Literary Analysis

1. Name two symbols in “The Lottery” and explain what they symbolize.

The two symbols used in the story are the lottery and the black box.

The Lottery: The ritual is called lottery as all the people in the town
participate in it by drawing slips. Also everyone has an equal chance to be
picked. One person is chosen at the end. All this is done supposedly because of
an old saying “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”.

The Black Box: The black box is an important part of the tradition of lottery as
it is used to carry the slips of paper used in the draw. However, it also
represents the darkness of the actions of these people. The condition of the
box represents how rusty, ruthless and senseless this tradition is and that it
needs to be thrown away with the broken old box.

2. Give five examples from the story that show how men have the power in this
society.

1. Family heads are men who draw for your families

2. Mrs. Dunbar is allowed to draw only when no other male member of her
family was available

3. Women stand behind their husbands and children show more respect to
fathers, as they behave better when around them.

4. Mr. Hutchinson did not find it necessary to let his wife know that he was
going to the lottery event and she needs to come along.

5. Mr. Hutchinson tells his wife to shut up when she protests about the results
of the draw, imposing his power over her.

3. Give two examples of foreshadowing and explain what events these moments
foreshadow.
 The author foreshadowed the ending that it would be Mrs. Hutchinson who
would be killed that day as she was described to be late to arrive at the
gathering since she had forgotten about it. “Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly
along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid
into place in the back of the crowd. “Clean forgot what day it was,” she said”.
Also this quotation of “Mr. Summers, who had been waiting, said cheerfully.
“Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie.” was said
casually, as if the lottery could have taken place without her.

Another foreshadowing is done by mentioning how casual and normal everyone

feels about this tradition. It is very mundane for them to carry out this lottery
every year as children are allowed to gather stones for the execution, people
don’t even listen to the instructions, and just want this is to end as quickly as
possible so that they could live their lives in peace for another year. However,
all this foreshadowing is at the expense of the reader’s feelings who is
confused if such a thing could ever be so normal for anyone.

4. Explain the irony of the following:

a) The title of the ritual being performed: The Lottery

Generally speaking, lottery is a term used in the context of getting

lucky and winning something unexpectedly huge. Here, the lottery is
the exact opposite. The one who gets the lottery slip with the black
dot is stoned to death.

b) These words said by Old Man Warner, “The Lottery keeps us civilized”.

Stoning is a brutal and horrendous way to kill a person. An innocent

person is selected at random by drawing slips. Everyone is the town
including little children, participate in the draw, and later participate
equally in the stoning. This type of society that feels no remorse or
sympathy for their brutal act cannot be considered “civilized”, so how
can someone expect civility by practicing such an inhumane and
uncivil act.

c) The sunny day suggests?

It was a pleasant and warm day with the sun shining bright. A day like this
makes everyone feel good. However, it was the same day on which one person
was going to be killed by a mob.
d) Boys gathering stones and pebbles shows what?

Children are gathering the tools for the murder. It could be one of them, or
their parents or siblings who would be killed using those stones, but they feel
nothing odd.

5. Conforming to the rules and traditions of society at the expense of

others is a significant theme in this story. Make a list of the traditions the
citizens conform to. Why do you think they conform to these traditions even
though people are hurt?

List of traditions:

1. Use of the black box

2. Children gathering stones

3. Family heads drawing slips that could lead to their murder

4. Members of the family competing against each other to find out which one
would be killed

5. Participation of the whole town, including family members in stoning

People find it difficult to change traditions or protest against them because of

societal pressure and an innate desire to just “fit in” with the rest of the
crowd. When people are living in a community, they feel that they are inter-
dependent and if they do not conform, they will be left out, or considered
rebellious which would in turn, hurt their self-made ego, status and respect in
the eyes of others. So in order to uphold these things, they mindlessly end up
hurting their loved ones, or even themselves.

6. Provide evidence that some people in the community want to move away from
these rituals and traditions. What does this tell us?

There are multiple instances in the story that show that people would want this
tradition of lottery to end. For example, as the men of the town gathered,
“their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed”. Also “when Mr.
Summers said, “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?” there was a
hesitation before two men” came forward showing that people didn’t want to
be part of the proceedings. Furthermore, “the original paraphernalia for the
lottery had been lost long ago” except for the black box that no one bothered
 to care for, or change. Mr. Adams mentioned that people in the north are
considering to end this tradition, while his wife stated that some have already
quit it. They just presented the idea without arguing with the old man Warner
who supposed the lottery and believed it to be good, showing they wanted it to
end too, but were scared of speaking up. Lastly, there were friends of Nancy
who prayed that it wasn’t her they would have to kill that day and Mrs. Dunbar
who made excuses for not contributing to the murder of the innocent person in
the middle of the crowd. All these examples show us that there are people who
wish to move away from these brutal traditions, but they feel powerless to
enforce their opinion. They are also not confident enough to speak loud
enough, or join together to make efforts towards ending these traditions.

7. How did your initial understanding of the term “lottery” compare to the lottery
in the story? How did your initial understandings help or confuse your
interpretation of the story?

I started reading the story with the word “Lottery” in my mind, inferring
something unexpected and surprising, but I wanted it to end on a good note
because usually winning a lottery means to win a huge sum of money. However,
from the beginning, I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to end well as I could
sense the irony when children gathering stones were described, and I expected
one of the younger kids to go through something bad. I think I felt quite
confused as people were described as smiling and gossiping, with children
being playful. The end was really unexpected and quite disturbing for me.

8. Does this compare to anything you know in real life? Explain.

I can relate the story of lottery to many real life examples, but one in
particular is very thought provoking. Whenever I read the newspaper or hear
the news about some accidents, I think about what these people actually
expected when they left their homes, or while on their way. For example,
consider an airplane crash. People on the plane must be looking forward to
reach their destination, some going back to their families, others going for
work, or even traveling for leisure. No one would have expected that this flight
would be their last, and they would be burned alive. I feel tragic hearing about
such news and I would say it is similar to the lottery story in so many ways, like
everyone in the village woke up to a pleasant day, performing their daily
chores when they all had to gather for this event. No one had a choice not to
participate and everyone believed that they would return to their daily lives
 once it would be over. However, one random unlucky person would have to die
a brutal death.

Written Response After Reading

The story presents the possibility that the lottery is dying out. For example, a passage
in the seventh paragraph indicates that the villagers have already permitted certain
parts of the lottery ritual to be lost. At one time, some people remembered, there
had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a
perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people
believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it,
others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years
ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual
salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who
came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time, until now it was
felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching.
Later in the story Steve Adams tells Old Man Warner "that over in the north village
they're talking of giving up the lottery." A moment later, Mrs. Adams says, "Some
places have already quit lotteries."

Focus Question:
According to the text, how does tradition influence the villagers’ behavior? Will the
lottery die out? Why or why not? Explain your answer with examples pulled from the
text.

Response

The traditions such as “the lottery” affect the behavior of the villagers. Most of the
characters in the story are pretending to act normal by trying to laugh and joke
around, but it can be sensed that there is tension in the atmosphere, they are all very
nervous, and trying their best to hurry through the proceeding. No one is able to
withstand the mental stress that comes with this dreadful day. At the same time,
people are afraid that if they do not follow this tradition or if someone senses the
true feelings and thoughts they have about this tradition, something bad would
happen to them or they will be judged. They are also unable to come to terms with
the fact that by following this tradition, they are actually behaving like uncivil,
insensitive, psychopathic mob.
Considering this, I still believe that the lottery will eventually die out as the next
generation would not want to continue losing their loved ones like this. The account
where the Hutchinson family takes out slips describes how Nancy’s school friends
gasped and wished it wasn’t her who had to die that day. Furthermore, there are
even members in the crowd who do not want to be part of this brutality. Mrs. Dunbar
is one of them as she showed a lot of reluctance in joining the crowd in stoning as she
only gathered small stones, and acted to be breathless and unable to run. There was
even reluctance from the crowd to even help with the proceedings of the event, for
example when Mr. Summers invited people to help him keep the box stable on the
stool. I also believe that the Watson boy could be one of the people who lost family
members due to this inhumane tradition as only he and his mother are left. I believe
this family would also like to side with a group of people who would rally against this
age old tradition to end it once and for all.