"The Lottery"

3/24/2014

Provide a comment on any of the items below. Reference the prompt in your response.

Then, go and REPLY to as many peer's posts as you can before the end of the block.
Your post should be intelligently stated, not just "yo, dude, I agree."
This is an opportunity to participate in an online discussion about a short story. Be intuitive, mature, and thought-provoking in your writing.

1. What is ironic about the title of the selection?
2. How does the author create suspense?
3. What is the mood of the piece to begin? How does it change, if it does? If it doesn't change, why?
4. In what way is the title, “The Lottery”, misleading? Why would the author want to fool the reader by having a tricky title?
5. What do you think the purpose of the lottery is in the village? Why do you think people continue to participate in it? Is it a good thing or bad thing?

71 Comments

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:18:01 am

The title is misleading in that winning the lottery normally has a positive connotation, but in this instance, winning the lottery is quite literally fatal. The author would want to fool the reader because she wants the ending to be a surprise twist. She wants the ending to be as jarring and shocking as possible, and having a misleading title definitely serves to mask the conclusion.

Matias Pineiro

3/24/2014 03:20:39 am

Very true. I totally agree, although I suppose you already knew that.

Jack Ogozaly

3/24/2014 03:27:34 am

But doesn't the reader know that the lottery will be fatal before the end? I didn't find the conclusion masked since in the climax of the story we know that the lottery isn't a good thing.

Calvin Ho

3/24/2014 03:32:31 am

You're so right, I agree one hundred percent.

Rachel Loh

3/24/2014 03:33:17 am

I agree with Ross. The author did fool me into thinking the lottery was a good thing. That is, until I got to the climax.

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:35:44 am

Jack, I would say that the reader has a hint of what it to come. There are subtle warnings that foreshadow it, like the pile of stones the boys created at the beginning. However, until the very end, the reader cannot be absolutely positive how disastrous winning the lottery will be for Mrs. Hutchinson.

sydney shands

3/24/2014 03:36:31 am

your response is pretty similar to mine, the irony of it all is creates a nice twist

Frankie A.

3/24/2014 03:37:27 am

I agree! You are not winning the "powerball", instead you are being over powered with stones and rocks.

John Y.

3/24/2014 03:20:45 am

It is ironic how the older villagers think that the lottery is an important tradition, even though it is an act of murder in a sense. The author creates suspense by not saying what happens at the end of the lottery, and building up to it towards the end. The mood of this passage is dreary because it is a group of people gathered being very quiet, it just seems like a sad and silent day. The title "The Lottery" is misleading because in our life a lottery is a good thing that you win and you get happy because you get money, but in this story the lottery is drawing a ticket and if you get the bad slip of paper, you get stoned to death. I think the purpose of the lottery in the village is to show that any day anyone could die. The lottery is also a part of tradition for the village and it happens each year. I think the people continue to participate in the lottery because they are forced to by the officials of the village. I think the lottery is a bad thing because at the end of the day someone dies for not reason other than a stupid tradition of a village.

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:26:15 am

I agree with everything you said, JJ. I'd also add that part of the reason they do it is because of that saying they have about "lottery in June, corn comes soon," or something like that. The people of the village a long time ago were superstitious and started the sacrificial lottery to make sure the crops kept growing well. The villagers may just have been afraid to ever stop the tradition, since it seems to be "working."

Calvin Ho

3/24/2014 03:35:00 am

I didn't think of it like that Ross. To me, I personally thought that their purpose for "The Lottery," was to limit the amount of people to sizable as an effort to end hunger or something. But I like your insight on it

Adam

3/24/2014 03:41:02 am

I kind of agree with both of you, Ross and Calvin. I think they were superstitious and wanted to limit the amount of people.

Joey Feith

3/24/2014 03:21:39 am

The mood is a sort of homely and nice and pleasant at the beginning of the story. Then as the town is assembled in the courtyard, the mood becomes rather gloomy and drowsy, and it also turns into a very hostile mood and environment when the "winner" of the lottery is chosen.

Justin

3/24/2014 03:29:06 am

I couldn't agree more, though I feel the mood doesn't get gloomy for the characters in the short story, only for the reader because they all seem to be fine with the stoning, except for the winner of the lottery.

Jack Ogozaly

3/24/2014 03:31:53 am

I don't know. The citizens seem to all dislike the lottery until they know that they aren't the ones being picked.

Adam

3/24/2014 03:29:43 am

I completely agree Joey.

Alyssa

3/24/2014 03:30:37 am

I agree with your description of the mood. At first it start out happy and full of excitement, and then it turns bad and bitter

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:36:55 am

So Calvin, are you saying it's kind of like the Capitol initiating the Hunger Games? To keep the people in submission? I hadn't actually thought of that.

Alyssa Bostany link

3/24/2014 03:21:53 am

The ironic thing about the title is that usually a lottery involves money,but this is not the case in the story. The author creates suspense by leaving out some details and by leaving the reader to think about what is going to happen next. At first the mood seems positive and happy, but then it change to sort of angry and bitter. The title is misleading because "the lottery" they are talking about is not the lottery that we would assume it to be. The purpose of the lottery is not clear to me. I feel that people continue to participate because they want to be able to experience what the "winner" has to go through. This is a bad thing.

Matias P.

3/24/2014 03:33:25 am

Very true, very true. I especially what you said about how the moods contrast each other so significantly.

Joey Feith

3/24/2014 03:37:56 am

I agree with how the title is misleading, and when it comes to the lottery, it is portrayed as good and beneficial but not the way it seems. It is also said by one of the familys, that the lottery will "change our lives if one of us won". It misleads the reader even more.

Calvin Ho

3/24/2014 03:38:07 am

I don't think it changed to angry and bitter. I agree with the beginning of the mood one hundred percent but to me, I felt the mood at the end was sort of sad and dreary as I think Mrs. Hutchinson was loved by all. Nobody wanted to kill her but they wanted to follow the tradition

Mikey Mele

3/24/2014 03:23:43 am

What was ironic about the story is when Old Man Warner says that the village to the north is a "pack of crazy fools" when he is told that the village to the north got ride of their lottery. This is ironic because he is calling the village to the north a "pack of crazy fools" when his own village is stoning people to death. I thought that when he said this that it was ironic.

Adam

3/24/2014 03:30:46 am

I completely agree Mikey.

Adam

3/24/2014 03:32:46 am

I completely agree Adam.

Adam

3/24/2014 03:34:17 am

I disagree Adam.

Matias P.

3/24/2014 03:35:36 am

And I can't decide.

Matias P.

3/24/2014 03:37:03 am

Yes, I agree with you Matias.

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:33:39 am

I agree that is was ironic, and I also thought it was kind of hilarious, actually. The fact that he would say such a statement (and actually mean it) shows exactly how set-in-his-ways he is.

Additionally, the character of Old Man Warner was put into the story to symbolize the reluctance of the entire village to break the tradition. The townspeople are clinging to the past. He represents the fact that no one is willing to adapt to the changing times.

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:39:11 am

Wait, I take that back.

Matias P.

3/24/2014 03:24:51 am

The author creates suspense by not explaining what the result of the lottery is. The reader knows that there will be a negative outcome judging by some of the villagers' reactions (Mrs. Hutchinson), but not what will truly happen. For the reader, this creates curiosity and, in turn, suspense.

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:28:04 am

That was eloquently worded, Matias. Top notch.

Elizabeth

3/24/2014 03:35:50 am

I think that the suspense in the story leaves the reader wanting to read more. The fact that she did not describe the violence in detail not only created suspense but left it up to reader interpretation which makes the story have a more lasting effect on the reader. It allows the reader to imagine the violence in what ever way they interpreted the story which leaves room for one’s imagination to take over.

Destiny Rivera

3/24/2014 03:25:48 am

The title for this short story is very misleading. When people hear the word "lottery," they think of positive things. I personally would think of possibly winning money or prizes. In this case, the lottery means who dies. Reading most of the story, you get the feeling that whoever gets chosen will win a great prize; however, the person ends up dying.

Rachel Loh

3/24/2014 03:29:50 am

This I show I felt throughout the story until I got to the end. That is when I realized that this "lottery" was a negative thing.

Jack Ogozaly

3/24/2014 03:36:10 am

Really, I felt pretty early on that the Lottery was a bad thing.

Kelsey Hanchick

3/24/2014 03:38:20 am

I agree with you Destiny because when you hear the word lottery many people think of wanting to win (usually money) however in this story it is completely the opposite. Many people were terrified to win the lottery which is ironic because usually you would want to win a lottery.

Justin

3/24/2014 03:38:47 am

I felt the same throughout the story, when Tessie started to yell that it was unfair was when I started getting confused and making connections to the rocks that the boys were collecting.

Kelsey Hanchick

3/24/2014 03:26:47 am

The purpose of the lottery in the village was to sacrifice a human being each year. People in the village continue to participate in the lottery because it is part of their tradition therefore they are being forced to participate. I think that following the traditions of our ancestors is a good idea however if it involves the sacrifice of its own people I am 100% against it.

Adam

3/24/2014 03:34:05 am

I agree Kelsey.

Mikey Mele

3/24/2014 03:38:30 am

I think that the lottery was a good thing because sacrificing one person for the better of the group isn't so bad, and if its a tradition to the village then why change it.

Rachel Loh

3/24/2014 03:27:27 am

The mood of the story in the beginning was very calm. Throughout the story, the suspense increases as the lottery is being described as unfair by Mrs. Hutchinson. This creates the major suspense at the end when they all pick up rocks. The mood of the story at the end was very odd.

Destiny Rivera

3/24/2014 03:31:25 am

I agree that the suspense increases. I was expecting Mrs. Hutchinson to say it wasn't fair because other people needed money or a prize more. But that did not happen, someone ended up dying.

Kelsey Hanchick

3/24/2014 03:32:38 am

I agree with you Rachel. The beginning of the story was very nonchalant but throughout the story the suspense increased until it ended which the sacrifice.

John Y.

3/24/2014 03:34:38 am

I agree that the mood of the story towards the end is very odd because they are describing such a horrible tradition as a "Lottery" which makes the reader think that the lottery is a good thing even though it is not

Joey Feith

3/24/2014 03:40:25 am

I agree with the ending mood, although I would have thought it was very hostile due to the fact that they are picking up stones and hurting the winner with them.

Frankie A.

3/24/2014 03:44:17 am

I completely agree. At first the mood was very calm. This made me think that this lottery was no big deal. But as the suspense built, I started to see that this Lottery was a serious event. And in the end, I totally was. It was horrifying and bizarre!

Adam

3/24/2014 03:28:47 am

The title is ironic because when someone says they won the lottery, people usually see this as something great, but in the story winning the lottery is a terrible and unlucky. In the beginning, the mood of the story is happy and exciting. People are hurrying others to get to the lottery as if it is a can't-miss event. Then, after Mrs. Hutchinson wins, the mood turns hostile and many people participate in killing her. Someone even gives her son stones to use.

Mikey Mele

3/24/2014 03:34:32 am

That is very true, I completely agree. I would not want to win a lottery if it had those circumstances.

John Y.

3/24/2014 03:37:40 am

In a sense this type of lottery is not won but it is lost because if you pick the wrong slip of paper you get killed as part of tradition.

Jack Ogozaly

3/24/2014 03:30:26 am

The author creates suspense by withholding from the reader what the lottery entails. Only at the end do we realize what you win in the lottery. Until that point we are kept in suspense by wondering what the stones/ lottery are for.

Justin

3/24/2014 03:31:02 am

She creates suspense by getting the reader to figure out why the boys are gathering stones and why the "winner" is saying how unfair it is even though she won the lottery.

Calvin Ho

3/24/2014 03:31:13 am

The title, "The Lottery," was very misleading as when people win the lottery, they usually expect some sort of prize not something gruesome as being stoned to death. I think the author wants to fool the reader by having a tricky title as this would be unexpected and keeps the readers curious only to nail them with irony at the end

Elizabeth

3/24/2014 03:32:08 am

I think that the purpose of the lottery is to provide a sense of order, conformity, and togetherness. As the people start to stone the selected person, it creates a feeling of cohesion and like everyone has a purpose or role in the stoning. It’s purpose is to deliver something that it familiar and routine. People participate in the lottery simply because they don’t know anything but participating in it. The lottery has been so installed in their minds that the mere thought of opposing the lottery would get them stoned to death anyways.

Ross S.

3/24/2014 03:39:43 am

I sort of see what you're saying, Elizabeth, but at the same time, I would argue that stoning a person is the ultimate _exclusion_, since the villagers are keeping that person from ever participating in activities again.

Sydney Shands

3/24/2014 03:33:38 am

The irony of the title of the novel is based upon the fact that in our lottery of today's world, winning the lottery is a great victory. When winning the lottery, one receives a large lump of cash and one is known in America to be a lucky winner. In the novel, winning the lottery means potential death. Almost the complete opposite of what it means to us.

Matias P.

3/24/2014 03:34:10 am

The title of the literary piece is misleading because usually when one thinks of a lottery, they think of good things; riches, fame, fortune, and other positive things. However, this story does not encompass those ideas. The reason for the misleading title is to lead the reader into the story with a false sense of security, so that he or she will be even more shocked when they get to the gruesome ending.

Destiny Rivera

3/24/2014 03:38:54 am

I thought Mrs. Hutchinson was being mean when she said that the lottery wasn't fair. But, she was just trying to save someone's life. I thought she was jealous.

Calvin Ho

3/24/2014 03:39:59 am

I thought Mrs. Hutchinson was the one who was stoned to death. That's why she said it was unfair, cause she won and she knew she was going to die

Elizabeth

3/24/2014 03:40:31 am

In a way, the people in the village do see the lottery as a good thing. They see it as a way to create a sense of community and tradition. The only person that sees the lottery as a bad thing is Mrs Hutchinson- but only after she is chosen. Everyone but the person who is selected, is happy and sees the lottery as a positive thing.

Jack Keglovics

3/24/2014 03:34:38 am

I found that the title of the story was very misleading because it tricks the reader into believing that their "lottery" is like the lottery we have today, where you win money, and is overall a good experience in general. However, the lottery in the story talks about how the "winner" is stoned to death, and isn't anything that the people of the village look forward to.

Natasia M.

3/24/2014 03:36:48 am

I think that the book was very misleading because of the title. Anytime someone hears the word lottery, it is usually associated with money. But, the author implies a message in the story that could also be true about the actual lottery. Maybe the the author is saying that the actions of greed and the need to survive can cause humans to turn to savages and run over other people. It is possible that there is a link between the title and reality.

Scott Rader

3/24/2014 03:38:59 am

The author uses this title to mislead the reader in the beginning with the reader thinking that this story is going to be about someone who wins the lottery. The lottery, like Ross said is usually used to be a positive connotation. However, as the reader further endues into the text it is soon aware the thing lottery is a horrible act of murder. I also believe that this town is still proceeding in this event because they like the drama and the curiosity of seeing an innocent human die. I also think that this is such an extravagant event that this town participates in and such work to do this. I strongly believe I would never gamble my life for such an arrogant event.

Laura K. link

3/24/2014 03:39:36 am

"The Lottery" was an ironic name for the story because people usually get excited about winning a the lottery. In this case, it is a bad thing that people win the lottery, because they lose their lives. The author creates suspense by keeping the setting really calm like the lottery is a good thing. Towards the end as people are picking up stones to throw, there is a huge plot twist and the reader is caught off guard. In the beginning, the mood is very happy and calming because the whole village is united as one in the town. Then excitement is through the air as people are being called up to pick their papers. Once one person has been chosen, then the mood changes because someone is about to lose their life. That is why the mood becomes gloomy. The author may want to trick the reader into thinking that this story is going to end well, but it ends very sadly. She wanted to have a huge plot twist in her novel. I think the purpose of the lottery is to keep the population low in the village. People keep participating it so they do not break tradition from the settlers. It is a bad thing because people lose their lives from it.

Fabricio Guerrero

3/24/2014 03:40:12 am

The title of the short story is misleading in the sense that winning the lottery is a bad thing. Winning the lottery is means receiving a fatal death. The author wanted to fool the reader by having a tricky title to create suspense and surprise.

Shannon McGorry

3/24/2014 03:40:55 am

In the beginning of this story, there is a very safe mood for the reader. There are children playing and having a good time while the fathers are talking about the farms and crops, mothers are gossiping and everything is normal. As the story continues on, everyone in town gathers in the center of town. As the kids gather rocks in a clump, the mood stays the same, happy and normal. As Mr. Summers begins to call names, the mood starts to change to a more negative feel. As soon as Mrs. Hutchinson gets chosen for the lottery, that is when the mood changes dramatically. She begins to scream and fight and the mood changes from a normal happy feel to an eerie, dark mood.

Frankie A.

3/24/2014 03:41:17 am

If you read closely, the purpose of "The Lottery" is to ensure a good harvest. People still participate in this because they are following a tradition blindly. If they questioned the tradition, they would have to ask themselves why they are murdering innocent civilians. Clearly, this is a bad thing. Human sacrifice is a bad thing.

Jasmine Rodriguez

3/24/2014 03:41:58 am

The purpose of the lottery in the village is to keep the village from over populating. The village sacrifices one person every year because it is tradition.People continue to participate because the lottery is something they are used to and they grew up with this idea. I believe this is not a good thing because no matter if it is tradition or not killing people is not acceptable.

James Thomas

3/24/2014 03:42:57 am

From a logical point of view, tradition in itself is just an opinion. One that has taken form through action, and that has been passed onto many generations for any amount of time,(usually a while). Therefore, traditions/cultures will clash just as opinions do. That's simply their purpose, to clash and be compared/contrasted to one another. Taking this into consideration, I believe that the irony in the short story works to assist this fact. For example, from our points of view living in modern day America, the actions of the topic village are crazy and immoral, but from the P.O.V. of the old man, it is the other village that is crazy for not partaking in the "lottery".

Rosa Ricketts link

8/9/2022 06:51:59 am

People want to win in lottery that is why they participated on that.

Mykei Mele link

6/23/2023 08:14:27 am

The ironic thing about the title is that the lottery itself turns out to be a dark and morbid event rather than a happy or joyous occasion. The title implies the positive connotation of winning while the event itself is anything but.

"The Lottery"

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