Shirley
Jackson’s "The Lottery" – Discussion and Analysis Questions
Answer the following
questions in complete sentences. Use evidence from the story to support your
answers.
- Why has Jackson chosen
common people for her characters? How does this choice make the story more
disturbing and close to home?
- What is the setting like
in the beginning of the story? How is this mood and setting ironic?
- What seems to have been
the original purpose of the lottery? What do people believe about it?
- Why do you think it is
important that the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost? What
do you think this detail is actually so important and symbolic?
- Why have some of the
villages given up this practice? Why hasn't this one?
- What is the significance
of Tessie's final scream, "It isn't fair, it isn't right"? What
aspect of the lottery does she explicitly challenge; what aspect goes
unquestioned?
- This is a different sort
of story when you read it for the second time. What elements (such as Mrs.
Hutchinson's attempt to have her daughter, Eva, draw with the family)
might take on a different meaning the second time through?
- Some critics insist that
the story has an added symbolic meaning. Do you agree?
If so, what is Shirley Jackson trying to tell us about ourselves? (Hint: Consider that this story was
written right after WWII during the height of the rise of Communism and
the Soviet Union.)
- Is the lottery a collective act of
murder? Is it morally justified? Is tradition or collective compliance
(look this up) sufficient justification for such actions?
- What current practices
occur in American today that could be compared to the lottery? Consider
types of violent acts justified by religious beliefs or values. Or
consider blind allegiance to tradition that may not be quite as extreme as
the lottery but just as disturbing and irrational.
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