The Lottery: Plot Overview

In the short story, by Shirley Jackson, The Lottery, is about a small town that gathers everyone together each year for a big drawing. The drawing consists of a list, the head of families and heads of households that were usually the husbands, and if they are not present, the next in line, is the oldest son; Once all the heads of households have pulled, with hopes of their slips of paper are blank, one must come forth to let the crowd know the outcome. If their slip of paper was blank, their family is cleared from any consequence that was going to happen during the Lottery, if their slip of paper had a black dot that means that their entire family would need to pull again, and at least one of them will pull the slip with the black dot on it, and will be stoned to death.

When you think about the lottery, we all assume that everyone who chooses to participate is excited by taking a chance to get a great reward if their number is chosen. Unfortunately, the way the village views the lottery is the total opposite. Jackson had foreshadowed quite a few things in the very beginning of the story; that had set the tone to be peaceful, exciting, and friendly until the story begins to end, and it quickly turns to becomes horrific. How ironic is it that the winner of the lottery is chosen to get stoned to death at random? This is not the first year that the village has participated, so they all know what is destined to happen, yet they still choose to do it. The lottery shows how powerful traditions are even when it is not morally right and yet people continue to follow tradition through as normal.

In the beginning of story, the tone was set to be a normal day full of fun and the usual social festivities. The date of June 27th tells me that the kids are all out of school, so everyone is in attendance, and does not have any excuse of why they should not be present for the event. Jackson had foreshadowed a few things in the beginning of the story that I would not have noticed if the tone had not shifted from peaceful to gloomy. She was telling us that the boys were gathering stones, placing them in the squares, and it appeared that the kids were playing around with them at first. She later expressed that as the parents were calling them to come join them due to the lottery starting, the children had to be called four to five times (Jackson). It lets me know that the kids were aware of what was bound to happen and that was their way of rebelling the tradition without expressing it to them verbally. Also, when Mr. Summers had asked, Some of you fellows want to give me a hand? (Jackson), it was strange that they were hesitant to help and kept their distance. Lastly, Jackson revealed that everyone was present and on time, except for Tessie; she was letting us know through her actions when she had showed up late and said, Clean forgot what day it was (Jackson), and that she is not as engaged to lottery tradition as everyone else were.

The symbols that were found in the story were the black box, the slips of papers verse the wood chips, Old Man Warner and the stones. The black box is the only thing that villagers hold as the original piece from when the tradition started. The color of the box symbolizes darkness and gloominess. Some villagers requested for a new box to get made, but majority of the villagers did not want to make a new box because they think the value of their tradition will be lost. The transition from woods chips to the slips of paper occurred as the population grew, and that resources had transformed over time. The transition of these resources allowed me to figure out an estimated time of when the lottery had begun; it was a time to where the wood chips were easier and cheaper to access for a smaller population back then, and paper is more accessible to gather now for cheaper. This minor change in the process has shown that the villagers have the authority to pick and choose what they would like to continue and discontinue in the tradition. Old Man Warner is described as the oldest man in the village, and that this tradition has been going on for over seventy- seven years. He was put into this story to represent the amount of support and dedication that the people of the village give to the lottery, and that it is accepted. The stones were used as the murder weapon but were collected innocently in the beginning. In the biblical times, stoning was used towards people who have committed various sins and is usually seen as a sacrifice and are in hopes of receiving a gain in some way after they are killed.

The most ironic thing about this story is the title, The Lottery. When we think about the lottery, we assume that each person that is participating are wanting to increase their chances of being chosen and being the receiver of a great reward; which it turns out the complete opposite. It is whomever chooses the slip with a black dot, will be the one who will be murdered. The entire village have invested in keeping the tradition going, but they decided what that would like to change and what not to change. It was supposed to be a ritual salute lead by an official as they addressed each person. Usually, the lottery would start on June 2nd, but they had chosen to do the lottery on June 27th due to a smaller village than the others. All throughout the story, there has been a few major examples of how strong a tradition can make go against your morals. The kids refused to listen, and their moms had to call them over 4 times indicating that they prefer not to participate. Mrs. Adam told Old Man Warner that Some places have already quit lotteries (Jackson). That was a way to open the conversation to see if they could stop soon. As stated in the story, Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands (Jackson). That specific line explained that she did not want to be a part of the murdering of Tess, so she hoped that by the time she was able to reach the center point that Tess was already dead. Some people were so hesitant but did not question the tradition. No one will speak up until they themselves are in danger.

The power of tradition is what makes people feel that they belong and have a sense of order. Jackson displayed numerous literary elements such as setting the tone, foreshadowing, identifying the symbols, and how traditions can defect the mind. The people in the village seem not to have an answer of why the lottery goes on each year, but they are willingly going through the motions because that is what expected of them.

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