Short Story Three - "The Lottery"

Short Story 3: "The Lottery"
By: Deylah McCarty


o----Short Summary----o

! (A warning to anyone who hasn’t read this story: I do give away spoilers to it. If you’re interested, read the book and then come back and read this. :D)

When I first heard of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, I skeptically pictured a boring story about people winning money. However, I had heard it was good and was interested to see for myself. In the back of my head, I thought it might be different than I expected, and as it turns out, that little voice in the back of my head was right.

"The Lottery" had a very eerie, mysterious feeling to it. In the beginning, I enjoyed the way she described the townspeople and the town itself. I found that Jackson used a very delicate form of writing, a great way to stray around the actuality of things. It gave me at first a feel of calmness and order, and then it switched at the very end to hostility. I enjoyed the feeling of preciseness that the town presented.

Then, as I began to read further, I realized that something was amiss. If I were about to participate in the lottery, I would be nervous and excited. These people seemed nervous, but I began to realize they didn’t seem very exciting. When I finally found out what was happening, at the very end, I was shocked, but there had been so much building up to the ending that I wasn’t too surprised. I really like stories that have a surprise ending, especially when I can’t predict what’s happening before it already happens. This story really gave me all I would want out of a story: great writing style, a sense of despair or doom, and an ending that I couldn’t predict.

Two more things I particularly liked about the story were when the innocent children are happily building a pile of stones, and when they describe Mr. Summers drawing the black spot on the slip of paper. The children may have had no clue as to what was going on, but I liked that as another example of irony in the story. Mr. Summers appears to be a very serious but laid back man, and when Jackson describes him casually drawing a spot for some doomed person to draw, I think it makes him seem a bit creepy.

Also, I really like the title of this story. When you think of the word ‘lottery’, of course you think of chance, luck, and/or money. With this story, though, putting it literally would probably result in calling it something like ‘A Chance to Die’ or ‘Sacrifice.’ In that case, I especially like the title because it adds to the effect of the situational irony that the lottery is not as nice as it may sound, nor as harmless.

o----What was the subject of the story?----o

Villagers in a town get together at a set time each year to perform a frightening, almost sacrificial ritual called "The Lottery."

o----What was the theme?----o

Sometimes other cultures have strange or "wrong" ceremonies that other cultures think is absolutely unacceptable.

o----What do you think about what the author was trying to reveal about the subject?----o

Well, the author was trying to reveal the brutality of the ritual. If I were in that village, I would think that stoning someone to death is very wrong and inhuman. (So did Mrs. Hutchinson.) I don’t believe in killing fellow human beings, but I can see that other cultures have different ideas about that. I also found that it was very unnerving for all the people participating in The Lottery. At any given second, by complete randomness, they could be chosen to die, and in a very unpleasant way.

o----Do you agree with the author?----o

No, because I don’t believe humans should do that sort of thing to each other, especially that slow and painful of a death. However, it is human nature to be interested in stories such as these, so I agree with why she wrote it (assuming that it’s because that sort of story is more interesting than most).

o----How does the author's words support the theme they are trying to convey? In other words, how can you tell what the author thought about the subject?----o

In this story, it is obvious to me that a few of the people in the village do not agree with The Lottery, especially the younger generations. At one point, Mr. Adams says, "They do say that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery." In which case, Old Man Warner replies with, "Pack of crazy fools. Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them." You can clearly see here that the lottery is slowly being given up, even within the village that still performs it. The lottery is sort of its own evolution, like a gene that is slowly being whittled away until new genes come to replace it.

‘"Don’t be nervous, Jack," someone said [to the tall son of Mr. Watson].’

‘The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program—by Mr. Summers, who had the time and energy to devote to civic activities.’

In these two quotes, you can see how delicately the matter is thought of, how normal and casual it seems to most of the villagers. They may think this is just something that’s a way of life, but as the village gets older, and as the next generations come up, the ritual may just be lost. Comparing it again to evolution, new ‘genes’ might come in that will be dominant to the lottery ‘gene’ and do away with it for a long time. For example, maybe someone from a different village, a village who does not practice the lottery, could come in and change everyone’s mind about having the lottery.

o----How can you tell what the author was hoping you would think when you finished the story?----o

I would imagine the author would want you to be very surprised or even disturbed at the ending, when you find out what the lottery is really about. For me, I began to suspect something was wrong near the middle of the story, and then when I reached the ending I wasn’t too surprised that the lottery wasn’t about winning money, but I was surprised about what it turned out to be. Near the ending you start to get very curious about what’s going to happen to the person in the Hutchinson family that chooses the ‘bad’ slip of paper. I also think anyone reading the story might be surprised to find out that it was Mrs. Hutchinson who received the ‘bad’ slip, the slip with the black spot on it. The ending is abrupt, even creepy, but leaves you wondering about nothing more.

o----Think of your favorite movie. Explain the subject and theme.----o

My favorite movie (well, it’s a TV show) would have to be Heroes.
The subject of Heroes is basically this: A group of people with super powers is trying to stop the evil man with similar super powers.
The theme of Heroes: Genetic mutations can be a good thing or a bad thing.
The other main theme: You cannot change your destiny.

o----How does the person who created this movie deliver the theme?----o

Well, first he shows you the people who are the result of good mutations: the main characters who all have different powers. Then he shows you the result of people with bad mutations, such as the villain and two little girls who have a disease along with their mutation.

o----Describe the themes that let you know how the author feels about the subject and convinces viewers to feel the same.----o

For the first theme:

In the show, all but one of the main characters is a result of a good mutation, though in their lives it can result to be bad. For example, a character named Claire has the ability to heal from any kind of flesh wound. This is very good because she cannot get sick or killed easily, but it makes her life at home very hard because she has to keep it a secret.

Another example is a man named Peter, who is always dreaming about flying. He finally tells his brother Nathan that he can fly, but Nathan tells him he’s crazy. Through the beginning of the show there is a lot of conflict between the two, because of Peter’s dreams, which turn out to be true after all.

Most everyone in the show has trouble arise from their amazing abilities. It goes to show that genetic mutations are good and bad.

For the second theme:

In the show, there is a character named Hiro who can bend time. He travels around, getting used to his power, and ending up in places he did not want to be. Because of this, time and space gets mixed up and he creates problems that he has to fix. Eventually, after failing twice to save a woman, he realizes that not even with his power can you change the future. His future self later tells him, "You cannot change destiny."