1. ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
S5 Prose: Short Story
‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson

2. ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
Background Information: The Author
Shirley Jackson (born Dec. 14, 1919, San
Francisco, Calif., U.S.—died Aug. 8, 1965, North
Bennington, Vt.), American novelist and short-story
writer best known for her story “The Lottery” (1948).
Jackson graduated from Syracuse University in 1940.

3. ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
Background information: The Story
"The Lottery" caused major controversy when it was first published in the
June 26, 1948 issue of The New Yorker. Shirley Jackson's implicit critique
of the brutality underlying the rituals and values of America‘s small towns
outraged magazine readers.

4. ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
Cont./ The anonymous, generic village in which "The Lottery" is set, in addition to the vicious twist the story gives to a common American ritual, enhance the contemporary reader's uneasy sense that the group violence in the story could be taking place anywhere and everywhere, right now. Jackson's skilful warping of a popular pastime has become an American classic, establishing her position as one of the great American horror writers

5. ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
Discuss at your tables:
What are your thoughts/opinions of the
story?
Confusing – no explanation about why they stone the lottery “winner”
Sudden change/twist – the reader goes from thinking one thing to thinking something completely different
Written in 3rd person
Set in America; spelling of “color” and “center”
Horror genre; psychological

6. ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
What are a reader’s initial expectations
Regarding the story’s plot?
‘Lottery’ has connotations of wealth, money, good fortune, luck, life-changing, happiness, success against the odds, one in a million etc
When do these expectations change?
Tessie ‘wins’ and starts to complain that “It wasn’t fair”
Use of the word “Although” indicates a change in tone
“A stone hit her on the side of the head.” Is the moment the reader knows for certain what is going on