the Lottery, Shirley Jackson, Questions 1

Copyright ©2009, Tracee Orman

Answer the following questions after reading “The Lottery.”

Recalling

1. On which day does the lottery fall each year?

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2. Why did Mr. Summers replace the original wood chips with slips of paper?

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3. Who shows up late to the lottery?

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4. Why is this character late?

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5. Who is not in attendance?

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6. Why is this character absent?

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7. What is the procedure for someone who cannot attend?

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Analyzing & Applying

8. Which part of the story foreshadows the lottery?

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9. How is irony used in the story?

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10. Symbolism: What do the black box and stones represent?

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11. Why do the townspeople participate in the lottery?

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12. Why don’t they stop having it?

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13. Name other cultures that participate(d) in sacrificial rituals:

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14. For what reason(s) did/do these cultures sacrifice humans or

animals?______________________________________________________________________________

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15. There are certain traditions in our community and other places that happen year after year. Think of

a particular event (or festival) that happens each year. What would happen if someone decided to stop

the Lottery, Shirley Jackson, Questions 2

Copyright ©2009, Tracee Orman

having it each year?

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16. Why are people afraid of change?

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17. What role do women play in the fictional town?

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18. Shirley Jackson said she had the setting in the present tense (she wrote it in 1948) in order to “shock

the readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own

lives.” What “pointless violence” and “general inhumanity” is she referring to?

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19. Consider her statement in #18 and your response to it. Then answer: What is the message of the

story (or the lesson learned by reading the story)?

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20. Did you like this story? ___________________________________________________________

21. Explain--with specific reasons--why you did or why you didn’t like this story.

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#18 source of Jackson’s quote: From a response in the San Francisco Journal, July 22, 1948