Glossary

a house dress – an inexpensive cotton dress worn for working at home.

a recital – something said aloud from memory; a recitation.

a chant – a monotonous, rhythmic recitation.

to lapse – to pass away by neglect.

(someone’s) old man – (informal) husband.

Missus – (informal) wife.

stoutly – with determination.

a good sport – (idiom) someone who plays (a game) fairy and is willing to accept defeat without complaining.

QUESTIONS

1.Were you surprised by the ending? When did you finally realize what was going to happen? Looking back over the story, what hints of what is to come—what foreshad­owing—can you find? For example, what details in the first three paragraphs create a picture of a peaceful rural village and what details don't fit that picture? (This unexpected contrast between the setting and action of a story is an example of dramatic irony.)

2. Over the years, how has the lottery changed? What aspects of it have remained the same? What saying about the lottery does Old Man Warner remember? What connection does that rhyme suggest with the ritu­als of primitive cultures?

3. As the lottery was conducted, Mr. Summers spoke "soberly" while Old Man Warner spoke "petulantly" . What difference does this show between the two men? What contrasting points of view on civic activities do they represent?

4. In each of the following sentences, what is the contrast between what the speaker means and what the reader understands? (These are good examples of verbal irony.)

a. Chips of wood, Mr. Summers had argued, had been all very well when the village was tiny, but now that the population was more than three hundred ....

In the 1940s in the U.S., a community of three hun­dred people was still considered very small. Why might it seem relatively large to Mr. Summers?

b. "Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody."

Mr. Summers is probably in his fifties; would most people consider that "young"? Why might Old Man Warner see him that way?

c. "People ain't the way they used to be."

What changes does Old Man Warner disapprove of? Do you think Old Man Warner himself is the way he used to be?

d. "Be a good sport, Tessie."

In this context, what is the irony of urging someone to be "a good sport"?

5. What makes Tessie Hutchinson stand out from her neighbors when she first arrives ? When does she first object to the lottery proceedings?

6. What builds tension in the final round of the drawing? Looking back over the story, how has the tension been built from the beginning?

7. What explanations can you suggest for the following contradictions in attitude:

a. The townspeople felt sorry for Mr. Summers, we are told, "because he had no children and his wife was a scold." Yet no one feels sorry for the annual victim of the lottery.

b. Many parents say that they would gladly give their lives for their children. Yet Tessie wants her married daughter and the daughter's family to share the dan­ger of being chosen.

c. Nancy's friends hope that she will not be chosen. Yet they evidently don't mind that one member of Nancy's immediate family will be killed.

d. In a small town, everyone speaks of close-knit fami­lies and good neighbors. Yet Tessie's husband and children, as well as her friends, participate in stoning her to death.

8. After Tessie has been identified as the victim, jovial Mr. Summers says (line 324), "All right, folks. Let's finish quickly." What is the dramatic irony of such a pleasant man encouraging a death by stoning? What is the verbal irony, considering their names, of Steve Adams and Mrs. Graves being at the front of the crowd?