Narrative Essay: The Day Of The Lottery

On the day of the lottery everyone was gathered at the town square. Once the lottery began Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery, announced names. As the villagers nervously stepped up they were eager to open the paper. Finally it was time. Everyone opened their paper.

In "The Lottery" a lottery of sorts is run by Mr. Summers on June 27th. Everybody (grown men of a household) goes to this black box and they select a piece of paper. The paper that is selected is Mr. Hutchinson. So then Mr. Hutchinson's family is the ones that are chosen. Mrs. Hutchinson immediately starts protesting because she doesn't want anyone from her family to get stoned.

Vidya Jagadeesh Mrs. wald/Mrs. Ruggiero Language Arts- period 7 28 february 2023 Things are not always what they seem in our daily lives when we grow up in them. In the short story book ”The Lottery", Shirly Jackson wrote that a town has a lottery that turns out to be very dark. In the dystopian fiction book the giver, Lois Lowry wrote in the book a town people believe to be a nice friendly town is actually not. In both stories, people's behaviors reveal that things are not always what they seem.

Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a story about the tradition of a small village, is painted in impeccable details of peace, and serenity on a warm summer day, as everyone follows the tradition they have known since a long time ago despite the true intentions and meaning of it forgotten. The Lottery taking place annually is like no other lottery, it paints the true picture of the horror that epitomizes the tradition that none of the villagers dare to question, despite it creating separation between gender and families and ruining

“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a very suspenseful, yet very shocking short story. This story is set in a small village, on a hot summers day in June. Flowers are blooming, and the towns people are gathering for the lottery, which is a tradition the town does every year. As the reader reads the first paragraph they think this is a happy story. The title also says, “The Lottery” which is a word often used for winning something or receiving a prize.

The Lottery Template Topic Sentence: One can see by examining the symbolism of the worn out black box, and the foreshadowing of the children putting rocks in their pockets in the The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, that this story is a classic archetypal horror story. Argument: Firstly, one can see that when Mr. Summers arrived at the square carrying a black wooden box, he asked the villagers if anyone would give him a hand with putting the box on the three- legged stool, however, many hesitated to come near the black box, a symbolic twist that foreshadows the imminent ending. The black box has been used for generations, even before the oldest villager. It has been said that the current box was made from the pieces of the

The tradition of the lottery has been carried out for so long in this village that nobody even knows the reason for its occurring in the first place and nobody questions it. When Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, is told about other villages giving up the tradition of the lottery, he says that they are, “[A] pack of crazy fools [...]. There [has] always been a lottery [...]” (Jackson, 4). There is no reason why there has always been a lottery except that every year on June 27th, they held the lottery.

confused. Although as you keep reading it becomes clear in the end that the individual that gets the paper with the black dot is stoned to death. In the story the “winner” of the lottery is Tess Hutchinson. When her ticket is revealed and eveyone sees the black dot they all back away and leave her in the center. They all get prepared passing stones around they even give some small rocks to her own son who is just a small child.

“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts off with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers holds the lottery. Once everyone gathers, every family draws a slip of paper out of an old black box, and the family with the black mark on their paper gets picked. After that, each family member older than 3 years of age re-draws a slip of paper again and this time, the person with the black mark on their paper gets picked as the “lucky winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery, with her reward is being stoned to death.

Full of plot twists, and turns, “The Lottery” relies on its characters to convey a sense of normalcy throughout a majority of the story. The villagers’ acceptance of rituals allows them to act normal while knowingly partaking in a deadly tradition. Jackson’s brilliant use of deceptiveness leaves readers blind sighted as one could never predict this story’s outcome. Jackson’s work is renowned because of its unpredictable shift in tone. June 27, may appear to be a pleasant summer day, but this prediction could not be further from the truth.

Throughout centuries, traditions and rituals have had the ability to control one’s behavior. In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, she tells the reader of a small village. On the surface, this community may seem relatively normal. However, despite the picturesque appeal, this falsely serene village has a distinct deceitful flaw. On June 27th, every year, a lottery takes place.

Most traditions and celebrations are meant to be jubilant and joyous, yet “The Lottery” shows another way to interpret it and confuses the readers with the title. “It had spent one year in Mr. Graves’s barn and another year underfoot in the post office and sometimes it was set on a shelf in the martin Grocery and left there” (6). This quote represents the tradition that the small town has been holding onto for many years. Like the lottery itself, the black box has no functionality except for two hours every June. As time passes, the purpose of the box is cloudy and confusing.

One of the pieces of paper has a black dot on it, and the family that receives the black dot has to draw again, this time facing the possibility of death. In the story, Bill Hutchinson has the black dot, and his wife starts screaming about how unfair it is. She starts yelling about how it’s rigged, and how Bill didn’t get to pick the piece of paper he wanted. Her neighbors started yelling at her to shut up, and telling her to be a good sport.

The villagers on “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are afraid to let go of their tradition, the lottery. They are concern of unknown consequences that will happen if they change their old customs. So, for every year, the villagers gather at the square to do the lottery at 10 AM . The villagers are afraid to quit their outdated tradition because they think that changing their old customs will only bring trouble.

An example of characterization used by Jackson to help communicate the theme is when Mr. Summers is presenting the black box to the villagers. He suggests, “making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” His claim of stating an obvious but well thought response shows how Jackson put Mr.Summers as an innocent man trying to convey his idea that the tradition should be gone. Since, the general populace did not want the tradition to change, it would explain the events that further led to a malicious murdering.