Lesson 43
Today’s Agenda
• Discuss “The Lottery”
• Literary Devices
Today’s Objective: Students will be
able to apply short story unit skills to
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
10 min: Groups (worksheet)
• Characters
• Prepare for quiz!
Foreshadowing
Symbolism
Irony
Plot
Conflict
Point of View
LITERARY DEVICES
Foreshadowing
• What does FORESHADOWING mean?
• Author hints at or alludes to something that will happen later in the
story.
• What are some examples of FORESHADOWING in the story?
• “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones.”
• Foreshadows the stoning
• “…and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr.
Summers set the black box down on it. The villagers kept their
distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool…”
• “A sudden hush fell on the crowd as Mr. Summers cleared his throat
and looked at the list.”
• They grinned at each other humorously and nervously.”
• “…went hastily back to this place in the crowd where he stood a little
apart from his family, not looking down at his hand.”
• “…greeted Mr. Summers gravely…”
• Foreshadows the townpeople’s nervousness
Symbolism
• What do you think these things represent?
• The Black Box
• Evil/Death
• Outdated Tradition
• "The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer
completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original
wood color, and in some places faded or stained."
• The Lottery
• Foolhardy tradition that is passed down from generation to
generation
• Characters’ names: Do you think Shirley Jackson selected some
of the names purposefully? If so, which ones and what do they
reveal?
Character Names/Symbols
• Summers:
• The Lottery takes place during the summer
• Summer usually feels warm, happy, enjoyable
• Irony
• Graves:
• Man who brings out the box… gives reader a hint of what will be
coming next
• Foreshadowing
• Dellacroix:
• In French means: “Of the Cross”
• Biblical reference to Martyrdom/Sacrifice
• Allusion
• Tess is sacrificed to the ritual “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”
• Notice!!! Dellacroix picks up the biggest rock at the end of the story
• Davey Hutchinson (youngest son):
• Symbol of lost innocence and cruelty of the ritual
Irony
• What is an example of IRONY in the story?
• The day is pleasant, “clear and sunny, with
the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the
flowers were blossoming profusely and the
grass was richly green.”
• How is this ironic?
• Reader expects the story to be happy and it
is far from it.
• What type of IRONY is this?
• Situational
• Identify additional examples of IRONY.
Plot Diagram - Structure
How is this story organized?
• Exposition
• Learn about the tradition of the lottery in this small village sometime
around 1950-1960
• Inciting Incident
• Mr. Summers starts the lottery process
• Rising Action
• Names are called and slips are drawn
• Climax
• Tessie Hutchinson draws the “winning” ticket.
• Falling Action
• Tessie Hutchinson pleads for mercy
• Resolution
• Tessie Hutchison is stoned to death.
Plot Diagram
Climax
Rising Action
Exposition
Inciting
Incident
Falling Action
Resolution/
Conclusion
Conflict
• Find at least 2 examples of conflict within “The Lottery”
• What kind of conflict is it (Internal/External)
• If external, what category does it fall under?
• Character vs character
• Character vs nature
• Character vs society
• How do you know (Text Evidence)
A couple examples
(There are more!)
• Old Man Warner snorted. "Pack of crazy fools," he said. "Listening to the young folks,
nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back
to living in caves, nobody work any more, live hat way for a while. Used to be a saying
about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating
stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery," he added petulantly.
"Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody."
• Character vs. Society
• Character vs Character
• People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing
quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly. Tessie Hutchinson shouted to
Mr. Summers. "You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw
you. It wasn't fair!"
• "Be a good sport, Tessie." Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, "All of us took
the same chance."
• "Shut up, Tessie," Bill Hutchinson said.
• Character vs Character
Point of View
• What are the FOUR POINTS OF VIEW?
•
•
•
•
1st
3rd limited
3rd omniscient
3rd objective
• What is the POINT OF VIEW of this story?
• 3rd
• OBJECTIVE
• Why not limited or omniscient?
• Author doesn’t want the reader to know what any characters are
thinking to keep the ending a surprise!
Theme
• It is dangerous to blindly follow tradition.
• (The world’s creepiest public service announcement against peer
pressure.)
• Provide support from the text.
QUIZ
Our Own Lottery
• Create family units of 4-5 students.
• Determine the head of household.
• Heads of households draw first to determine the
“winning” family.
• “Winning” family draws to determine the sole “winner.”
Exit Slip
• How did the story compare to what you envisioned when your
read “The Lottery”? Focus on:
• Setting
• Characters
• How they looked
• How they acted