~ Shirley Jackson
� Father, Son, Holy Spirit
� Foreshadowing:
o Great pile of stones
o Markers for a grave
o Jokes are quiet rather than loud laughs
� Coffin => black wooden box => Mr. Graves
20th Century Setting
� Ritual has been going on since cavemen times
� �Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon�
� Warner�s: �They�ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, no body work anymore�
� Symbolic name to warn everyone
� 77 (his age):
o 7 days to create the Earth
o religious
o 7 Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Gluttony (Greed), Sloth
o 7 Heavenly Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, Prudence
� Evils of the village are placed on Tessie
o Therefore, Tessie becomes the scapegoat
� Tessie was predetermined: late arrival, jokes, tried to avoid coming, doesn�t come with her husband at the same time
*Three legged stool: Just tradition
� The lottery, in this day, lost most of its formality
� Forgotten pasts, substituted pasts
� Procedure has not been changed
o Heads of families, heads of households
# of people in family
o Tessie asks for daughters to join, but they draw with husbands
o Used to be a toneless chant
o Becomes �tribal�, they all become one; �group feeling�, like cows in a herd
o Fair but not valid, is irrational and illogical
� Mr. Adams is hurried, wants to get to work quickly
� More efficient than meaningful
� �Marxist Feminist Approach�
o Capitalist society (village)
o Levels to social structure
o Labour = value => distribution of labour
� Feminist Side:
o Roles of women: housewife
o Lower end of hierarchy
o Women don�t contribute to economic well-being of the village
Selection vs. Election
Tessie was picked for a reason
� Themes:
o �Man�s Primitive Aggressiveness�
� Punishment is savage
o �Man�s victimization by Unexamined and Unchanging Traditions�
� lack of understanding of implications
o �Social Order�
Capitalist Society: Lottery
� Bank, post office, school system, hieraychy, social structure
o Mr. Summers:
� Runs the lottery
� His name implies leisure
� Has the time to run the lottery
� Own coal company
o Mr. Graves:
� Postmaster
� Represents government official
� Should represent majority but in fact represents the minority
o Mr. Martin:
� Steadies the box, helps
� Every year, Mr. Graves swears in Mr. Summers and helps him make the lottery slips.
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