniscient point of view
editorial omniscience
neutral omniscience
selective omniscience
limited omniscient

second-person point of view

first-person point of view
self-conscious narrator
fallible, unreliable narrator
first person observer
first person participant
innocent eye


 

Sample Student Responses to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

 

Response 1: (from text to writing)

Study Question: Discuss kinds of violence in the story. What kinds of violence are in evidence in “The Lottery”? What words suggest or describe violence? Where is violence? How is it presented? What does it do? In what way are the types of violence different? How does each form of violence develop through the story?


Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" Close Reading Written Response

“How many kids, Bill?” Mr. Summers asked formally.

“Three,” Bill Hutchinson said. “There’s Bill, Jr., and Nancy, and little Dave. And Tessie and me.”

“All right, then,” Mr. Summers said. “Harry, you got their tickets back?”

Mr. Graves nodded and held up the slips of paper. “Put them in the box, then,” Mr. Summers directed. “Take Bill’s and put it in.”

“I think we ought to start over,” Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. “I tell you it wasn’t fair. You didn’t give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that.”

Mr. Graves had selected the five slips and put them in the box, and he dropped all the papers but those onto the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off.

“Listen, everybody,” Mrs. Hutchinson was saying to the people around her.
    “Ready, Bill?” Mr. Summers asked, and Bill Hutchinson, with one quick glance around at his wife and children, nodded.

“Remember,” Mr. Summers said, “take the slips and keep them folded until each person has taken one. Harry, you help little Dave.” Mr. Graves took the hand of the little boy, who came willingly with him up to the box. “Take a paper out of the box, Davy,” Mr. Summers said. Davy put his hand into the box and laughed. “Take just one paper,” Mr. Summers said. “Harry, you hold it for him.” Mr. Graves took the child’s hand and removed the folded paper from the tight fist and held it while little Dave stood next to him and looked up at him wonderingly.

 → formally; as if he doesn’t already know
→ Jr. is younger Bill; Nancy must be younger; “little” is explicitly attached to the baby Dave
→ directed; as if need directing?; the word directing give false direction?
→ start over; not stop?
→ quietly; as if holding down hysteria
→ wrong time/too late to question fairness?
→ too late/useless to ask for time
→ claiming/stressing everybody; seeing as witnessing; many kinds of excuses/appeals used in protest
→ no longer regarded when not in use
→ breeze/nature dissipates lottery (not people? differently from people?)
→ appeals to hearing now (v. seeing earlier); others speak over as if didn’t hear (like “formally” and “directing”?): external action does not reflect internal knowledge or feelings
→ last glance as if saying goodbye?
→ remember; as if need reminding
→ willing boy v. others unwilling?
→ laughs v. others somber
→ Dave looking v. others seeing; what's the difference between to look and to see?
→ wonderingly; childish wonder shows innocence, incomprehension of meaning/implications of what’s happening
Soft Violence

For a story famous for its lingering violent impact, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” offers very little actual violence. As a matter of fact, “A stone hit her on the side of the head” is the only explicit act of physical violence that occurs (50). And this sole hard evidence describes a violence without a face attached to it even though the entire village of three hundred something people apparently know each other well, and not only because they have done this yearly for generations.

The final phrase, “and then they were upon her,” is swift, direct and vivid, yet ironically vague. Arguably the only other description of obvious violence in the entire story, it leaves the actual actions to one’s imagination and understanding. The sense of violence, however, pervades the story and is not only felt in these two places. It is conveyed in very unlikely phrases and descriptions. That flimsy pieces of paper can deliver a killing blow, that little Davy’s few pebbles can feel almost more violent than Mrs. Delacroix’s “stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands,” that a mere sigh from the crowd can be damning, that something as quiet and positive as a whispered hope for a friend’s safety (“I hope it’s not Nancy”) can reverberate to “the edges of the crowd” and imply a twelve-year-old girl wishing death on anyone else in that friend’s family, that so little, so soft, so insubstantial a thing as innocence can be marshaled to create ferocity are testaments to Jackson’s word craft. In the assumption-bending “Lottery,” violence is soft, residing in such places as the laugh of a baby boy because it is a laugh of an unknowing young son, effectively making himself an orphan, as he enjoys becoming the killer of his own mother.




Response 2:

Study Question: The act of reading rests upon some familiar ground or structure like grammar and language conventions with the understanding that some new information is proposed. Likewise, a story works because on some foundation of recognizable elements, it offers something unknown. Discuss an example of such interplay between expectations and surprise in one of the stories we have read.


 

 

 

 

 

Yada Manachujit
2202234 Introduction to the Study of English Literature
Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri
July 2, 2007
Reading Response 2

  

The Unchangeable Changeable Lottery

 

There is an unchangeability to sayings like those that Old Man Warner recites in response to Mr. Adams’ bringing up possible giving up of the lottery. Things like language or tradition also look very stable or static if we view them for a short period. At the moment of stoning, the ritual would seem to Tess Hutchinson unshakable and eternal. Her pleas, “Listen, everybody” (144), “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (145) seem to fall on deaf ears, unable to bend any rules or budge attitudes even slightly. They seem as rigid as the stones being cast at her. The surprise is that this is an optimistic story. As a catalog of families predictably roll called in alphabetical order are given and as questions to which everyone “in the village knew the answer perfectly well” are asked formally, catalogs of change are also rattled off: family names will transform and transfigure—Delacroix becomes Dellacroy (138), black boxes will grow shabbier and disintegrate (139), rituals will be “forgotten or discarded.” The descriptive narrative moving carefully from one set procedure to the next can feel plodding. However, the procedures are anything but set. “A recital of some sort,” for example, “years and years ago, this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse” (139–40). Likewise the “ritual salute” (140).

On this perfect summer day, despite the horrific community murder of one of their own, the revolting violence of friends killing a friend, of a husband killing his wife, and sons, daughters, and a baby killing their own mother, this is not a tragic story. It is a story about change that you do not even have to hope or work for because it will come any way. There is indeed revolt underway. One such unavoidable upheaval: with the population’s growth, “it was necessary to use something that would fit more easily into the black box” instead of the original chips of wood (139). Another more subtly worded but no less a change: “it was felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching” (140). Both ironic necessities. If the lottery is necessary, it should be “unable to be changed or avoided” (Merriam-Webster). Here we have an almost oxymoronic expression “felt necessary” where necessity is not a must but a feeling. The story’s abrupt close on a projected action creates a momentum that actually carries it beyond its physical boundaries. The long view of that path that Jackson casts with the careful rolling of her dark story is that happily, the lottery will come to an end.

 

 

 

 

 

            

 

 

 


Links

 


Media



  • "The Lottery," Journey Into..., NBC (1951 radio adaptation; audio clip; story proper begins at 11:00 min.)

  • The Lottery, dir. Daniel Sackhiem, perf. Dan Cortese and Kerri Russell (1996 film inspired by Jackson's short story)

 


Shirley Jackson

 



 

Reference


Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." The Magic of Shirley Jackson, edited by Stanley Edgar Hyman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969, pp. 137–45.



Further Reading


Jackson, Shirley. 9 Magic Wishes. Crowell-Collier P, 1963.


Jackson, Shirley. "Island." By and about Women: An Anthology of Short Fiction, edited by Beth Kline Schneiderman, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973.


Jackson, Shirley. "The Bus." The Best American Short Stories 1966, edited by Martha Foley and David Burnett, Houghton Mifflin, 1966.



 

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Last updated August 26, 2019