The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

1. Tone: The tone of the story is calm throughout. It's like it just grazes over the humdrum of a small town and that is carried through to the end.

2. Plot: The story starts with all the members of a tiny town gathering in its square for an annual tradition. With no rush, every head of the house to the center and draws a piece of paper from a black box. After all heads have taken a paper, they all open theirs to see who holds the piece with a black dot on it. Once they find out which family it is, each member of that family draws a paper. Within that family someone has the black dot. This year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Then to conclude the lottery, all the other members of the town stone her to death.

3. Characterization: There was less detail going into the characters for this story, making it flat. Everyone seemed to go about their own business in this town and all seemed to handle this lottery in a rather nonchalant fashion.

4. Setting: Dust. That's the whole of what I take from this story. It was June 27th, so very well into summer of probably the olden days of the fifties or so. The location is probably somewhere in the South or Midwest given the square dances that were held. It is said that the exact setting is undefined.

5. Point of View: Like in Where Are You Going... this story is told in third-person. It names the characters for who they are and never indicates that the speaker is a figure in the plot.

6. Irony: The irony is found in the title. For many, a lottery is associated with the small chances of gaining a great reward. One would think that they would want to win the lottery. But not this one.

7. Theme: I think the theme is to show what kind of injustice can come from simply doing what you're told. I can hardly believe that everyone in the village agrees with this procedure and if those who don't agree could voice their opinion, it could stop this reign of "he/she told me to."

...