The Lottery

The story begins June 27th on a "clear and sunny...full-summer day." From the very beginning, irony occurs in the

story. The author describes the day as "clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were

blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." To describe such a beautiful day when the ending is so ill

fated, is very ironic. The villagers, all three hundred of them, gather in the square. There is a feeling of excitement

and relative normalcy as the people talk of their everyday happenings. The lottery is conducted by Mr. Summers, as

he is the one that directs the "civic activities" of the town. The night before the lottery, all of the families have their

names placed in a black box. The day of the lottery, Mr. Summers has each head of family draw a slip of paper from

the box.

When each family has selected a slip, they all open the papers together. The Hutchinson's are the "winners." The

process then repeats but this time, each family member must put their name in the black box. This is where the

climax occurs. Everyone waits expectantly for the final outcome to the lottery. As each slip is opened, the suspense

builds and the villagers wait expectantly for the black spot that would signify the "winner." At the conclusion of the

story, Mrs. Hutchinson is the "winner," and as her prize the citizens of the village stone her to death. The conclusion

to "The Lottery" is another irony. Mrs. Hutchinson was the last to arrive at the square because she had forgotten what

day it was. It is satirical that she, the "winner," almost did not make it to the lottery. Another example of irony at this

time is when "voices...across the crowd said, 'Bill she made it after all," when in the end, she did not "make it." A bit

of foreshadowing also occurs between the climax and ending. When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late, she makes her

way through the crowd and "She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell..."

.

"The Lottery" has many obvious themes and symbols as well as some that are not so easily observable. One of the

main themes to this story is tradition. In relation to the theme, Old Man Warner is a symbol of tradition. Throughout

the story, he laments on the dwindling traditional values of the new generation. This is evident in his statement about

them when he says, "Pack of crazy fools...Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them," indicating

that he thinks the lottery is a good idea simply because it is tradition. He lasted through seventy-seven lotteries in

which tradition was upheld with supposed pomp and circumstance. He could not understand the younger

generation's lack of traditionalism. This brings up the next theme, which is people hate change because human

nature is constant. "Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset

even as much tradition as was represented by the black box," this statement clearly shows the villagers' dislike for

change.

Even