The Lottery
For Wednesday 9/7 — Read the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson on pages 133-138 in our literature book, then respond to questions 1-6 on page 139 with paragraph-length answers.
The story link ( https://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf )
The questions :-
1- Social psychologists observe that every group develops its own outcast or misfit, who is blamed for all sorts of group malfunctions and woes. Haveyou observed this dinamic in your own work, school, church or family groups?
2-We are told a lot about the lottery, but not its exact purpose. Do the
townspeople know? Is this omission significant? Intentional?
3- Why is much of the history of the lottery and the black box uncertain andvague? Why does Mr. Summers have to ask a question that he andeverybody else already know the answer to?
4-The box used in the lottery is mentioned almost thirty times in the story-more than ten times in the phrase “the black box”. Why does the author emphasize this objects and its color so strongly?
5- The stones are mentioned five times near the beginning of the story and then five or six times more at the end. Why is their presence so important? what are the historical/biblical of a “stoning”? Do they apply in this situation?
6- which characters seem to stand for particular ideas or views? What about old man warner? Look at his speechs and comments through- out the story. Jessie Hutchinson also gets a lot of attention, of course. What is ironic about her being the victim? Does her last name have any significane for you? If not, look up Hutchinson in a good encyclopedia.
………………….Answer Preview…………………
Question 1
Yes to my opinion every group typically develops its outcast can be easily found anywhere. For instance, look at schools where some students are bullied or even singled out. This is still the same case in churches today. People are treated differently mostly according to their social class though it is supposed to be a peaceful place. Working conditions for some people may have group malfunction due to some co-workers being racists
Question 2
In the story, we are told so much about the lottery. However, there is nowhere in the story we are told about the main purpose of the lottery. This is evidence that the town people do not know the real meaning of lottery. To my opinion, this omission is not significant…..
APA
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