HOME READING REPORT

THE LOTTERY

Sophia Marie D. Verdeflor Grade 9-1 STEP

Mr. Armin C. Dionson Subject Teacher

Date of Submission: September 25, 2014

Questions:

1. Who are the characters in the story? Describe each.

The Boys (Bobby Martin, Dickie Delacroix, Harry and Bobby Jones)

In a story this sparse, it's pretty striking how much the boys of the village tell us, not only about the nature of the lottery (consider that early, ominous pile of

stones), but also about the raw feeling underlying this village ritual. Mr. Joe Summers

The man who conducts the lottery. Mr. Summers prepares the slips of paper that

go into the black box and calls the names of the people who draw the papers. The childless owner of a coal company, he is one of the village leaders.

Unlike many characters in "The Lottery," we find out a lot about Mr. Summers. He's married to "a scold" and has no children, so the villagers feel sorry for him – even though he runs a coal business and "[has] time and energy to devote to civic

activities (like the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program, and of course, the lottery)" (4). This tells you something about the priorities of the

villagers: they appear to place more emphasis on a traditional family life than on the kind of worldly success that Mr. Summers has achieved.

Mr. Harry Graves

The postmaster. Mr. Graves helps Mr. Summers prepare the papers for the lottery and assists him during the ritual.

Mr. Summers may act like he's the Big Man of the Village, but he still has to be sworn in by the mysterious Mr. Graves. Mr. Graves is never described, and he never has a line of dialogue, which, in a short but dialogue-rich story, is like

pointing a neon sign at him blazing the word "Symbol!" And really, Jackson's not going for subtle psychological realism, here: the man's name is Graves, people.

There's a reason he's the ultimate authority in a murderous lottery: his name is where the "winners" of this ritual are going.

Old Man Warner

The oldest man in the village. Old Man Warner has participated in seventy-seven lotteries. He condemns the young people in other villages who have stopped

holding lotteries, believing that the lottery keeps people from returning to a barbaric state.

So, Mr. Summers is the shiny surface of the lottery, Mr. Graves is its grim end,

and the boys are the vicious, primitive spirit that drives its enjoyment. But obviously this story is about tradition in a big way, the tradition that "no one liked

to upset" (5). Given how symbolic the other characters appear to be, there's got to be a guy who stands in for tradition, and Jackson doesn't disappoint: there's Old Man Warner. Heck, the man's called "Old Man"; Jackson is once again creating a

figure who's not so much a real person as he is a stand-in for something else, in this case, those days gone by for which it's so easy to feel nostalgic. And, like

Summers and Graves, we can't ignore the literal meaning of his last name: Warner, one who warns.

As the oldest man in the village, Old Man Warner seems to take it upon himself to

make sure that the village doesn't change. When he hears that other towns have given up the lottery entirely, he grumbles, "used to be a saying about 'Lottery in

June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns" (33). So, for Old Man Warner, the lottery is associated with agriculture and with plenty; it allows the community to guard against

nameless, declining fortune. Old Man Warner is the one who comes the closest to stating a rationale for the lottery, which apparently has origins so old that even he

can't say how it began; all he knows is that it is associated with abundance and with the cycle of the year.

Tess Hutchinson

The unlucky loser of the lottery. Tessie draws the paper with the black mark on it and is stoned to death. She is excited about the lottery and fully willing to

participate every year, but when her family’s name is drawn, she protests that the lottery isn’t fair. Tessie arrives at the village square late because she forgot what day it was.

Mrs. Tess Hutchinson stands out right from the start: she arrives at the lottery late, having "clean forgot what day it was" (8). The town treats her tardiness lightly,

but several people comment on it, "in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd" (9).

So Tess Hutchinson has already been marked by the collective as one who's not

entirely part of the group; she's eager (maybe even too eager, for an adult) to be at the lottery, but she's not so big on observing the rules that the lottery (and

tradition in general) seems to be all about reinforcing. Obviously, this refusal to adhere to the rules gets kind of thematized with her constant objections once Bill Hutchinson draws the marked strip of paper: she protests that Bill "didn't [have]

time enough to take any paper he wanted" (46) and that it "wasn't fair" (this one she repeats a lot).

Mr. and Mrs. Adams

Mr. Adams is the first person to draw in the lottery, which makes sense alphabetically – but we don't think we're stretching too far to say that it's also

because he's the First Man. Yes, "The Lottery" is full of tiny little references to Christian tradition, which we'd be careless to overlook (check out the "Character

Analysis" for the Delacroix Family and "The Stool" in "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory"). Remember that Adam (and Mrs. Adam, i.e., Eve) brings about the fall of mankind in the Biblical Genesis story.

The Delacroix Family

The Delacroix family is in the mix right from the start. There's Dickie Delacroix,

who gathers his stones with the other boys, there's Mr. Delacroix drawing his strip of paper, there's Mrs. Delacroix, chatting happily with Mrs. Graves (ah ha, the return of the Graves family) and Mrs. Tess Hutchinson (Tess, don't trust her!) –

and then there's Mrs. Delacroix picking up a stone so large she needs to use both hands to pick it up.

The Watsons and the Dunbars

The Watsons and the Dunbars are both intriguing because Jackson specifies that

their family arrangements break the father-as-head-of-the-family-drawing-the-lottery-papers norm. Mrs. Dunbar must draw because her boy, Horace, is sixteen and too young. Where is her husband? Home with a broken leg – or is he? Critic

Helen Nebeker claims that a child of the Dunbar family may have been killed at the lottery in the previous year or two, leaving the husband unwilling to observe

another lottery (source). She cites as evidence the unusual attention that the crowd pays when Janey draws for her family: a woman watching says "Go on, Janey" and another says, "There she goes" (27).

Mrs. Graves

Mrs. Graves is the wife of Mr. Graves. She is a friend of both Mrs. Delacroix and

Mrs. Hutchinson. She tells Tess frankly that the lottery is fair – after all, everyone took an equal chance.

Mr. Bill Hutchinson

Tessie’s husband. Bill first draws the marked paper, but he picks a blank paper during the second drawing. He is fully willing to show everyone that his wife,

Tessie, has drawn the marked paper. Bill Hutchinson is the husband of Tess Hutchinson. When she protests his

selection in the lottery, he tells her to shut up. It is unclear why he does so –

perhaps he believes in the lottery, or perhaps he doesn't want the family to be shamed in front of the entire village.

The Hutchinson Children

The Hutchinson children are named Bill, Jr., Nancy, and Dave. Nancy has supporters in the crowd who openly express hope that she is not the one chosen.

Baxter Martin

Baxter is the oldest son in the Martin family.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin

Mr. and Mrs. Martin are the parents of Baxter and Bobby. They run the grocery store.

2. What is the plot of the short story?

Just before 10 a.m. on June 27th, the children came to the village square, where the

boys began to make a mountain of smooth stones and the girls talked about school

days that had just concluded. Husbands came and talked about taxes and wives

gossiped about the town.

In some towns, the Lottery could take two days, but in this town, there were no more

than 100 residents and the Lottery only took two hours. If the Lottery began at 10

a.m., families could be home for their noonday meals.

Each year, the concept of creating a new box from which to draw the Lottery tickets

from is brought up, but nothing ever comes of it. The current box is said to have been

made with splinters of the box before it.

Mr. Adams, head of the Adams' household and the man who would be drawing for

the Adams family during the Lottery, turned to Old Man Warner who was

participating in his 77th Lottery. Adams shared that the North Village was having

talks about giving up the Lottery. Warner snorted. He grumbled, "Lottery in June,

corn is heavy soon."

One by one each male head of the household (or woman if there was no man to take

her place) walked up to the box in alphabetical order and drew a slip of paper from

the box. They were asked to keep it folded in the palms of their hands without

looking. When every family had a slip of paper, the men were allowed to look. Bill

Hutchinson had drawn the slip of paper with the black dot.

Bill's wife, Tessie, threw a fit in front of the entire town, claiming that Bill had been

rushed when he drew his slip, that he did not have enough time; however, the Lottery

continued. Bill's ticket and four blank tickets are placed back in the box to represent

Bill and Tessie and their three unmarried children. The youngest child, with

assistance drew first. The drawing continues until each of the Hutchinsons has a slip

of paper. Tessie clings to hers and is the last to open her slip; she is also the one who

pulled the black dot.

The villagers armed themselves with pebbles and gave Bill's youngest son stones as

well. Tessie was still protesting about time and redoing the Lottery when the first stone hit her in the side of the head. The villagers did not stop throwing.

3. What is your favorite part of the story? Give the

reason.

My favorite part from the story is the:

Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about

making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as

much tradition as was represented by the black box.

This quotation, from the fifth paragraph of the story,

reveals how firmly entrenched the villagers are in the

lottery’s tradition and how threatening they find the idea

of change. The villagers have no good reason for

wanting to keep the black box aside from a vague story

about the box’s origins, and the box itself is falling

apart. Beyond shabby, it barely resembles a box now,

but the villagers, who seem to take such pride in the

ritual of the lottery, do not seem to care about the box’s

appearance. They just want the box to stay the same.

Their strident belief that the box must not change

suggests that they fear change itself, as though one

change might lead to other changes. Already, some

towns have stopped holding lotteries, but these villagers

do not seem to be headed in that direction. Instead, they

hold firm to the parts of the tradition that remain, afraid

to alter even this seemingly insignificant part of it for

fear of starting down a slippery slope.

4. Can you relate with any of the character? Who?

How?

Yes, I do think so. I think, I can relate to Tessie

Hutchinson.

How can I relate to her?

So, I can relate to her because Tessie Hutchinson

quickly settles into the crowd and joins the lottery like

everyone else, Jackson has set her apart as a kind of free

spirit who was able to forget about the lottery entirely as

she performed her chores. Perhaps because she is a free

spirit, Tessie is the only villager to protest against the

lottery. When the Hutchinson family draws the marked

paper, she exclaims, “It wasn’t fair!” This refrain

continues as she is selected and subsequently stoned to

death, but instead of listening to her, the villagers ignore

her. Even Bill tells her to be quiet. We don’t know

whether Tessie would have protested the fairness of the

lottery if her family had not been selected, but this is a

moot point. Whatever her motivation is for speaking

out, she is effectively silenced.

Basically, in short, I do like Tessie among the other

characters because she is motivated and especially she

knows about the magical word “FAIR”. That’s all

5. Lesson learned from the story?

In Shirley Jackson's, "The Lottery", human morals and values are

thrown away all for the pride of winning something. What is it that

they really win? When you win the lottery in this story, you

actually win death by stoning. Isn't that ironic, people actually

being competitive and getting excited about death in public? What

morals or values do these people really have, and how are they

different from what common society is thought today?

The first to gather in the square on the day of the lottery are the

children. The children, sweet, innocent children who do not know

any better and are only taking part in this cruelty because they

view it as a fun game. Then the adults begin to gather in the

square. They are older and wiser, knowing what is to become of

that one individual whose name is drawn. They know of the agony

that awaits them, but they have been taught to believe in it, so they

continue to participate even if it means they are the chosen one.

These adults are so caught up in tradition that they do not see that

it is morally wrong to kill a man. These are innocent people, dying

for what they think is right.

The main characters in this story also exhibit these same

characteristics. Somewhere deep inside they have got to know the

difference between right and wrong, but for traditions sake, they

continue the stoning process. The black box symbolized tradition

verses progress. The town’s people are repressed and can't grow

because of the killing tradition. The story also has a literal conflict

as Tessie Hutchinson is complaining about the cruelty and

injustice, then the crime turns around and happens to her This

woman's small child is even taught the tradition when he throws

pebbles at his mother. These people were involved in every day

society and in church, yet they took it upon themselves to kill one

another.

In today's society the actions taken in this story would have been

considered morally wrong and punishment for committing these

crimes would be handed down by the court system. The judicial

system of today would punish them with incarceration or death by

lethal injection. This legal system was actually illegal, more of a

martial law. These people were ruling themselves. The best

example is Mr. Summers; he made it a happy gathering, conducted

all the civil activities, and then was also the executioner. He brings

with all his justice and ruling, death. The purpose of the lottery is

to weed out the people and learn the cycle of life is to accept

democracy.

I feel that Shirley Jackson did an excellent job in identifying the

injustice of this story. Although I personally do not agree with the

killing of innocent people or any type of marshal rule. This story

makes you think about what is important in your life and how to

respect what you have in this world. It makes you think about what

you have learned as a child growing up and what you know is right

and wrong. The story does a great job in making you realize the

meaning of church and religion in your everyday life as well as the

legal system. We as humans all do things without questioning, but

don't put your faith in human hands.

One moral in this story has to do with the nature of violence.

Violence can occur anytime, and there is no rhyme or reason to it.

The most mild-mannered person can be capable of vicious acts.

This story shows a community of seemingly average, peaceful

citizens who participate in a horrific ritual of violence and death

voluntarily. The village is shown to be a collection of nice,

hardworking people who are appear to be like many typical

communities, yet they have a tradition that singles out an

individual to be brutalized and killed. These people spend much of

their time as neighbors and friends, yet their ritual requires/allows

them to randomly choose a person as the target for their cruelty,

and it is carried out without conscience or grief.