CHARACTERS OF “SORRY, WRONG NUMBER”
First Operator
Mrs. Stevenson
Mrs. Stevenson is the main character in Fletcher's
play. She is a sickly woman.
Sergeant Duffy
The disinterested and apathetic Sergeant Duffy heads
up the night shift at Precinct 43. He speaks by phone to
Mrs. Stevenson. He is not overly concerned with her
report. Ultimately, he plants the idea in Mrs. Stevenson's
head that she might be the murder victim.
George
A contract killer who harbors no remorse for his
victims, George is called upon by an unknown superior,
on behalf of presumably Mr. Stevenson, to kill Mrs.
Stevenson. George successfully carries out his contract.
The first operator that Mrs. Stevenson talks to
attempts to help Mrs. Stevenson get through to Mr.
Stevenson's office. Instead, this operator incorrectly dials
the wrong number or else somehow the telephone lines
are crossed, and Mrs. Stevenson overhears a conversation
between two men who are plotting a murder.
First Man on the Phone
The first man on the phone remains anonymous in the
conversation that Mrs. Stevenson overhears. This man
states that he has been in contact with the client and that
the murder should go ahead as planned. This man also
tells the second man (George) the details of how the
murder is to take place, including the fact that the
murderer should steal the woman's jewels to make the
motive of the crime look like a robbery.
SUMMARY OF “SORRY, WRONG NUMBER”
The story “ Sorry, Wrong Number ” by Lucille
Fletcher the protagonist Mrs. Stevenson is bedridden due
to illness. She picks up the phone one evening as she waits
for her husband to get home and unintentionally hears two
criminals discussing the intricacies of an upcoming
murder of a woman at 11:15 p.m. the same evening. They
are a murderer named George and his boss who have been
hired to kill Mrs. Stevenson. As she tries to identify the
victim to stop the murder, she goes crazy. She later
understands, that she is the murderer's chosen victim. She
frantically tries to contact the police again at this point,
but it is too late. The murderer is already inside the house
and Mrs. Stevenson is murdered.
CHARACTERS OF “THE LOTTERY”
Mr. Summer
The man who conducts the lottery
Tessie Hutchinson
The unlucky loser of the lottery
Old Man Warner
The oldest man in the village
Mr. Harry Graves
The postmaker
Bill Hutchinson
Tessie's husband
SUMMARY OF “THE LOTTERY”
The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. A tiny
village's residents assemble in the town square for the
yearly lottery. They chat happily as they wait for the
ceremony to start, talking about unimportant things. The
men of each family choose a piece of paper from an old,
dark box to start the lottery. There is a black dot on one
piece of paper. The Hutchinson family must place their
papers back in the bare box after drawing the dot. To
select a winner, they draw one more. Drawing the piece
of paper with the black dot, Mrs. Hutchinson laments how
unfair the lottery was. Then, with their hands full of
pebbles, the entire village surrounds Mrs. Hutchinson and
stones her.