Plot Diagram For (Title): “The Lottery”

Author: Shirley Jackson

1. Exposition
Who are the main characters in the beginning of the story?

 Mr. Summers, Old man warner, and the Hutchinson family.

What is the setting in the beginning of the story?

 Morning of June 27th in a small village and its residents about 300 people gather in the town
square to participate in the lottery which begins at 10 a.m. The children gather first, several
young boys begin to select smooth round stones and pile them in the center of the square. The
men arrive chatting casually and making quiet jokes, and soon after the women follow
exchanging gossip. Mr. Summers who runs the coal business and officiates a town social event
arrives with a shabby black wooden box under his arm that has remained in use for over 77
years. Not wishing to upset tradition the villagers never make a new box despite the fact that
aspects of the old ritual have been forgotten or discarded.

What is the mood?

 Enjoyable and pleasant

2. Rising Action
What events happen after the exposition and before the climax? Discuss 2-3 important vents.

 Tessie Hutchinson arrives late to the lottery. Names of heads of families are read off the list, and
each man draws a slip of paper. Old man Warner announces that this is his 77th lottery.

3. Climax
When does the main character face their problem? This is the turning part of the story… things will
never be the same for the character.

 After the heads of each household have drawn their slips, they opened their slips all at once. Bill
Hutchinson has been selected in the first round of the lottery. Tessie Hutchinson complains that
Mr. Summers didn't give her husband enough time to take any paper he wanted. Other women
in the crowd quiet, Bill himself tells his wife to shut up.

4. Falling Action
What happens immediately after the climax? Discuss 2-3 important events.
  The Hutchinson family must then draw another slip of paper in the final round of the lottery.
Old man Warner grumbles that people aren't the way they used to be. the Hutchinson children
opened their papers and they're all blank so it's Bills.

5. Resolution
What happens at the very end of the story?

 Tessie protests that it isn’t fair. Tessie is being pelted with stones by the entire town.

6. Conflict

What is the major problem in the story?

 Person vs. Person because everyone wants to win the lottery.

 Man vs. Society because the town throw stones at Tessie.

Theme: What is the message/lesson the author wants the reader to remember? Should be a sentence
not a word.

 The main theme of ''The Lottery'' is Tradition and Ritual that speaks to the hearts of arguably all
human beings. From small towns like the one in the lottery to entire countries. Traditions unite
the members and are passed down from one generation to another. This lottery is such a
tradition linked to agriculture and the seasons of the earth. Old man Warner worries that the
town will move backward into a more primitive existence in caves without the lottery to unite
and civilize the people. Modern touches such as the use of paper for wood chips and the
exchange of greetings rather than chance accommodate the ritual without substantially
changing it. Without questioning purposes, this ritual has become a fatal form of indoctrination,
or something accepted as a truth because it's backed by authority tradition.

Group Names:
 Bergonia, Monalyn Joy A.
 Benamira, Jolina C.
 Salandanan, Angelito M.
 Sebastian, Esther Jezebelle F.
 Virrey, Angel C.