The Lottery (and not the money-winning kind)

This is a great story! Although, I wonder why people would live in a town that participates in a selection act such as this, I think that the moral lessons are of high importance. I have read this story before and so I pretty much knew what was coming from the beginning. Given that, I just wanted everyone in the story to run away from town. I wondered how it could be that for almost 80 years this has been going on in a town and with no contest. But then I thought of the unfair rituals and policies that occur in many communities across the country that have gone unchallenged for even longer.

“The Lottery” begins with a description of the story’s setting. The reader is told that there is an annual impending annual event in this small village and that it is taking place during the summertime. The two men who come in to initialize this annual “lottery” process are Mr. Summer and Mr. Graves [a foreshadowing of the approaching summer graves (tombs/death) or grave (solemn/ serious/ unfortunate outcome) summers.] It is also worth mentioning that the person who forgets to show up is named Clean (perhaps foreshadowing a dirty/ tainted outcome.)The “breathless pause[s]” and people holding their breath due to nerves can also signify lifelessness and the lingering death in the nearby future. When Bill Hutchinson draws the paper, based on his wife Tessie’s reaction, it is finally clear to the reader that it is not a good thing to be the one to draw it. Tessie continually cries about how unfair it was and becomes overly protective. The fact that she is so upset about it leads the reader to believe that she may bear the brunt of this lottery.

The immediate lesson that seems to be reflected in this is that people who go against the grain have to suffer the most. The only one who was affected by this was Tessie (even her family seemed not to be fazed by Tessie’s being selected to be killed.) She was against it and she thought that it was unfair. The conversation that takes place between Mrs. Adams and Old Man Warner further shows that this piece was written to inspire the reader to stand for what they believed in. Mrs. Adams tells him that other villages are giving up the lottery tradition and Old Man Warner says that they are crazy for giving it up—solely based on the fact that it is tradition.
Another lesson that the author may be trying to give is that goes contrary to the Puritan work ethic. Tessie seemed to have been trying to do things right, she had a good conscience and a large family, however she was still the one to be killed. The concept of a lottery determining one’s fate seems to imply that individuals have no control over their lives.