"The Lottery" is a short story by Shirley Jackson, written in June 1948 and first published in the June 26, 1948 issue of The New Yorker. The story describes a small town in contemporary America which has an annual ritual known as "the lottery". It has been described as "one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature." Initial response to the story was negative, surprising Jackson and The New Yorker. Readers canceled subscriptions and sent hate mail throughout the summer. The story was banned in the Union of South Africa. Details of contemporary small-town American life are embroidered upon a description of an annual ritual known as "the lottery". In a small village of about 300 residents, the locals are in an excited yet nervous mood on June 27. Children gather stones as the adult townsfolk assemble for their annual event, which in the local tradition is practiced to ensure a good harvest (Old Man Warner quotes an old proverb: "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon"), though there are some rumors that nearby communities are talking about giving up the lottery. The lottery preparations start the night before with Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves making the paper slips and the list of all the families. Once the slips are finished, they are put into a black box, which is stored overnight in a safe at the coal company and other various places in the town. The next morning the townspeople start close to 10 a.m. in order to have everything done in time for lunch. First, the heads of the households draw slips until every head of the household has a slip; Bill Hutchinson gets the one slip with a black spot, meaning that his family has been chosen. The second round is for the family members to draw. For the first round, the men have to be over sixteen years of age; however, in the second round everyone is eligible, no matter their age. Bill's wife Tessie gets the marked slip; after the drawing is over and Tessie is picked, the slips are allowed to fly off into the wind. In keeping with tradition, each villager obtains a stone and begins to surround Tessie. The story ends as Tessie is stoned to death while she bemoans the unfairness of the situation. Many readers demanded an explanation of the situation in the story, and a month after the initial publication, Shirley Jackson responded in the San Francisco Chronicle (July 22, 1948): Jackson lived in North Bennington, Vermont, and her comment reveals that she had Bennington in mind when she wrote "The Lottery." In a 1960 lecture (printed in her 1968 collection, Come Along with Me), Jackson recalled the hate mail she received in 1948: The New Yorker kept no records of the phone calls, but letters addressed to Jackson were forwarded to her. That summer she regularly took home 10 to 12 forwarded letters each day. She also received weekly packages from The New Yorker containing letters and questions addressed to the magazine or editor Harold Ross, plus carbon copies of the magazine's responses mailed to letter writers. Helen E. Nebeker's essay, "'The Lottery': Symbolic Tour de Force", in American Literature (March 1974), claims that every major name in the story has a special significance. Fritz Oehlshlaeger, in "The Stoning of Mistress Hutchinson Meaning of Context in 'The Lottery'" (Essays in Literature, 1988), wrote: The 1992 episode of The Simpsons, "Dog of Death", features a scene referencing "The Lottery". During the peak of the lottery fever in Springfield, news anchor Kent Brockman announces on television that people hoping to get tips on how to win the jackpot have borrowed every available copy of Shirley Jackson's book The Lottery at the local library. One of them is Homer, who throws the book into the fireplace after Brockman reveals that, "Of course, the book does not contain any hints on how to win the lottery. It is, rather, a chilling tale of conformity gone mad." In her book Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy, Bernice Murphy comments that this scene displays some of the most contradictory things about Jackson: "It says a lot about the visibility of Jackson's most notorious tale that more than 50 years after its initial creation it is still famous enough to warrant a mention in the world's most famous sitcom. The fact that Springfield's citizenry also miss the point of Jackson's story completely [...] can perhaps be seen as an indication of a more general misrepresentation of Jackson and her work." Few critics have addressed the fact Jackson wrote the story in one two-hour sitting. In addition to numerous reprints in magazines, anthologies and textbooks, "The Lottery" has been adapted for radio, live television, a 1953 ballet, films in 1969 and 1997, a TV movie, an opera, and a one-act play by Thomas Martin. NBC's radio adaptation was broadcast March 14, 1951, as an episode of the anthology series NBC Presents: Short Story. Writer Ernest Kinoy expanded the plot to include scenes at various characters' homes before the lottery and a conversation between Bill and Tessie Hutchinson (Bill suggests leaving town before the lottery happens, but Tessie refuses because she wants to go shopping at Floyd Summers's store after the lottery is over). Kinoy deleted certain characters, including two of the Hutchinsons' three children, and added at least one character, John Gunderson, a schoolteacher who publicly objects to the lottery being held, and at first refuses to draw. Finally, Kinoy included an ending scene describing the townspeople's post-lottery activities, and an afterword in which the narrator suggested, "Next year, maybe there won't be a Lottery. It's up to all of us. Chances are, there will be, though." The production was directed by Andrew C. Love. Ellen M. Violett wrote the first television adaptation, seen on Albert McCleery's Cameo Theatre (1950–55). Larry Yust's short film, The Lottery (1969), produced as part of Encyclopædia Britannica's 'Short Story Showcase' series, was ranked by the Academic Film Archive "as one of the two bestselling educational films ever." It has an accompanying ten-minute commentary film, Discussion of "The Lottery" by University of Southern California English professor Dr. James Durbin. Featuring the film debut of Ed Begley, Jr., Yust's adaptation has an atmosphere of naturalism and small town authenticity with its shots of pick-up trucks and townspeople in Fellows, California. Anthony Spinner's feature-length TV film, The Lottery, which premiered September 29, 1996, on NBC, is a sequel loosely based on the original Shirley Jackson story. It was nominated for a 1997 Saturn Award for Best Single Genre Television Presentation. Detailed plot summary of "The Lottery" Salon: Jonathan Lethem: "Monstrous Acts and Little Murders" The Lottery study guide and teaching guide – analysis, themes, quotes, multimedia for students and teachers The New Yorker podcast: A. M. Homes discusses and reads "The Lottery" NBC Short Story: "The Lottery" (March 14, 1951) "The Lottery" read by Maureen Stapleton 1988 interview with Judy Oppenheimer Augustin Kennady's 2007 Film Adaptation of "The Lottery" on YouTube
The Lottery Homework Help. Question: What does the story imply about traditions and ceremonies?The story 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson., Topics: The Lottery, Tags.
The Lottery Tradition Essay
The Lottery: Tradition's Impact on Human Behavior. Keywords: close reading, theme, tradition, character, setting, and plot, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson.
The Lottery' is a short story by Shirley Jackson. while Tessie questions the tradition and correctness of the lottery as well as her humble status as a wife.
The Lottery
The short story, The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson contains two key aspects that society is based upon: Tradition and rituals, and social class division.
Traditions 'The Lottery' focuses on the tradition of the lottery not only in this town but how other towns are going against tradition by banishing the lottery.