The short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is about small village that has a dark tradition. Men of each family must pick a slip of paper from a black box. These slips of paper will determine the fate of the lottery and also of a family. One message the author may be conveying to the reader is that blindly following traditions could be fatal. Throughout the story the ... . Readers come to believe that the kids are just being kids and they are playing around. By the the end of the story readers then figure out why the the kids were gathering small rocks, as the author states, "The pile o...

• Word Count: 1411
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... This idea would be, at first, overlooked by the reader, however, Jackson says the men began to gather "speaking of planting and rain-(138). Also, when some of the village people start talking about giving up the lottery Old Man Warner says "Used to be a saying about Lottery in June, corn be ... was then called Samhain. The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st and believed that on October 31st the living and the spirit of the dead were intertwined. They also believed that the spirits caused much trouble and damaged crops. Halloween has always been associated with evil, ... pag...

• Word Count: 1114
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . Shirley Jackson then takes about the children. She says that school has let out but instead of the excitement of the summer "the feeling of liberty sat uneasily with most of them". This shows that some of the children understand that they are not truly free until some event occurs. It's very subtle because ... brought up. Since she specifically states this we suspect that the stones hold a bigger function than just boys playing around. Instead of the men being casual and cheerful as they might be at a town gathering she says that "their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laugh...

• Word Count: 1119
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . Shirley Jackson then takes about the children. She says that school has let out but instead of the excitement of the summer "the feeling of liberty sat uneasily with most of them". This shows that some of the children understand that they are not truly free until some event occurs. It's very subtle because ... brought up. Since she specifically states this we suspect that the stones hold a bigger function than just boys playing around. Instead of the men being casual and cheerful as they might be at a town gathering she says that "their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laugh...

• Word Count: 1053
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The short story, "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, is about small village that has a dark tradition. Men of each family must pick a slip of paper from a black box. These slips of paper will determine the fate of the lottery and also of a family. One message the author may be conveying to the reader is that blindly following traditions could be fatal. Throughout the story the ... . Readers come to believe that the kids are just being kids and they are playing around. By the the end of the story readers then figure out why the the kids were gathering small rocks, as the author states, "The pile...

• Word Count: 1411
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the town square. They are laughing, playing, and generally having fun doing things that children do. Some of the children are gathering stones from the surrounding are and forming a mound of them together. Soon the men and women arrive, bringing with them a less jovial tone. The villagers make small talk laughing quietly amongst one another while at the same time maintaining a slight seriousness. Jackson ... that something is not quite right about the atmosphere. These suspicions are confirmed come the end of the story when the reader learns that this gathering is part of a sick and twi...

• Word Count: 822
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... normal people. The girls are looking over at the boys, the men are talking about crops, and the women are gossiping and calling their children together. The reader still has no idea that the gathering is destructive. "The setting could easily be for a town picnic or an open-air meeting for a vicious display of scapegoat"(Griffin). Once the reader starts to realize more ... while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it"(Jackson). "This hint of trouble is carefully countered by the way that Jackson describes the next set of events. Even the box that holds the papers, so old that it wa...

• Word Count: 1163
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... light-hearted but has a surprising ending. The people of the town are gathering to determine whose life will be sacrificed by randomly selecting pieces of paper from a black box. Jackson said the purpose of the story was "to shock the story's readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own ... a grave marker. The women arrive "shortly after their menfolk," dressed in "faded house dresses and sweaters" (255). This is one of the many examples in the story that symbolize men's leading roles in society. Mr. Summers leads the lottery, as wel...

• Word Count: 963
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... something works or when it does not affect them in a specific way. Zachary Barnett writes, " the whole point of the fable is to make grotesquely clear man's absurd fear of change" ("Review of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery"). In the story, Old Man Warner, a seventy-seven year old man, quickly counter-attacks Mr. and Mrs. Adams when they begin to converse about towns who had given ... , because the adults are also ignorant, their job at the beginning was to gather stones, " eventually [they] made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square" ("The Lottery," 378). And although some ar...

• Word Count: 1116
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... setting for the story. The children are doing what all-typical kids do, playing boisterously and gathering rocks. The women of the town are doing what all-stereotypical females do, "exchanging bits of gossip." The men are being average males by chatting about boring day-to-day tasks like "planting and rain, ... what about a church or courthouse? Surely these two buildings would also be in any traditional town square! The lottery is compared to the town's celebration of Halloween, not a joyous celebration such as Christmas or Valentine's Day-- but a rather dark, surreal, spooky, grotesque,...

• Word Count: 926
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... children gather in the square and begin to play. Playing as such shows little or no feelings of sadness or anxiety. Also the men gather and tell quiet jokes among themselves as they talk of weather and tractors. All the while, the women are gossiping. Another surprisingly upbeat conversation occurs between ... a thick layer of suspense by keeping the intent of the lottery a secret to the end of the story. The beginning of the story goes into intricate detail describing the way the people gather and what they do after arriving in the square. However, the purpose of this gathering in neve...

• Word Count: 654
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... one person, even the relationship between a mother and a little boy. The story opens on a "clear and sunny" summer morning. Davy and the children are seen gathering stones, placing them in big piles on each corner of the square. The boys choose the "roundest and smoothest stones" (268) to be used, showing that this is a special occasion, not any regular stone will do ... their lives and identity as a community. Davy, and the other young people, in the story are important in the passing on of the tradition. The need to keep the tradition of the lottery is an emotional one, as is heard in...

• Word Count: 845
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School