Araby
Epiphany
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965)
• The term used in Christianity theory for a
manifestation of God’s presence in the world. It was
taken over by James Joyce to denote secular
revelation in the everyday world, in an early version
of his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man(1944). Here Joyce defined an epiphany as ‘a
sudden spiritual manifestation’ in which the
‘whatness’ of a common object or gesture appear
radiant to the observer.
Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms: p72
AUDIO
LUCK OF THE DRAW
• http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/11/17/081117on_au
dio_homes
• Vedio
• http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/260cutDG01U/
• http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/11/17/081117on_au
dio_homes
About the author: Shirley Jackson
• Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 –
August 8, 1965) was an American author. A
popular writer in her time, her work has
received increasing attention from literary
critics in recent years.
• "The Lottery" is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first
pubilshed in the June 26,1948, issue of The New
Yorker. Written the same month it was published, it
is ranked today as "one of the most famous short
stories in the history of American literature”. It has
been described as "a chilling tale of conformity gone
mad”.
• suggests a secret, sinister underside to bucolic smalltown America
• Response to the story was negative, surprising
Jackson and The New Yorker. Readers canceled
subscriptions and sent hate mail throughout the
summer.
In the July 22, 1948, issue of the San Francisco Chronicle,
Jackson offered the following in response to persistent
queries from her readers about her intentions:
Explaining just what I had hoped the story to say is very
difficult. I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal
ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the
story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless
violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.
Setting ?
•Since then, it has been accepted as a classic
American short story, subject to critical
interpretations and media adaptations, and it
has been taught in middle schools and high
schools for decades.
Character
• Bobby Martin: Boy who loads his pockets with stones that he will use after
townspeople draw lottery numbers. He also helps build a pile of stones.
• The action takes place between 10 a.m. and noon on June 27, a
sunny day, in a New England village.
• Baxter Martin: Older brother of Bobby Martin.
• Harry Jones: Boy who joins Bobby Martin in building the pile of stones.
• Dickie Delacroix: Boy who joins Bobby Martin and Harry Jones in building
the pile of stones.
• Mr. Martin: Bobby Martin's father. He operates a grocery store.
• Mrs. Martin: Wife of Mr. Martin.
• Joe Summers: Coal dealer who conducts the lottery. He has no children.
• Mr. Summers's Wife: Shrewish woman.
• Mr. Graves: Postmaster. He assists Mr. Summers.
• Mrs. Graves: Wife of the postmaster.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Old Man Warner: Oldest man in town.
Tessie Hutchinson: Woman who arrives late for the lottery.
Bill Hutchinson: Husband of Mrs. Hutchinson.
Bill Jr., Nancy, Little Dave: Children of Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson.
School Friends of Nancy Hutchinson
Eva: Daughter of Bill and Tessie Hutchinson.
Don: Eva's husband.
Mrs. Delacroix: Mother of Dickie Delacroix.
Mr. Delacroix: Husband of Mrs. Delacroix.
Clyde Dunbar: Village resident who broke his leg and cannot attend the lottery.
Janey Dunbar: Wife of Clyde Dunbar. She draws for her husband.
Horace Dunbar: Son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar. Being under sixteen, he is not
old enough to draw for his father.
Another Dunbar: Son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar.
Jack Watson: Teenager who draws for himself and his mother.
Mrs.Watson: Mother of the Watson boy.
Steve Adams: First villager to draw from the lottery box.
Mrs. Adams: Wife of Steve Adams.
Allen, Anderson, Bentham, Clarak: Residents who draw after Steve Adams.
Harburt, Jones, Overdyke, Percy, Zanini: Participants who draw next.
The Story
• Details of contemporary small town American life are contrasted with
an annual ritual known as "the lottery." In a small village of about
300
______
residents, the locals are in an excited yet nervous mood on
______.
Children gather _____
June
27
stones as the adult townsfolk assemble for
their annual event, that in the local tradition has been practiced to
ensure
a good harvest
________________
(one character quotes an old
Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon
proverb:“_________________________"),
though there are some
giving up the lottery
rumors that nearby communities are talking of ”_______________."
In the first round of the lottery, _______________
the head of each family draws a small
a
black
box
Bill
Hutchinson
slip of paper from _____________; ________________ gets the one
slip with _____________,
meaning that his family has been chosen. In
a black spot
the next round, each Hutchinson family member draws a slip, and
Bill's wife Tessie
____________—who
had arrived late—gets the marked slip. In
keeping with tradition, each villager obtains a stone and begins to
Tessie is stoned to death
surround Tessie. The story ends as _____________________while
she
bemoans the unfairness of the situation.
• It seems as though Jackson is making a statement regarding
hypocrisy and human evil. The lottery is set in a very mundane
town, where everyone knows everyone and individuals are typical.
Families carry the very ordinary names of Warner, Martin and
Anderson. Jackson's portrayal of extreme evil in this ordinary,
friendly atmosphere suggests that people are not always as they
seem. She implies that underneath one's outward congeniality,
there may be lurking a pure evil.
DISCUSSION
What’s the
theme of the
story?
Theme 1
Theme 2
• The reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions,
ideas, rules, laws, and practices.
• The villagers continue the lottery year after year
because, as one of the villagers would say, “We have
always had a lottery as far back as I can remember. I
see no reason to end it.” Put another way, this theme
says: “We’ve always done it this way. Why change
now?” In real life, defenders of the status quo have
used this philosophy down through the ages and into
the present day.
• Society wrongfully designates scapegoats to bear the
sins of the community. According to some
interpretations of “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchinson is
stoned to death to appease forces desiring a sacrificial
lamb offered in atonement for the sins of others.
Theme 3
Theme 4
•The wickedness of ordinary people can be
just as horrifying as the heinous crime of a
serial killer or a sadistic head of state.
• The unexamined life is not worth living. The truth of
this dictum of the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates,
becomes clear when the townspeople refuse to
examine their traditions and continue to take part in a
barbaric ritual.
Theme 5
•Following the crowd can have disastrous
consequences. Although some townspeople
raise questions about the lottery, they all go
along with it in the end. Thus, they become
unthinking members of a herd, forfeiting their
individuality and sending Tessie Hutchinson to
her death.
Narrative: A List of Horrors
•Some first-time readers of "The Lottery"
tend to cite the ending, describing the
commencement of the stoning of Tessie
Hutchinson, as the only disturbing part of
the story. But those who have studied the
story know otherwise.
•Examples?
1. After executing a woman by stoning, the
townspeople will go home to eat lunch or go back to
work as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened.
The first paragraph says, "[T][he whole lottery took less
than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the
morning and still be through in time to allow the
villagers to get home for noon dinner." The tenth
paragraph says, "Well, now," Mr. Summers said soberly,
"guess we better get started, get this over with, so's we
can go back to work."
2. The villagers do not excuse children
from the lottery. Even Nancy
Hutchinson, 12, and herlittle brother
Davy, must draw from the black box. If
a child draws the slip of paper with the
black dot, he or she will be stoned.
3. Children take part in the stoning. Little
Davy is so small that he throws pebbles.
4. Nancy Hutchinson and her brother Bill laugh
when they draw blank lots. Only two people
remain to draw, their father and mother. How
could Nancy and Bill laugh when they know that
their father or mother will draw the lot with the
black spot and die?
Foreshadowing
5. Mr. Hutchinson pulls from his wife's hand
the slip of paper she has drawn--the losing
lot--and holds it up for all to see. He does
not plead for his wife; he does not exhibit
any sympathy. Instead, he becomes one of
the executioners.
• Shirley Jackson foreshadows the ending when the children gather
stones (second paragraph):
Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of
stones, and the other boys soon followed his example,
selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby
and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix . . . eventually
made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square
and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.
Point of View?
Climax?
•third person, detached and
objective.
•The climax occurs at the end, when
the villagers begin to stone Tessie
Hutchinson.
Irony?
Symbols and Portentous Names
• Example?
• What’s the symbolic meaning of the lottery?
1. The word lottery suggests that the villagers are
going to draw for a prize.
2. The sunny day suggests that a happy event is
about to take place.
3. When Old Man Warner hears that the north village
is considering ending the lottery, he says, "Next
thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to
living in caves." (The lottery is as savage and barbaric
a ritual as any practiced by cave dwellers.)
•(1) Barbaric tradition or practice.
•(2) Any foolhardy tradition that a community refuses
to give up.
• (3) Real-life lotteries and other forms of gambling
that devastate human beings.
• (4) The risks of daily living, such as driving a car or
flying on an airplane.
What’s the symbolic meaning of the black box?
•(1) Evil or death, suggested by the color of the
box.
• (2) Outdated tradition, suggested by this
sentence: "The black box grew shabbier each
year: by now it was no longer completely black
but splintered badly along one side to show the
original wood color, and in some places faded
or stained."
Bill and Davy Hutchinson
•Betrayers. The narrator says, "Bill Hutchinson
went over to his wife and forced the slip of
paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it,
the black spot Mr. Summers had made the
night before with the heavy pencil in the coal
company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and
there was a stir in the crowd." As for Davy, he
has pebbles ready to throw at his mother.
Hutchinson was the name of an official who
lodged a complaint against several women in
the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
• “The Lottery" presents a weakness in human individuals. This town, having
performed such a terrible act for so many years, continues on with the
lottery, with no objections or questions asked, and the main purpose being
to carry on the tradition. "There's always been a lottery" (284), says Old Man
Warner. "Nothing but trouble in that," he says of quitting the event.
However, the villagers show some anxiety toward the event. Comments
such as "Don't be nervous Jack" (284), "Get up there Bill" and Mrs.
Delacroix's holding of her breath as her husband went forward (283)
indicate that the people may not be entirely comfortable with the event. Yet
everyone still goes along with it. Not a single person openly expresses fear
or disgust toward the lottery, but instead feigns enthusiasm. Jackson may be
suggesting that many individuals are not strong enough to confront their
disapproval, for fear of being rejected by society. Instead they continue to
sacrifice their happiness, for the sake of others. The failure of Mr. Summers
to replace the black box used for the drawing symbolizes the villagers'
failure to stand up for their beliefs. "Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the
villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset tradition as was
represented by the black box." The box after so many years is "Faded and
stained" (281) just as the villagers' view of reality has become tainted and
pitiful. An intense fear of change among the people is obvious.
The Meaning of names?
• Old Man Warner: Anyone who warns others not to
change; hidebound traditionalist; Luddite;
obstructionist.
• Mr. Summers: The appearance of normalcy and
cheerfulness hiding evil and corruption.
• Mr. Graves: Bringer of death; any sinister influence.
Graves helps Joe Summers prepare the slips of paper
that will send one of the residents to his or her grave.
Graves also brings the stool on which the black box
rests.
• Though the story does not become pernicious until the end, Jackson
does in fact foreshadow the idea through Mr. Summers and Mr.
Graves. Mr. Summers is the man in charge of the lottery. He prepares
the slips of paper to be drawn and he mediates the activity. He is
described as a respected man, joking around with the villagers and
carrying on this foreboding event with no conscience at all. "Mr.
Summers was very good at all this; in his clean white shirt and blue
jeans, with one hand resting carelessly on the black box, he seemed
very proper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves
and the Martins (282). The name Summers subtly identifies the mood
of the short story as well as the administrator himself, "jovial" (281),
auspicious, and bright. Mr. Summers is the man in front, the
representative of the lottery, as his name symbolizes the up front,
apparent, tone of the event. Mr. Graves, on the other hand,
symbolizes the story's underlying theme and final outcome. Mr.
Graves is Mr. Summer's assistant, always present but not necessarily
in the spotlight. The unobvious threat of his name and character
foreshadows the wickedness of the ordinary people, that again, is
always present but not in the spotlight.
• Jackson uses the protagonist, Mrs. Hutchinson, to show an individual
consumed by hypocrisy and weakness. Though it is hinted that she
attempted to rebel and not show up to the event, Mrs. Hutchinson arrives
late, with a nervous excuse of "forgetting what day it was". It is ironic that
she, who almost stood up for her beliefs, is the one who wins the lottery,
and is fated to be stoned. What is perhaps the most disturbing about Mrs.
Hutchinson, however, is her sudden unleashing of her true self. Before the
drawing she is friendly with the other women, pretending to be pleased to
be present. The very moment that she sees is her family that draws the black
dot, though, her selfishness is evident. "You didn't give him time enough to
take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!" (284). Then she turns on
her own daughter. "There's Don and Eva," she yelled maliciously, "Make
them take their chance!" (285). She continues to scream about the
unfairness of the ritual up until her stoning. Mrs. Hutchinson knew the
lottery was wrong, but she never did anything about it. She pretends as
much as she could to enjoy it, when she truly hated it all along. Perhaps
Jackson is implying that the more artificial and the more hypocritical one is,
the more of a target they are. Mrs. Hutchinson was clearly the target of her
fears.
• The situation in "The Lottery" is slightly relevant to our society today.
We tend to flock toward nasty gossip and are interested in spite of
the privacy of the subjects involved. Whether it is standing on the side
to watch a fight, an accident, or discussing the relationship between
Bill and Monica, we as Americans seem to have no problem "butting
in" where we do not belong. We have no problem remarking on an
individuals' adultery until it is ourselves that get caught. We have no
problem stereotyping people until is we who are stereotyped. It
seems as though we sometimes condemn everyday truths that we
know are characteristics of most people, including ourselves, and
being afraid to admit them, place the spotlight on someone else. It is
sad and definitely hypocritical, but it happens all the time.