A Formalist Criticism The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

1. THE
LOTTERY
by Shirley Jackson
A Formalist Criticism

2. PLO
T

3. Exposition
It is warm June day in a wholesome
good natured town where the people
are kind, polite & happy. The villagers
are getting ready for the lottery,
adults are finishing their chores early
and children happily pick up stones.

4. Rising Action
The Villagers are starting to come
for the Lottery. Tessie came late
saying she almost forget but Mr.
Summers commented they won’t
start without her.

5. Climax
The drawing of the slips of paper is
finished and the townspeople begin
to unfold their papers with sighs of
relief. The winner is declared as the
Hutchinson Family and ultimately
after the second drawing Tessie is
declared the winner.

6. Action
Tessie protests saying it’s unfair,
the townspeople gather around her
and stone her to death, thus
completing their tradition.

7. Denouement
They still live their life according to
their old tradition. They did not
grieve for the lost loved one and
simply forget her like the many other
before her.

8. UNFOLDING
CHARACTERS
…

9. Old Man Warner
One of the many Ironies in
the Story. Old Man means
he’s been a witness of the
tradition for years. Warner
is the irony because he
doesn’t warn people about
their death, he simply
watches.

10. Mr. Summers
It is summertime when
they held the lottery. It
suggests how powerful
he is in controlling the
lottery. Summer
suggests a happy time,
lively but Mr. Summers
offers the opposite
which is death.

11. Mr. Graves
He’s one of the
people to lead
the person to his
own grave.

12. Specific Details of the
SettingsThe specification of details made the story more powerful in
the end. It seems like an ordinary day for us as we read
along the first paragraph. The atmosphere it built in the first
paragraph made the impact of the irony greater because it
seems like a happy day but in the end, it’s not. The specific
details suggest that all through out the story, only the
specific details will be revealed not the one we should
really know. Because of the specific details, we didn’t
notice things to be out of place. We overlooked at the
things, we fail to know its hidden meaning from the very
start.

13. SYMBOLISMS

14. Black BoxThe box is the coffin in which all are condemned to death
but only one will die. The fading or the faded color of the
box symbolizes the fading tradition of their village and they
are still using this box even though it is old and almost
broken because they believe parts of it came from the
original box of the tradition even though they haven’t
witness it. It also symbolizes Old Man Warner which also
ages. Then creating an analogy, Old Man Warner haven’t
really witnessed the very tradition that’s why they only did
what’s powerful in the tradition which is Violence. The
pieces never came from the original box, they just like to
believe it is.

15. Three-legged Stool
It serves as the foundation
of the tradition itself. The
three legs are Mr. Summer,
Mr. Grave and Old Man
Warner. They are the ones
who organized the lottery.
The three legs carry the box
which means the three of
them carry the tradition.
Without them, they can no
longer hold their tradition or
the lottery.

16. Black Doto It symbolizes death. The white part of the paper symbolizes
the population of their village or their community and the
black dot on it symbolizes the person who'll die. Of all the
people on their village, you are the ironically lucky one.
o This also symbolizes the flaw in the tradition that after all
the goodness that person shows, once she was the one
who picked it, they will only see her death, the black spot.
o This also symbolizes the town itself. Unlike any other towns
nearby, they’re the only ones who held the tradition. They
are the black spot.

17. StoneoDeath and tradition. This
suggests their way of killing
based on their tradition.
oThis also symbolizes the
villagers. They are like stones.
They are indifferent to the
person they will kill as long as
they can fulfill the tradition every
year. They don’t care if that
person is a family or a friend.
They simply kill because of the
tradition.

18. LotteryoLottery symbolizes life.
Though some people think it’s
unfair, you will never really
know the time you will die and
people will forget you.
oIt also shows the effects of
following traditions without
people questioning it.

19. FORESHADOWIN
G Children putting Stones in their pocket earlier in the
morn
 Tessie’s late arrival makes her apart from the crowd
 Observation of Mr. Summers saying Tessie may think
they’ll start without her
 People getting nervous and fidgety instead of getting
excited
 The people breathed a sigh of relief when their paper is
blank and the sisters beamed and laughed while theirs
is also blank
 Tessie’s protest of the lottery being unfair

20. I
R
O
N
Y

21. LotteryIt means for a
celebration after
winning and it should
be full of excitement
but in the story, the
people are nervous
and death is what
awaits to the so-
called “winner”.

22. Warner
He doesn’t warn people
of their death, he is
simply indifferent to the
person who will die for
77 years now. He
doesn’t even want to
stop the tradition after all
all he witnessed.

23. rIt is supposed to be
happy and full of life
yet in the story it
become a tragic
time or time you
don’t want to come
because you’ll be
facing death.

24. DetailsThese specific details
should be the one to
make the story clearer
but rather we become
one with the villagers
who blindly follows the
tradition, we don’t
know what’s going
end not until the end.

25. SUBJECT MATTER THEMES
Reluctance of People to
Reject Outdated
Traditions
People’s reluctance to reject
outdated traditions shows their
ignorance of their beliefs and
them being blind followers of such
injustices.
Wickedness of
Ordinary People
The wickedness of ordinary
people is quite unexpected but
devastating as what serial killers
can do.
Following the Mob
(Crowd)
Following the crowd isn’t
always for the common
good, sometimes it’s
unreasonable.

26. Connecting Our Society to the
Subject Matter
 People in the society can be selfish, not grieving for
other’s life since theirs is saved. Death sometimes
doesn’t come naturally, sometimes it’s the people
around us who wish to kill us just so they can live their
lives like the ISIS who are indifferent to what their
victims feel as long as they did what they ought to do.
 Our society is full of ignorance and blinded with
injustices because we are afraid of the changes just for
example the K-12 program. We are still hesitant
because it is a big change for us Filipinos, we complain
because we’re already contented with our original
practice even if there is a much better way for us to
grow and develop.

27. Members:
 Jewel Vanilli Punay
 Harold Masmela
 Jhedell Pablico
 Armando Sansano
 Pauline Alonzo
 Maureen Bernadette Guray