By Shirley Jackson

Literary Analysis

“THE LOTTERY”

SETTING

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square between the post office and the bank around 10:00…”

The setting of this story is very ironic. On one hand the reader gets the sense of a picturesque small rural town where the families work and live together peacefully. The flowers are blooming and everything seems bright and alive on this mid-summer’s day.

HOWEVER

By the end of this story , the reader knows that this town is anything but peaceful and idyllic. This is a place where people die, where people kill and then go back to their daily lives like nothing has happened. This juxtaposition is important to the suspenseful mood of the story and to emphasize the horrific ending.

Setting Analysis

Bobby Martin, Harry Jones, Dickie Delacroix – Flat and static.

Mr. Summers – Round and static.

Mr. Graves – Flat and static.

Old Man Warner – Round and static.

Tessie Hutchinson – Round and developing.

Mrs. Delacroix – Flat and static.

Hutchinson family: Bill, Bill Jr., Nancy, and Davy – flat and static.

CHARACTERS

Third person narrator – a direct observer to the action of the story, but not a character in the story. The narrator is not all knowing omniscient because the readers do not get insight or to ‘see’ thoughts and feelings of other characters.

The type of narrator chosen for this story is very important to the story. The readers are introduced to the story and what is happening without any idea as to where the story is leading. If the reader were able to ‘see’ into what the characters were thinking, the story would lose its element of surprise towards the end.

NARRATOR

PLOT DIAGRAM

1

2

3

EXPOSITION“The people of the village began to gather in the

square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 2nd. But in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time

to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.”

1. “When he [Mr. Summers] arrived in the square carrying the black wooden box there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers…”

2. “Just as Mr. Summers left off talking and turned to the assembled villagers Mrs. Hutchinson came hurrying along the path to the square… ‘All ready?’ Mr. Summers called, ‘I’ll read the names of families … and the men come up and take a paper from the box.’”

3. “ ‘It’s Hutchinson.’ ‘It’s Bill.’ ‘Bill Hutchinson’s got it.’ ‘Tessie,’ Mr. Summers said. She hesitated for a minute , looking around defiantly and then set her lips and went up to the box. She snatched a paper out and held it behind her.”

RISING ACTION

“Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd.”

CLIMAX

“The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up.“

The children had stones already. And someone had given little Davy Hutchinson a

few pebbles.

FALLING ACTION

“Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, "Come on, come on, everyone." Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him. "It isn't fair, it isn't right!" Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.”

They would be “through in time to allow the villagers time to get home for noon dinner.”

RESOLUTION

Imagery – “flowers were blossoming, grass was richly green”, “the black box grew shabbier each year… splintered along the side… faded and stained.” “…in his clean white shirt and blue jeans.”

Diction/dialogue – “you wouldn’t want me to leave m’dishes in the sink…” “…better get this started so’s we can go back to work. Anybody ain’t here?”

Personification – “the breeze caught them and lifted them off.”

Alliteration – “switching her skirt and took a slip”, “before they broke into boisterous play.

STLYE

Tone – Jackson’s use of friendly language among the villagers and the presentation of the lottery as an event similar to the square dances and Halloween programs illustrates the lottery as a welcomed, festive event. Jackson describes the social atmosphere of the women prior to the drawing: "They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip…" The lottery is conducted in a particular manner, and with so much anticipation by the villagers, that the reader expects the winner to receive a prize or something of that manner. It is not until the end of the story nears that the tone changes with Mrs. Hutchinson’s increasing anxiety and protestations at the fact her family ‘won’ the lottery.

Mood – The story starts out with a festive mood and later it takes a suspenseful turn as the reader discovers that all is not as it seems to be. By the end the mood has changed to something dark and sinister.

STYLE cont.

Symbolism – Names: Old Man Warner – warning

Mr. Graves – grave = death

The Box: Black = color of death; old, worn, splintered – the tradition is old, some people are questioning it (the community is splintered).

The Lottery: In this town, the lottery is something that destroys lives. In real life lotteries

and other forms of gambling devastate lives.

STYLE cont.

Do not believe everything you hear. – These townspeople have been doing this ritualistic picking off of the villagers for years because they have this splintery, worn, old black box, that has been passed down over the years. They have parts of a ritual which they remember, and parts they don't, they've changed the whole thing so much it really isn't even the same anymore. But because of the stories they heard, and that have been passed down from generation to generation, they are afraid to not do the ritual. Rather, they just do the parts they remember.

THEMES

Following the crowd can have disastrous consequences. – Although some townspeople raise questions about the lottery, they all go along with it in the end. Thus, they become unthinking members of a herd, forfeiting their individuality and sending Tessie Hutchinson to her death. 

THEMES cont.

The reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices. – The villagers continue the lottery year after year because, as one of the villagers would say, “We have always had a lottery as far back as I can remember. I see no reason to end it.” Put another way, this theme says: “We’ve always done it this way. Why change now?” In real life, defenders of the status quo have used this philosophy down through the ages and into the present day.

THEMES cont.

THE END