Directed Note-Taking

Read “The Lottery” again, and pay attention to details that answer the
question below. There are 5 spaces, so make sure to only include the MOST
important details. Write the actual quotation, and whether the detail focuses
on commitment to tradition or change of tradition.
What aspects of the lottery have remained true to tradition or True to Change
changed over time? Traditi d
on Traditio
n over
Time

“Although Mr. Summers and everyone else in the village knew the
answer perfectly well, it was the business of the official of the lottery x
to ask such questions formally.”

“the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even x
before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.”

“Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted

for the chips of wood that had been used for generations.” x

“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
x
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” x
 Student Question Generation
Model Question:
I wonder… what would happen if the villagers stopped participating in the lottery?
Write three questions that you have after reading “The Lottery.” These questions
can be based on something unanswered in the text or something you would like to
know more about.
Question 1 What would happen if a family refused to participate in the
lottery?
Question 2 How does this society function with one person from one of
the families killed like this every year? There must be lots of
incomplete households with missing relations (fathers,
husbands, sons, brothers, mothers, wives, daughters,
sisters).
Question 3 Isn’t there a judicial or law enforcing body that could
intervene with this horrendous practice?