The Lottery

A detailed Summary of The Lottery

The short story "The Lottery" is a real shocker. You will not have any idea of the harsh and cruel conclusion. It has a very unique way of concealing the true happenings. It is a virtually floating in a sea of ironies and symbolisms. And that, I believe, is the one that brought about its success.

The setting of the event is a very effective decoy. It diverts the reader from the dark truth and instead conditions his mind to a jolly atmosphere. "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." Who could have thought that the clean innocence of a fine summer day would be stained by a bloody murder? Who could have thought that a placid afternoon would be shadowed b a beastly carnage? Also, Don't you find it too morbid to say, "...the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner"? I think the villagers are sick or something. Who would have the sane mind and strong guts

to murder somebody and then eat as if nothing happened? Yuck! The very thought of it gives me the creeps.

The villagers' names and actions show a lot of symbolisms and ironies. The children assembling first shows the pure innocence of their young minds to the crude reality at hand. It seems that the lottery is just plain fun for them. The menfolk talking about planting and rain, tractors and taxes indicate their strong ambition to have a good harvest. It gives an impression that they are under the spell of greed and money. And look at Mr. Summers. Don't you find it ironic for him to be the brains of the lottery and the brutal murder considering that his name denotes a merry and jocund time of the year and the author's description of him as "a round-faced, jovial man"? Don't forget Mr. Graves. Being a postmaster, he is assigned to send people mail, and as Mr. Summers' right-hand, he is the one who sends people to their graves, thus the surname. He is like the angel of death who is eagerly waiting for the death of a poor unfortunate soul. The name Hutchinson can give another stir. "Hutch" means "a pen or a coop for an animal"

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Summers Don't, Adams Coming, God God's, Spirit Putting, Summers Graves, Trinity Physics, three-legged stool, black box, strong foundation, putting black, putting black box, villagers' lives,

Approximate Word count = 771
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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The Lottery

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