The Lottery

By: Shirly Jackson

1- How does the author use foreshadowing to increase suspense in the first
four paragraphs of the story? Provide specific examples and explain their
connection to the story's outcome.

The boys had been gathering stones and making a

pile. As people gather, they do not stand near the
pile of stones. The people talk quietly and do not
laugh. It takes a while for someone to respond
when Mr. Summers asks for help.
2- The author does not include the year in which the story takes
place o the name of the village. Why are these details of setting
omitted?

By not including the year or details

about the village, the reader might infer
the story takes place in any town at any
time, including the present.
3- The word ritual is used four times to describe
the lottery. Why might viewing the lottery as a
ritual inhibit the villager’s possible objections to it?

The word ritual might make people feel as if

they should not question such a long-held
tradition or go against it since they feel
powerless to change it.
4- Explain why Jackson waits until the end of the story to reveal the conflict
purpose of the lottery. How would the story be less effective I the conflict
were revealed earlier?

Jackson creates tension and suspense by

waiting until the end to reveal the conflict.
The story would lose impact if the reader
couldn't experience horror by realizing that
the winner is stoned to death.
5- At the end of the story, Mrs. Delacroix selects a huge stone and urges
Mrs. Dunbar to hurry. Explain why this is ironic or unexpected. What
important idea is brought out by this instance of irony?

At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs.

Hutchinson were behaving in a friendly manner toward each
other. By Mrs. Delacroix's selecting a large stone, Jackson
suggests that the ritual of the lottery is stronger than any
feeling of empathy the villagers might have toward one
another and that seemingly ordinary people are capable of
brutal behavior.
6- In the first part of the story, readers learn about the characters, setting, and
plot through the narrator's exposition. The second part of the story. depends
mostly on dialogue to advance the plot. How does this change affect the
pacing and mood of this part of the story?

Dialogue in the second half of the story

increases the pacing. An anxious mood is
developed by the quicker pace of dialogue
that conveys excitement, nervousness, and
fear.
7- How would you describe the narrator's tone
throughout the story? Identify words that convey
this tone to readers.
At the beginning, the narrator refers to "the lottery"
(line 6) without words that show disapproval. Even
when the true nature of the lottery comes to light
(lines 310-316)the narrator reserves judgment and
maintains a distant tone.
8-Do you find the narrator's tone strange, or even shocking?
Why? What theme about cruelty or injustice does this tone help
communicate

How people freely participate in cruelty

and injustice until they themselves
become the target and how people may
follow traditions blindly without thinking.