Discussion of elements of the short story using the story of "The Lottery"

1. The Lottery:
Elements of the
Short Story
By:
Floreibel C. Gultiano

2. Setting
Time: 10:00 o clock in the morning of
June 27th
Atmosphere: It was clear and sunny, with the
fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the
flowers were blossoming profusely and the
grass was richly green.
Place: the village square, between the post
office and the bank
Local Colors:

3. Character
Mr. Summers - round-faced, jovial man
and he ran the coal business, and people
were sorry for him. because he had no
children and his wife was a scold (a woman who
disturbs the public peace by noisy and quarrelsome or abusive behavior)
Bobby Martin, Harry Jones and Dickie
Delacroix - sons of the villagers who
gathered a large pile of stones

4. Character
Mr. Graves -the postmaster who
helped Mr. Summers with the lottery
Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson -the wife
who came in late because she forgot
about the lottery
- she got the paper with the black
dot
Old Man Warner -the oldest man
in town

5. Point of View
The Lottery" uses the third-person
dramatic point of view to tell a story
about an un-named village that
celebrates a wicked, annual event. The
narrator in the story gives many small
details of the lottery taking place, but
leaves the most crucial and chilling
detail until the end.

6. Point of View
The use of the third-person point of view,
with just a few cases of third-person omniscient
thrown in, is an effective way of telling this ironic
tale, both because the narrator's reporter-like
blandness parallels the villagers' apparent apathy
to the lottery, and because it helps build to the
surprise ending by giving away bits of
information to the reader through the actions
and discussions of the villagers without giving
away the final twist.

7. Plot
BEGINNING
The story begun with the description of
the place on the 27th day of June. It's a
beautiful summer day, the children are out
of school, and the villagers have begun
assembling in the square to hold a lottery.
It is unclear exactly what the prize of this
lottery is going to be, and this mystery
persists throughout the story. The scene is
foreshadowing that something is going to
happen as we go along with the story.

8. Conflict
Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson refuse the
results of the lottery when she
found out that it is her husband who
got the paper with the black dot and
complains that the draw is not fair
and that her husband was not given
much time to get his paper.

9. Climax
When Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson got
the paper with the black dot and but
we're still left with several mysteries.
What exactly is the prize, and why does
Tess seem so unhappy about being
selected to receive it? She complains a
lot as if she is afraid of something else.
These questions are what lead us to the
next stage.

10. Resolution
Mr. Summers ask Mr.
Hutchinson on the number of
the members in their family. He
decided to let the Hutchinsons
draw another set of papers
where all of members of the
family to draw.

11. Ending
The story ended with Mrs.
Hutchinson won the prize of the
lottery and was stoned to death.
This ironic winning of the lottery
makes the story controversial that
supposed to be winning in the
lottery entails a lot of monetary
prizes yet this was not what had
happened.

12. Theme
John 8:7
So when they
continued asking him, he
lifted up himself, and said
unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let
him first cast a stone at her.