N5 Prose ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson

The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition The village lottery culminates in a violent murder each year, a bizarre ritual that suggests how dangerous tradition can be when people follow it blindly.

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition The villagers’ blind acceptance of the lottery has allowed murder to become a part of the town fabric If the villagers stopped to question it, they would be forced to ask themselves why they are committing a murder – but no-one stops to question

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition “Mr Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no-one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.”

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition “ ‘The 77 th year I’ve been in the lottery,’ said Old Man Warner as he went through the crowd, ‘77 th time.’ ” “ The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago and the black box resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, was born.” “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” “The people had done it so many times they only half listened to the directions.”

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition “ Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations.” “at one time, people remembered…this had also changed with time.”

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson Find quotations from the story to answer these questions: 1.What does Mr Summers always suggest the villagers do? 2.How do people feel about this? 3.Does this make sense? (no quotation needed; your thoughts)

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson Second Theme: The Randomness of Persecution Villagers persecute individuals at random, and the victim is guilty of no transgression other than having drawn the wrong slip of paper from a box. All villagers have the same chance of becoming the victim – even children are at risk. Each year, someone new is chosen and killed, and no family is safe. The villagers turn on the “winner” swiftly; the instant Tessie chooses the marked slip of paper she loses her identity as a popular housewife.

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson The Randomness of Persecution “Mr Summers stirred up the papers inside it.” “ ‘Well everyone,‘ Mr Summers said, ‘That was done pretty fast and now we’ve got to be hurrying a little more to get done in time.’ ” “ Suddenly all of the women began to speak at once, saying, ‘Who is it? Who’s got it?’” “Mrs Graves said, ‘All of us took the same chance.’” “ Mrs Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs Dunbar, “C’mon” she said, “Hurry up.””

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson Tessie: How does Jackson set her apart from the other villagers; what makes her different? Old Man Warner: Why does Old Man Warner feel so strongly about the lottery? What does this reveal about his character? Mr Summers: How does Jackson set Mr Summers apart from the other villagers? Bill Hutchinson: How does he react when his family and wife “win” the lottery? In what way is this an unexpected reaction?

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson The Randomness of Persecution These ordinary people easily kill someone when they are told to The person who is killed is innocent of any wrongdoing Once picked, Tessie loses her identity as wife, mother, neighbour and friend

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is when seemingly innocent remarks or actions indicate the conclusion of a story, film, poem or play

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson For example: Mr Summers says to Tessie when she arrives late, ‘“Thought we were going to have to get on without you Tessie”’ Meaning he thought they would have to start the lottery without her. However, this is also foreshadowing Tessie’s death and her family having to live without her. Find four more examples of foreshadowing in the story

Monday 15 th June 2015 Continue/Start highlighting the quotes for blindly following tradition and randomness of persecution on your copy of the story – use different colours for these themes. Copy down the note on foreshadowing and find more examples of it in the story – highlight these in a third colour.

For Wednesday 17 th June Visit wikipage and complete highlighting for themes and foreshadowing