 Jackson was born on December 14,

1916, in San Francisco, California,

and grew up nearby in Burlingame.
She attended the University of
Rochester and then Syracuse
University, where she became
fiction editor of the campus humor
magazine. After graduating in
1940, Jackson moved to New York
City.
 Shirley Hardie Jackson was an
American writer, known
primarily for her works of
horror and mystery. Over the
duration of her writing career,
which spanned over two
decades, she composed six
novels, two memoirs, and
more than 200 short stories.
She died on August 8, 1965
 The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson that depicts a small
town’s annual lottery.
 A black box full of paper slips is brought to the town square.
 The town’s residents gather in the town square, and each draws a
piece of paper. Bill Hutchison, the head of his household, draws a
paper with a black dot on it.
 A second lottery is held with five slips of paper: one for each of the
members of Bill’s family. His wife, Tessie, draws the black dot, and
her neighbors stone her to death.
This seemingly idyllic beginning establishes a setting
at odds with the violent resolution of the story.
Early details, such as sun and flowers, all have
positive connotations, and establish the theme of
the juxtaposition of peace and violence. The lottery
is mentioned in the first paragraph, but not
explained until the last lines.
 The children’s activities—gathering stones—have a false innocence
about them. Because this resembles the regular play of children,
the reader may not assume gathering stones is intended for
anything violent. The word “raids,” however, introduces a telling
element of violence and warfare into the children’s innocent
games. Similarly, the reader is lulled into a false sense of security
by the calm and innocuous activities and topics of conversation
among the adult villagers. We see the villagers strictly divided
along gendered lines, even as children.
Because of the innocuous nature of Mr.
Summers’ other community activities, the
lottery is assumed to be something in a
similar vein. He is a successful businessman,
but pitied because he can have no children—
clearly this is a very family-oriented society.
 The details of the lottery’s proceedings seem mundane,
but the crowd’s hesitation to get involved is a first hint
that the lottery is not necessarily a positive experience for
the villagers. It is also clear that the lottery is a tradition,
and that the villagers believe very strongly in conforming
to tradition—they are unwilling to change even something
as small as the black box used in the proceedings.
 Even though the villagers value tradition, many of the
specific parts of their traditions have been lost with time.
This suggests that the original purpose of the lottery has
also been forgotten, and the lottery is now an empty
ritual, one enacted simply because it always has been.
When we later learn the significance of the slips of paper,
it seems horribly arbitrary that they are simply made by a
person the night before.
 The lottery involves organizing the village by household,
which reinforces the importance of family structures here.
This structure relies heavily on gender roles for men and
women, where men are the heads of households, and
women are delegated to a secondary role and considered
incapable of assuming responsibility or leadership roles.
Even though the setting of this story is a single town, it is
generic enough that it might be almost anywhere. In doing
this, Jackson essentially makes the story a fable—the ideas
explored here are universal.
Tessie Hutchinson’s late arrival establishes her
character in a few sentences: she cares little about
the lottery and the pomp and circumstance of the
ritual. She is different from the other villagers, and
thus a potential rebel against the structure of the
village and the lottery.
Tessie joins her family in the crowd, as all the
villagers stand with their households, but her sense
of humor sets her apart from the rest. She is clearly
well-liked and appreciated by the villagers, which
makes her eventual fate all the more surprising and
disturbing.
 Mrs. Dunbar is the only woman to draw in the lottery, and
the discussion of her role in the ritual proceedings
emphasizes the theme of family structure and gender
roles. Women are considered so inferior that even a
teenaged son would replace a mother as the “head of
household.” The formality surrounding these proceedings
shows Mrs. Dunbar’s involvement to be an anomaly for
the village.
 Mr. Summer’s casual language and camaraderie with the
villagers contrast with what is at stake. Tessie’s reaction is
the first explicit sign of something horrifying at the heart
of the lottery. She is as outspoken in her anger as she was
in her humor—although rather too late, and it’s assumed
she wouldn’t argue if someone else had been chosen. Bill
resignedly accepts the power of the tradition.
 The inhumanity of the villagers, which has been developed
by repeated exposure to the lottery and the power of
adhering to tradition, still has some arbitrary limits—they
are at least relieved that a young child isn’t the one
chosen. They show no remorse for Tessie, however, no
matter how well-liked she might be. Even Tessie’s own
children are happy to have been spared, and relieved
despite their mother’s fate. Jackson builds the sense of
looming horror as the story approaches its close.
 Mrs. Dunbar already sent her son away, perhaps to spare
him having to participate in murder this year, and now she
herself seems to try and avoid taking part in the lottery as
well. The line about the stones makes an important
point—most of the external trappings of the lottery have
been lost or forgotten, but the terrible act at its heart
remains. There is no real religious or practical justification
for the lottery anymore—it’s just a primitive murder for
the sake of tradition.
 The use of stones also connects the ritual to Biblical punishments
of “stoning” people for various sins, which then brings up the idea
of the lottery’s victim as a sacrifice. The idea behind most primitive
human sacrifices was that something (or someone) must die in
order for the crops to grow that year. This village has been
established as a farming community, so it seems likely that this was
the origin of the lottery. The horrifying part of the story is that the
murderous tradition continues even in a seemingly modern,
“normal” society.
 By having children (even Tessie’s own son) involved in stoning Tessie, Jackson
aims to show that cruelty and violence are primitive and inherent aspects of
human nature—not something taught by society. Tessie’s attempts to protest
until the end show the futility of a single voice standing up against the power
of tradition and a majority afraid of nonconformists. Jackson ends her story
with the revelation of what actually happens as a result of the lottery, and so
closes on a note of both surprise and horror. The seemingly innocuous,
ordinary villagers suddenly turn violent and bestial, forming a mob that kills
one of their own with the most primitive weapons possible—and then
seemingly going home to supper.
The Juxtaposition of Peace and Violence
Human Nature
Family Structure and Gender Roles
The Power of Tradition
 Black wooden box. It is a symbol of
unchanging and unrelenting deep hole of
pain. It represents a coffin that stores
death. By definition the word ‘black’
means “Stemming from evil
characteristics or forces; wicked or
dishonorable.” Initially, it a box that holds
mystery, that slowly changes to the box
that holds death. It is a box that holds
power over the villagers like black magic.
In a way, it also symbolizes the villagers’
reluctance to change.
 White slips of papers. “He  A Black spot on the slip of
dropped all the papers paper. A black mark always
but those onto the has negative connotations,
like a black mark in your
ground, where the breeze report card. If this was a
caught them and lifted happy lottery, probably it
them off.” They represent would be a smiley face on the
the life of the villagers, slip of paper.
which can be taken away
at a moment’s notice.
 The setting of the story in the  Children collecting
village square. All the happy stones. Children from the
events–spring festival, nativity early age are being groomed
scene, dances etc.–of the village
are organized in the village square. to follow in the footsteps of
And once a year the villagers take their parents.
part in stoning at the same place
and yet afterwards the villagers
continue seeing and using that
area.
 Mr. Summers. Summer reflects  Old Man Warner the oldest man in
carefree happiness but Mr. town, like his name is old and
Summers contrasts with his name, doesn’t want to change the
as he is the bearer of death. tradition of lottery.
 Mr. Graves, like his name puts  Mr. Delacroix
villagers in their graves.
 A juxtaposition of life–Mr.
Summers and death–Mr.
Graves. “Mr. Summers and Mr.
Graves made up the slips of paper
and put them in the box.”
 Champlin, Nikola. "The Lottery The
Lottery." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 2 Dec 2015. Web.
17 May 2021.
 Champlin, Nikola. "The Lottery
Themes." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 2 Dec 2015. Web.
17 May 2021.
 https://sheenaarora.wordpress.com/2016/11/15/sy
mbols-in-the-lottery-by-shirley-jackson/