Respond with higher-order critical thinking to the following prompts about “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson.
Where
do you think “The Lottery” takes place? What purpose do you suppose the
writer has in making this setting appear so familiar and ordinary?
What details in paragraphs two and three foreshadow the ending of the story?
Take
a close look at Jackson’s description of the black wooden box
(paragraph five) and of the black spot on the fatal slip of paper
(paragraph 72). What do these objects suggest to you? Are there any
other symbols in the story?
What
do you understand to be the writer’s own attitude toward the lottery
and the stoning? Exactly what in the story makes her attitude clear to
you?
What do you make of Old Man Warner’s saying, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (paragraph 32)?
What
do you think Shirley Jackson is driving at? Consider the following
interpretations and, looking at the story, see if you can find any
evidence for one or more of them:
Jackson takes a primitive fertility rite and playfully transfers it to a small town in North America.
Jackson,
writing her story soon after World War II, indirectly expresses her
horror at the Holocaust. She assumes that the massacre of the Jews was
carried out by unwitting, obedient people, like these villagers.
Jackson is satirizing our own society, when men were selected for the army by lottery.
Jackson is just writing a memorable story that signifies nothing at all.
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