The Lottery

Summary

The narrative takes place on June 27th, between ten a.m. and noon, in a village somewhere
in (probably) the United States. The year isn't specified. The three hundred villagers have gathered
to participate in the annual lottery ceremony, which is held on this date every year. Some of the
community's children are busy constructing a stone pile in the village square, which they are tightly
guarding. Mr Summers, who possesses an ancient black box, is in charge of the lottery. Slips of
paper have been slipped into the black box, all of them blank save one. When Mr Summers
summons the heads of each family to the box, they must remove one slip of paper.

The drawn slips are opened after each household has drawn a slip of paper. Bill Hutchinson
is revealed to have drawn the designated slip of paper, and it is stated that one individual from his
family must be picked next. Bill Sr., Tessie, and their three children, Bill Jr., Nancy, and Dave,
make up his family of five. Tessie, Bill's wife, is upset that her family was picked, and she demands
that the lottery be rerun, saying that her husband was not given enough time to choose his piece of
paper. The lottery, however, continues: each of the Hutchinson family's five members must now
select one slip from the black box. Only one slip will be marked, while the rest will be left blank.

Starting with the youngest Hutchinson, each of the Hutchinsons pulls out a slip of paper.
They are asked to unfold the folded pieces of paper they have drawn after they have all drawn a
slip. With the exception of Tessie's, which has a black mark on it from Mr Summers' pencil the
night before, they are all blank. The meaning of the stone pile the children had been creating at the
start of the narrative is now evident. Each of the people takes up a stone and rushes towards Tessie,
eager to get the job done. A stone is thrown at Tessie's head by one of the locals. She complains
that this isn't right or fair, but the villagers respond by throwing stones at her, possibly killing her.