The girls stand talking in groups. She protests, while ner neighbors pick up stones, and form a circle around her. Summers of not giving Bill enough time to pick the paper he wanted. The black has now deteriorated, and is even slowly changing color. The society is male- dominated, and the women are even submissive to their young male children. Before the lottery can begin, they make a list of all the families and households in the village.
Village children, who had just fin shed school for the summer, run around collecting stones. Old Man Warner criticizes the idea, stating that the lottery is necessary for a good harvest, and that people in the other towns are stupid for entertaining the idea. It is decided that their married daughter will be counted with her husband's family, and therefore will not have to draw with the Hutchinsons. She writes as if the events taking place are common to any town Mazzeno 2. This story shows the dark side of Humanity.
Old Man Warner scoffs at the idea. Finally, the last man has drawn. Summers, who officiates at all the big civic events. He is assisted by Mr. Summers, in his coal company and it was locked till the beginning of the lottery. It's just another day in an idyllic small town. Jackson demonstrates how people everywhere can do these horrible things to others and everyone just think of it as ordinary.
The black box used for the lottery is even older than the oldest town citizen,. The line about the stones makes an important point—most of the external trappings of the lottery have been lost or forgotten, but the terrible act at its heart remains. . This story in particular best depicts Jackson's view on people. Graves made the papers the night before and then locked up the box at Mr. Summers creates lists of the heads of families, heads of households in each family, and members of each household in each family.
The family comes forth, and each of them, Mr. The town realizes that Tess holds the remaining piece of paper with the black dot. Summers shuffles the papers inside it. Early details, such as sun and flowers, all have positive connotations, and establish the theme of the juxtaposition of peace and violence. Graves, followed him, carrying a three-legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers puts five slips of paper into the box, including the one Bill Hutchinson had been holding when he was chosen. Summers asks whether the Watson boy will draw, and he answers that he will.
Some villagers recall that there used to be a recital to accompany the swearing in, complete with a chant by the officiator. Summers stirs the slips of paper inside the black box. He says that giving up the lottery could lead to a turn of living in caves. Old Man Warner dismisses the notion of discarding the lottery as preposterous. This suggests that the original purpose of the lottery has also been forgotten, and the lottery is now an empty ritual, one enacted simply because it always has been.
This structure relies heavily on gender roles for men and women, where men are the heads of households, and women are delegated to a secondary role and considered incapable of assuming responsibility or leadership roles. Summers places a black box filled with slips of paper, on a stool in the square. She was a mother of four, married to Stanley Edgar Hyman. During the peak of the lottery fever in Springfield, news anchor Kent Brockman announces on television that people hoping to get tips on how to win the jackpot have borrowed every available copy of 's book The Lottery at the local library. The other women chide her, telling her that they all took the same chance, and that she should be a good sport. She stands next to her husband, Bill, and their children.
Reading this story at present may not be that surprising to a reader as this is what exactly taking place in many societies of the world. This side of Jackson drank and smoked, rejected society, and this is the side of her that was fascinated by magic and voodoo. In the past, they used chips of wood, but Mr. Dunbar already sent her son away, perhaps to spare him having to participate in murder this year, and now she herself seems to try and avoid taking part in the lottery as well. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Graves to hold it for him.
Summers was forced to switch to paper in order to fit all of the slips inside the box. Another message that Jackson illustrates is the blind following of tradition and how that can be a terrible thing. Everyone begins throwing stones at her. Shirley Jackson has skillfully used the elements of several ancient rituals to create a tale that touches on the character of ritual itself and the devastating effects of mob psychology. Before beginning Of the lottery Mr. Summers has discussed the idea of changing the box, the residents are reluctant, believing that it carries some remnants of the box before it. Graves particularly the latter , foreshadow later events.
Perhaps this extremely subversive irony was a factor that led to many readers' outrage over the story when it was first published. Summers tells him to take just one paper, and then asks Mr. Considering of the rituals, the practices become unimportant and immaterial while the unanimous interests of people continue as long as they are safe and accepted by the people of the society to go on. Have a fun time trying to get to sleep tonight! Climax Each member of the Hutchinson family draws a slip of paper from the box. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square.