Reading "The Lottery"

One tradition my family follows every year, is celebrating St. Michael's Birthday. He's known to be an angle that defeated satin, my mother has a statue of him in front of our home. On the 29th of September we celebrate his birthday by having all my family members together, feeding the statue wine and peanuts then my mom speaks out a couple of verses from the bible and we begin to dance to music that's called palo that established in The Dominican Republic, and my mom then splashes us with this holy water and makes us write down 1 thing we want to accomplish and we have to burn the piece of paper. I believe this tradition started with my grandma.

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1. Where does the story take place? How does this setting affect the story? How do you think the story would change if it were to take place in the Bronx?

The story took place in the village in a rural setting, in the early 1950's. If this were to take place in the Bronx, thing's would have gone differently because we as a community like to know what we are involving ourselves in before we do it.

2. In what ways are the characters different from one another? Why might you think that Tessie Hutchinson is singled out as the “winner”?

Everyone seems genuine, Tessie Hutchinson was singled out as a winner because she was the chosen one.

3. What is the meaning of the title, “The Lottery”? What does it make you think about before you begin reading the story?

The meaning of the title means picking out a draw, when I 1st saw the title I automatically thought of a raffle event.

4. Re-read the opening description in the first paragraph. What does this make you think the story will be about?

When I 1st read the opening description, the story sounded like it would be about a village gathering together on a beautiful day to celebrate an annual event that goes every year in their village.

5. Re-read the description of the black wooden box in paragraph five and the black spot on the “winning” slip of paper. Explain the meaning of these objects.

These objects mean something important to them, because the event is an annual tradition they don't feel the need to change the black wooden box either.
6. Were you surprised by the ending of the story? Why or why not? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does Jackson start to foreshadow the ending in paragraphs 2 and 3?

When I first read the story I was angry at the end, their reason for killing was stupidity to me. The reason it got me upset was because people were blinding following orders without any concern, they only allowed things like that to happen because it was traditional. When Tessie began to rant about how unfair things were, that's when I knew that the story had turned into something bad. 

7. Define ritual. Then explain how this relates to conformity.

The definition of Ritual is a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. This relates to conformity because it allows people to follow some kind of structure. 

8. Why do you think people reacted so angrily when the story was first published in The New Yorker?

Because the plot of the story was innocent people in families being murdered by the villagers in their own town. 

9. Based on analysis, what would you say is the major theme of "The Lottery"?

The major theme of "the lottery" will be the town getting together to perform their annual event at harvest time.



10. What do you believe Shirley Jackson was trying to say with this short story? Do you agree or disagree with this viewpoint? Why?

The message Shirley Jackson was trying to say is that people blindly follow orders, which is also referred as, blind obedience. I agree with the message she had put in this novel because it connects with the war that occurred right before this novel was written. We all follow traditions without asking questions about why it's being done.