The Lottery5

A detailed Summary of The Lottery5


When you hear the word lottery, what first comes to your mind? Winning a large sum of money probably comes to mind before being stoned to death does. In the short story "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson brings this horrible idea to life. It also raises some universal truth about living in a community and learning to question tradition and its impact on families. Another point risen is that women need to develop their opinions and assert them loud and clear, because this story proves that women, in this day and time, are not letting their mind and mouth follow their heart.

The tradition in one New England area is called the Lottery. Mr. Summers was the conductor of the lottery, and also he organized square dances, the teen club, and the Halloween party. He was not someone who was envied because his wife was a scold and they had no children (p. 132 paragraph 2).

The Lottery consisted of an old black box. Mr. Summers would put papers in the box. The unfortunate to pick the paper with the black dot on it was to be stoned to death.


of a town where they have ended this tradition, Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, immediately cancels this idea out by saying, "Pack of crazy fools. Listening to young folks nothing is good enough for them. Next thing you know they will want to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore and eat acorns." (p. 135, paragraph 5). Through the whole ceremony there is word of wishing that they would rush to get this over with (p. 135, paragraph 8). One lady even wonders where the time goes every year (p134, paragraph 10).

I do not see a change unless some strong minded, mouthed, and willed women get her point across, and accept that her role in life is different from a mans, so stop following the man and get your point across, because women can see things that men are incapable of realizing. If this would take place, a lot of stupidity will be eliminated and a better quality of life will come about.

The air is uneasy and nervous during the picking. It is clearly understood that this is not something the women in particular look forward to. But it is

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lottery Summers, Shirley Jackson, , black dot, HicksCollege Level, story women, 135 paragraph, black box, paragraph 2, comes mind, stoned death,

Approximate Word count = 721
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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