The Lottery

A detailed Summary of The Lottery

"The Lottery" written by Shirley Jackson, is a story that conveys its message through plot and detail. Suspense in "The Lottery" plays a most important role making sure that the story is well developed. The author gives a lot of detail and it seems to make the story move along slowly. But, if you read carefully her foreshadowing will hint toward her unexpected ending.

As "The Lottery" develops it seems to move along like a turtle but without all the detail the story would be confusing. Although characters in this story don't experience much development, they are simply named to give the story a series of steps or a sense of direction, and of course for the relation of actual events. From the beginning we are given a full description of the scenery and the feeling that everyone is happy and joyful. Everyone seems to be excited it is lottery day. Our first taste of suspense comes when the black box is introduced. Mr. Summers arrives to the square carrying the black wooden box. We automatically believe that it is of great importance because of the detail given by the author. The villagers left plenty of space between themselves and the stool where the box was to be laid(272). There was also some

The suspense then deepens when the men start going up nervously and humorously pick out their papers. (274). The lottery does not appear to be such a fun event anymore. This is when we start trying to figure out exactly what the event is all about. It is also the first time the characters show discomfort or emotions toward the event, giving a small hint that maybe something bad is about to happen. A little later we see that all the men have gone up and have gotten the little papers from the black box. By now all throughout the crowd there were men holding the small folded papers in their large hands, turning them over and over nervously(275). I believe this shows that the lottery is a serious matter, not fun and games.

The ending of "The Lottery" is accomplished with a great deal of suspense when each one of the parents and the three children take their chances. The little boy in the family was the first to open his paper and the crowd gave out a general sigh of relief, they were happy to see the boy had not won the lottery. The phrase that puts the icing on the cake is heard when the Hutchinson's twelve year old daughter unfolds her paper, and a little girl in the crowd whispers "I hope it's not Nancy"(277). We now know that the lottery wasn't money or a great prize to be won. Instead you have to give up something worth much more than money, your life. Our ride of suspense and excitement ends with Tessie, or Mrs. Hutchinson getting the spot on the paper, but for some reason this is not news. If we had paid attention to the foreshadowing throughout the whole story, it would have told us all along. But since we wer

Some common words found in the essay are:
Summers Graves, Suspense Lottery, Bill Hutchinson, Tessie Hutchinson, Shirley Jackson, Lottery Lottery, black box, little papers, detail story, play role, trying figure, detail suspense, role story, lottery lottery, suspense lottery,

Approximate Word count = 1101
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English