The Lottery

1. I though that it was going to be Bill for a while, until I later learned how the rules worked. He starts talking about how everyone is so nervous and try to joke slightly with one another to ease the tension. He also shows that Tessie is very worried for her father and says it isn't fair. Jackson titled this story the lottery, so I figured it'd just be a story about a lottery,and he also sets it in a small town where you feel like something great is going to happen to them.

2. A small town of about 300 people. It allows us to know more of the characters and it creates a stronger bond. I think that it makes it more likely to anticipate the ending.

3. Some of them are relaxed about the day because they have done it so many times, others are there for the first time or drawing for other people and they are very worried and nervous about it. Also some people want to stop the lottery but others think they need it and say it is necessary.

4. The lottery to me means a ticket where people have a chance to win money, not a drawing to decide who is going to get killed in the town. In the beginning the setting is very happy and it seems like a good day and then you find out that its actually an awful day.

5. Delacroix - Name means the cross, in the story there is religious turmoil
Graves - Show that someone/something is going to die
Summers - Summer time is a happy time of year, also it means that new life forms are growing
Hutchinson - Protests the lottery and goes against the "norm", stands for change
Warner - Thinks the lottery is good and wants to keep everything the same

7.  Both of them to me sound dark and gloomy and I think they both foreshadow that death is coming. The black box is battered because this shows that it has been used for many generations and it is just something that they did back then. It shows that they follow the traditions. The stones in the story symbolize death to me because they are used to kill Tessie. Also the table the black box is set on to me symbolizes all of the suffering and grief the killing has caused the village.

8. I believe that the writer disagrees with with the stoning. She says throughout her story that some other towns are changing and they do not have the lottery anymore. Also she shows emotion through the characters that portray the sadness she feels for the people of the town. Different times in the story characters say it isn't fair and that they want a redo. This to mean shows that she wants to get rid of the lottery.

9.  It represents old laws or traditions that need to be changed for the betterment of our society.

10. The Holocaust

I think that the lottery demonstrates to us that our human nature is hard to change. Once we have everything set in stone and when it becomes a tradition, most people want to uphold the traditions that we have set up. Most people don't like change, they like tradition and they like to uphold it. People tend to do what society says is right, instead of going against it. People like to keep the peace and the don't want to upset most people. Most people don't want to go against society because they are so scared of the outcome. Some people are scared of change. They want to give it a chance because they know it could be better for everyone, but they are scared that there is a possibility that the outcome will be worse than the original.This is demonstrated in The Lottery. Some of the people want to go against tradition and stop the lottery. The person that runs the lottery says no they can not change it because it has been a tradition  for so long. Once the townspeople here him say this they don't even mention it again. Some people also quietly protest and say that it is unfair but they don't make it publicly known. Also the lottery demonstrates to us that violence is part of who we are, and I think that this is true in life today. We are used to seeing beatings, stabbings, shootings, and other acts of violence in everyday life and on the TV. It is a normal part of our everyday life and violence doesn't overly affect us. This is shown in the lottery, they are pretty much sacrificing human life to help their crops grow. This is insane, and it shows how messed up our society can really be.