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1. THE
LOTTERY
by
Shirley
Jackson
1

2. SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916-1965)
 Born in 1916 in San Francisco.
 She attended:
 The University of Rochester and
then
 Syracuse University, where she
became fiction editor of the
campus humor magazine.
 She who wrote six novels, two
memoirs, and over 200 short
stories.
2

3. SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916-1965)
 The University of Rochester and
then
 She dropped out of college in her
sophomore year.
 She would have been part of the class
of 1938.
 According to a biography about the
author:
“Dropped out” isn’t exactly the right
term—her grades were so bad that year
that at the end of it she was asked to
leave.
3

4. SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916-1965)
 In her biography of Jackson, Ruth
Franklin notes that
 the writer later commented that
she had been kicked out
“because I refused to go to any
classes because I hated them.”
 She spent the next year writing,
forcing herself to produce at least
a thousand words a day, and
when she applied to Syracuse
University she did so with the goal
of making writing her career.
4

5. SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916-1965)
 After graduating in 1940, Jackson
moved to New York City (Greenwich
Village) and she began to write
professionally.
 In 1944, she and her husband moved
to Vermont.
 in 1948, her first novel, The Road
Through The Wall, was published.
5

6. SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916-1965)
 As a side note:
 Ms. Jackson did spend some time
in a mental hospital.
 She had a troubled relationships
with her mother and with her
husband.
6

7. SHIRLEY JACKSON
 Her works appeared in:
 The New Yorker,
 Redbook,
 The Saturday Evening Post
 The Ladies' Home Journal.
 Her most famous work is the short story
"The Lottery," it was published in ‘The New
Yorker’.
 In 1949, she relocated to Westport,
Connecticut.
 In 1959 her novel, The Haunting of Hill
House, was published and is considered
one of the best haunted house stories to
ever be written.
,
7

8. SHIRLEY JACKSON
 **The tone of most of her works is odd
and macabre, with an impending sense
of doom, often framed by very ordinary
settings and characters.
 She was the mother of four children.
 She was a reclusive woman, for the last
few years of her life she was reluctant to
discuss her work with the public.
 She died of heart failure in 1965
at age 48.
8

9. “THE LOTTERY” VOCABULARY
 Profusely
 Liberty
 Boisterous
 Reprimands
 Scold
 Jovial
rowdy, loud
large amounts; to a great
degree
freedom
Scold; rebuke
nagging woman; a person who is
constantly scolding or
reprimanding with loud and
abusive speech
Jolly; joyful 9

10. “THE LOTTERY” VOCABULARY
 Paraphernalia
 Perfunctory
 Preceded
 Shabbier
 Lapse
personal belongings, items
associated with a specific
activity
performed merely as a routine
duty
fallen into
disrepair
Come before something in
time
hiatus; break; interval or passage
of time 10

11. “THE LOTTERY” VOCABULARY
 Soberly
 Disengaged
 interminably
 Petulantly
 Stoutly
 Daintily
 defiantly
seriously
unending
To free from attachment
With unreasonable
irritation
Bulky in figure;
overweight
delicately, in a lady-like
fashion
boldly resistant or 11

12. “THE LOTTERY” VOCABULARY
 Hastily
 Gravely
With excessive speed or
urgency
Serious or solemn manner
12

13. PUBLIC REACTION TO THE
1948 THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE
SHORT STORY OF
“THE LOTTERY”
• The short story is said to have generated
more negative letters from readers than
any other story previously published by
the magazine.
• Many cancelled their subscriptions to the
magazine
13

14. PUBLIC REACTION TO THE
1948 THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE
SHORT STORY OF
“THE LOTTERY”
• Readers were offended by the work and
its suggestion that evil could be so easily
and commonly carried out.
• They felt the ending was a pointless,
arbitrary, and violent sacrifice.
14

15. PUBLIC REACTION TO THE
1948 THE NEW YORKER
MAGAZINE
SHORT STORY OF
“THE LOTTERY”
• A few readers actually called the magazine
to see where the town was so that they
could go and watch the lottery.
• Shirley Jackson received over 300 letters
that summer alone—”I can count only
thirteen that spoke kindly to me.
15

16. SHIRLEY JACKSON’S
PARENTS’ REACTIONS
1948 THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE
SHORT STORY OF
“THE LOTTERY”
• Even my own mother scolded me: ‘Dad
and I did not care at all for your story…it
does seem, dear, that this gloomy kind of
story is what all you young people think
about these days.
• Why don’t you write something to cheer
people up?’”
16

17. SHIRLEY JACKSON’S REACTIONS
TO THE PUBLIC’S REACTION
OF THE
“THE LOTTERY”
• Generally, Ms. Jackson refused to explain the
meaning of the story.
• She did once tell a journalist: “I suppose I
hoped, by setting a particularly brutal rite in
the present and in my own village, to shock
the readers with a graphic demonstration of
the pointless violence and general
inhumanity of their own lives [but] I gather
that in some cases the mind just rebels.
• The number of people who expected Mrs.
Hutchinson to win a Bendix washer at the
end would amaze you.” 17

18. MEANING BEHIND THE PLOT
• In ancient Athens, Greece, Athenians
believed that human sacrifice promised
fertile crops.
• By transferring one's sins to persons or
animals and then sacrificing them,
people believed that their sins would be
eliminated, a process that has been
termed "scapegoat"
• A similar ritual sacrifice occurs with
Tessie Hutchinson. and the statement in
the story: “Lottery in June, corn be
heavy soon.” 18

19. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• “The Lottery” was written in 1948. Ms.
Jackson’s writing was influenced by
world events and culture.
She was possibly influenced by the
• Depression,
• the Holocaust,
• WWII, and
• the McCarthy Era.
19

20. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• By 1943 news of the Nazi concentration
camps had finally reached America.
• A number of Americans responded with
horror and concern that communities could
have stood by and silently allowed the
Holocaust to occur.
• Ms. Jackson hints at a similar situation in
her story when the townspeople are
unable to fully question or prevent the
brutal lottery practice, and in fact,
participate in it.
20

21. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• Conformity was the norm post WWII;
Americans tended to imitate those around
them rather than follow their own separate
paths.
• The media (especially TV) helped to spread
conformity throughout the US.
• In politics, people feared the spread of
Communism, leading to the Un-American
Activities Committee, the Hollywood
blacklist, and by 1950, McCarthy’s
Communist “witch hunt”
• In the story, the townspeople are swept
away by the tide of conformity, and the
lottery goes ahead as always. 21

22. FORESHADOWING
• Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer
gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the
story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning
of a story, or a chapter, and it helps the reader develop
expectations about the upcoming events.
Bobby Martin stuffing his pockets with stones and the
other boys followed him.
Bobby, Harry Jones Dickie Delacrois- made a great pile of
stones in the square and guarded it against raids
Villagers kept their distance from the stool.
22

23. FORESHADOWING
• Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer
gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the
story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning
of a story, or a chapter, and it helps the reader develop
expectations about the upcoming events.
 Mr. Summers asked for help to steady the box.
There was hesitation (fear) about the box.
There was a great deal of fussing to be done before Mr.
Summers declared the lottery Open.
Demonstrating that the lottery was a ritual.
23

24. FORESHADOWING
• Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer
gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the
story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning
of a story, or a chapter, and it helps the reader develop
expectations about the upcoming events.
 “Some places have already quit lotteries.” Mrs. Adams said.”
Appears to be controversy, that lottery was discontinued.
The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to
the instructions…
Some were wetting their lips (Anticipation/Nervousness)
24

25. ALLUSION (BIBLICAL)
• An Allusion is a figure of speech, in which
one refers indirectly to a place, event, an
object. Circumstance or literary work by was
of an external reference.
• It is left to the audience to make the
connection; where the connection is directly
and explicitly stated (as opposed to indirectly
implied) by the author, an allusion is instead
usually termed as a reference.
• “The Lottery” alludes to the Biblical story in
which Jesus frees an adulterous woman,
directing who is without sin to cast the first
stone. No one throws stones at her.
• In “The Lottery” no one stops the stoning and
Tessie becomes their scapegoat; she pays
for their sins. 25

26. RITUAL WITHOUT MEANING
• Because there has "always been a lottery“,
the villagers feel compelled to continue
this horrifying tradition.
• They focus on its gruesome nature, for they
"still remembered to use stones" even after
they have "forgotten the ritual and lost the
original black box“.
• The story may be saying that society
tends toward violence instead of society's
need for civilized traditions. 26

27. MOB VIOLENCE
• Mrs. Hutchinson’s death is a mob action, if it
was an individual act it would be called
murder.
• As a group act it is called a "ritual."
• When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives at the ceremony
late, she chats sociably with Mrs. Delacroix.
But after Mrs. Hutchinson falls victim to the
lottery selection, Mrs. Delacroix chooses a
"stone so large" that she must pick it up
both hands.
• On the individual level, the two women
each other as friends, but on the group
they betray that relationship, satisfying the
27

28. COLOR SYMBOLISM
Black:
The color for death, mourning,
punishment
The black box used to draw lots and
the slip of paper with a black mark
pointing out the 'winner' are
mentioned too frequently to be
coincidental.
28

29. Black box:
Coffin? Evil secret hidden away?
Black spot on paper:
Sin? A “black mark” on one’s record is
negative; black mark: unclean?
Black Box–
The box is old; the paint is peeling, and the wood is splintered. This
condition reflects the fading of the tradition in other villages as well as
the villager's questioning of the lottery in this village. However, they will
not replace the box, just like they will not stop the lottery
SHAPE/COLOR SYMBOLISM
29

30. SETTING SYMBOLISM
•The Lottery Itself:
• Symbolizes any number of social problems
that we blindly continue even though they
are outdated
•The setting:
• No specific name/place indicates this is any
town, USA; the contrast of the town with the
ritual helps build suspense
30

31. NAME SYMBOLISM
•Summers: the season of summer is
associated with youth, strength, growth,
of life, warmth, leisure, prosperity,
blooming, blossoming
•Graves : the obvious grave = place of
entombment/death
• Grave = serious; hints that the lottery may
be a frivolous contest (“Mr. Graves said
gravely”)
• Critics have said:
Ms. Jackson creates balance by having Mr.
Summers and Mr. Graves share in the
responsibilities of the ritual:
Life brings death, and death recycles life. 31

32. PARABLE
Parable= a simple story used to illustrate a moral
or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the
Gospels.
• Many believe “The Lottery” to be a modern-
day parable—a story that presents a moral
lesson through characters who represent
ideas.
• The focus in a parable is not to develop
character or other typical plot elements.
• You’re not told the lesson in a parable—you
are to figure out what the lesson is.
32

33. THEMES
• THEME = means an underlying message or in other
words a big idea. For example: Love and Friendship
• Horrifying acts of violence can take place
anywhere at anytime, and they can be
committed by the most ordinary people.
• Following the crowd can have disastrous
consequences.
• The unexamined life is not worth living.
33

34. THEMES
• THEME = means an underlying message or in other
words a big idea. For example: Love and Friendship
• Acts of violence, hatred, murder are not
acceptable just because many people participate
• Society is reluctant to reject outdated traditions,
ideas, rules, laws, and practices.
• People are not all good or all evil but a mixture of
both.
• Other ideas/themes can be applied to “The
Lottery”
34

35. IRONY
• Irony (3 Types)= is the contrast between what is
expected and what is real.
• Situational Irony- When what happens is the opposite
of what is expected. Most examples of irony in “The
Lottery are this kind.”
• Verbal Irony- A contrast between the intended meaning
of what is spoken and what the apparent meaning is to
the hearer.
• Dramatic Irony- When the audience knows something a
character does not.
35

36. IRONY
• Situational
• Situational
• The story’s setting (June 27th ) typical a
pleasant summer morning except people are
gathering for an event that is anything but
pleasant.
36
Situational Irony:
When what happens is the opposite of what is expected.
Most examples of irony in “The Lottery are this kind.”
• It is suppose to be a strict ritual, but overtime
parts of the ritual have been altered or
stopped

37. IRONY
• Situational
• Situational
• Old Man Warner says how primitive it would
be not have a lottery. “Next thing you know,
they’ll be living in caves.” He says petulantly
“There’s always been a lottery.”
37
Situational Irony:
When what happens is the opposite of what is expected.
Most examples of irony in “The Lottery are this kind.”
• Mrs. Hutchinson screams, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t
right. And then they were upon her.”
• **Actually, the lottery is perfectly fair. Each
person, theoretically, has an equal chance of
“winning.”

38. IRONY
• Verbal • Tessie Hutchinson shouted “Mr. Summer, you
didn’t give him time enough to take any paper
e wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair!”
• Ironic, Tessie had just told Bill to hurry up and
get the paper. Tessie’s viewpoint changes
when it affects her family.
38
Verbal Irony: A contrast between the intended meaning of
what is spoken and what the apparent meaning is to the
hearer.