G9 - Q2 Week 5
G9 - Q2 Week 5
G9 - Q2 Week 5
District of Cavinti
Bukal National High School
Bukal, Cavinti, Laguna
School I.D: 301233
ENGLISH 9– QUARTER 2 (WEEK 5)
2. Celebration of fiesta
Using the Venn Diagram below and use it to compare and contrast the views about death
and sacrifice presented in at the story “The Lottery” and “In Real-life”.
The story begins on a “clear and sunny” morning of June 27. The day is described as having the “fresh
warmth of a full-summer day” with flowers in full blossom and the grass “richly green.” The people of the
village gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, at around 10:00 o’clock to participate in
the annual lottery. Since there are only 300 people in the village, the lottery takes less than two hours.
The children assemble first. Since school is recently over, their talk is mostly about school---their
teachers, their books and other school-related experiences. Bobby Martin stuffs his pockets with stones and
other children follow suit selecting the “smoothest and roundest” stones. Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie
Delacroix make a huge pile of stones in one corner of the square, guarding it against hoarding from other
boys while girls stand aside observing the antics of the boys.
Soon the men gather. And the women follow after. The menfolk stand together and talk about their
daily farming activities and challenges like planting and the rain, and tractors and taxes. Womenfolk, on the
other hand, exchange bits of gossip while keeping an eye out for their children.
The Annual Ritual
Everyone settles down as soon as Mr. Summers arrives in the square. The villagers feel sorry for Mr.
Summers, a “round-faced, jovial man” who runs a coal business and “who has time and energy to devote to
civic activities” because of his wife.
Mr. Summers, who is carrying a black wooden box and he apologizes to the townspeople for being “a
little late.” Mr. Graves, the postmaster, brings a three-legged stool which he places in the center of the
square so Mr. Summers can set the black box down on it. The villagers distance themselves from the box.
Mr. Summers asks the men for help. After a brief hesitation, Mr. Martin and his son Baxter come
forward to hold the box steady while Mr. Summers stirs up the papers inside the box.
The Original Paraphernalia and Lottery Rules
The only thing left of the original paraphernalia for the lottery is the black box itself. It is said to have
been in used even before the time of Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town. Although the subject of
replacing the box has been always talked about, nothing is done about it and it becomes shabbier every year.
It is said that “no one likes to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” One aspect
that Mr. Summers iss successful in substituting the “chips of wood that has been used for generations” with
slips of paper. Mr. Summers argument is that the town is growing and so it would be easier to fit slips of
paper instead of chips of wood.
Though a lot has been forgotten or discarded about the original ritual, the rules basically remain the
same: 1) the lottery has two draws, 2) no one under the age of sixteen is included in the lottery, 3) only the
head or man of the house can draw for the family, 4) if the husband is not around, then the wife would draw
for her husband, 6) Daughters draw with their husband’s family, and 5) after drawing “keep the paper folded
in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn.”