“The Lottery” takes place in a small village full of normal looking people. The narrator starts by describing the time of year it is, late June. The weather on this particular day was hot and humid on that morning when Mr. Summers came to get old man Warner, who was selected to draw the winning name for the lottery. [1] The description of this particular day is very vague in the story, which adds to the suspense. The weather that accompanies this situation could be indicative of an ordinary normal day in small town America, or it may foreshadow what happens later when the entire village picks a family member to stone to death.
The narrator describes Mr. Summers as “neat and clean,” looks “as if he had just shaved” and has white sticky tape wrapped around his shoes. [2] The reader does not know why he would wear new shoes on such hot humid morning, but one can assume they might get ruined during the lottery. The fact that Mr. Summer is wearing nice looking shoes shows that either he participated in or at least watched The Lottery draw before he got to the actual lottery. The reader does not get any indication that Mr. Summers wears new shoes every year, but if he did it would show some premeditation for The Lottery by him and others in the village.
It appears that The Lottery is a summer holiday tradition in this particular community because Mr. Summers runs it “every year. “[3] The villagers are seen warming up with playful activity before The Lottery starts, which suggests they take The Lottery seriously even though there is no explanation of what The Lottery consists of. After the lottery had started on this hot humid day,[4] an old man who was never given a name by Shirley Jackson stepped forward telling everyone that “this [was] his time. [5]
The reader gets the feeling that The Lottery has been going on for some time when they hear about The Old Man drawing first. It is not mentioned how long The Lottery had taken place, but it appears these people take The Lottery very seriously. The actions of The Old Man shows he knows what’s expected of him in this situation. He walks to the center of the villagers and lays down so they can begin The Lottery. [6] This act is meant to show his contribution to The Village’s tradition, which is why he wanted everyone to see him do it before he died.
The story continues with Mrs. Adams telling her husband she wonders if Tessie Hutchinson did win this year. [7] Mr. Adams confirms that she did win The Lottery this year. The reader will not know if Tessie Hutchinson won The Lottery more than once or how many times she had won The Lottery. It is mentioned that it has been 27 years since Mr. Adams’s first time drawing The Lottery. [8] The story makes no mention of why he stopped participating, but the reader can assume it was because his wife never won The Lottery.
After Tessie Hutchinson is chosen to participate in The Lottery, the villagers draw stones out of a black box. [9] Shirley Jackson leaves it up to the readers imagination about what happens next even though they see some people handing stones to others and discussing what happen next. [10] Shirley Jackson never explains The Lottery, but the reader gets the feeling that The Lottery is a big part of The Village. The people of The Village do not question The Lottery and simply accept it as an annual tradition.
The lottery is not explained in detail in Shirley Jackson’s ” The Lottery ” so we do not know exactly how it works. We can assume from what we know and read about The Lottery and this one specific day, the lottery takes place on hot humid days during summer afternoons. Within The Village there are some rules that must be followed such as the designated person who picks out all of the names ahead of time and lays them down on a flat rock. [11] If anyone is to win The Lotto, The Old Man goes first.
The reader does not know why The Old Man is the first person to draw The Lottery while we do get a sense that The Lottery has been taking place for some time and The Old Man wants everyone to see him lay down before he dies. The Village also gambles with what is in The Black Box, one box full of white stones and the other box full of black stones. [12] The color of the stones represent life and death; this plays on Shirley Jackson’s theme about human nature. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” came out in 1948 but there is little known about Shirley Jackson herself or her writing outside of this piece.
She Syracuse University and got her Bachelors’ degree in English literature. The novel The Haunting of Hill House was published right before The Lottery, which many critics believe is Shirley Jackson’s masterpiece. The Lottery has been adapted into two films and once as an opera. [13] The New Yorker first published The Lottery to the public for free. [14] It sparked controversy among readers about its meaning to this day . The story that went along with the writing of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” came from a dream she had.
She woke up one morning after dreaming about villagers drawing straws for their lives. [15] The theme Shirley Jackson wanted to express through this piece involved human nature and how humans are driven by tribalism. [16][17] The idea of The Lottery is that over time The Village became a society where everyone must follow along in order to stay in The Village. [18] The reader can see how The Lottery affects the citizens of The Village by the end when they attend the lottery every year and have no problem with it even though one person from The Village will die.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” multiple perspectives are shown through different characters. In the beginning, after Mr. Summers reveals what is in The Black Box, Mrs. Graves starts to cry hysterically. [19] This shows that she does care about who dies every year and how it effects her directly because she never wants anyone from The Village to chosen for The Lottery. The reader can assume that The Old Man is around 80 years old and The Lottery has been taking place for a long time because The Old Man mentions he has never missed. 20] The Old Man does not want to miss The Lottery, even if it means asking The Mayor to choose someone else in his place.
Katherine Summers does not care what happens because her husband Mr. Summers handles everything and tells everyone how things work within The Village so Katherine simply follows along and stands by while others decide who will die. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” takes place in The Village where Shirley Jackson leaves no clear location or time period during the story; she wants readers keep wondering what exactly is going on rather than too much detail.