The Lottery
By: Shirley Jackson
How much impact does society
have on your behavior?
• Much impact because…;
• Some impact because…;
• Little impact because…;
The Lottery
• Written in 1948
• Originally published in The New Yorker
• Extremely controversial
Setting
• Setting is the physical location and time in which a
story takes place. To identify setting, we must note
the specific details the author provides concerning:
– The story’s location
– The time in which the action takes place
– The social environment of the characters, including
manners, customs, and moral values that govern their
society
Mood
• Setting creates an emotional effect and can create a mood or
atmosphere.
– Mood is the feeling that a text conveys to readers
• Authors deliberately choose a setting and include specific details to
conjure a certain reaction/feeling in their readers
• Once you have identified the setting you can identify the mood by asking
– What things, thoughts, or feelings do I typically associate these details with?
• If the setting is a decrepit, abandoned, and old building, feeling tense or anxious
– Given this, what mood is the author trying to create?
• If feeling tense or anxious, the author is trying to create a mood of suspense or even fear
Predictions
• What is the setting, and the mood it conjures, leading me
to think might happen?
– I’m thinking something bad is going to happen to our main
character
• What do I need to be aware of as I continue reading?
– I’m going to be on my toes to see what might happen
next…there will probably be some more clues about what
catastrophe is about to occur.
“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh
warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely
and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to
gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around
ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the
lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this
village, where there were only about three hundred people, the
whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’
clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers
to get home for noon dinner.”
FORESHADOWING
• Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint
of what is to come later in the story.
• There are various ways of creating foreshadowing. A writer may use
dialogues of characters to hint at what may occur in future. In addition,
any event or action in the story may throw a hint to the readers about
future events or action. Even a title of a work or a chapter title can act as a
clue that suggests what is going to happen. Foreshadowing in fiction
creates an atmosphere of suspense in a story so that the readers are
interested to know more.
Irony
3 Kinds of Irony
What is Irony?
Irony is about expectations.
Irony: the opposite of what is expected.
3 kinds of irony
• Verbal
• Dramatic
• Situational
Verbal Irony
A character says one thing but means the
opposite
Also called sarcasm or being sarcastic.
Examples
The locker room smells really good.
Awesome! Another homework packet!
Dramatic Irony
When the reader understands more about the
events of a story than a character.
You know something that a character doesn’t.
Example
Tim’s parents are proud of the “A” he got on the test,
but we know he cheated.
Alex writes a love poem to Judy but we know that
Judy loves Devin.
Situational Irony
When what actually happens is the opposite of
what is expected.
Something about the situation is completely
unexpected.
Example
General Sedgwick’s last words were, “They couldn’t
hit an elephant at this distance.”
Bill Gates uses an Apple computer.
Review
Something that is ironic is unexpected.
If unexpected by a character, it’s dramatic.
If unexpected by everyone, it’s situational.
If it’s sarcasm, it’s verbal.
Quiz
• Read the following examples of irony.
Determine which of the three types of
irony are being used.
1. When Mr. Goodenwell saw his baby boy Vince for the first time,
he swore that he'd do anything to protect the little guy. This was
easy at first, when all Vince did was lie in a pillow and drink milk.
But as little Vince grew bigger, he started walking. And once he
started walking, he got into everything. He was becoming a serious
threat to himself when Mr. Goodenwell, making good on his vow to
protect his son, went to the store and bought $150 worth of
equipment to childproof his home. He put covers on the outlets,
bumpers on the table corners, and a sliding lock on the toilet lid. But
right as Mr. Goodenwell was adjusting the covers on the door knobs,
Vince pulled the cap off an outlet and choked on it. Mr. Goodenwell
found him just in time.
2. One bright and warm Easter morning, Timmy Holloway
woke up to the smell of eggs, but not breakfast eggs, Easter
eggs. That's right Timmy had a craving for Easter eggs, and
today was the day to get them boy howdy. There was only
one thing standing in his way, well two really: the Solomon
brothers. The Solomon brothers got more eggs than Timmy
every year because there were two of them and they counted
their eggs as one. Timmy suspected that this was cheating but
he couldn't articulate the notion. When Timmy got to the fair
grounds, he clutched his Easter egg sack behind his back and
approached the Solomon brothers.
The taller one distracted Timmy while the shorter one snuck behind
him, clipping the corner of Timmy's egg sack and making quite a big
hole. Unfortunately, Timmy failed to notice this. When the whistle
blew, Timmy was off. He was surprised to see the Solomon brothers
behind him, since he was much faster than they, but he didn't mind.
Timmy beat them to every egg, and raced on to the next, never
noticing that his sack wasn't getting heavier. As he approached the
end of the course, Timmy was elated that he was the first to finish.
The Solomon brothers were right behind him. "Maybe next year,
loser twins," Timmy chuckled, right before he noticed that his sack
was empty.
3. Making friends isn't easy. Ask Juan Guerrero,
who moved to New Middle School three months ago
but still eats lunch by himself. Nobody picks on him
really, but they pretty much ignore him completely, at
least since the incident. You see, Juan had his
chance. We almost adopted him into our crew, the
skaters, after Juan said he could skate. "Oh yeah?"
asked my boy Romeo, "well, where's your board?"
Juan replied shakily, "Uh, my mom ran over it with
her car, but I do flips and grinds and all that stuff."
Romeo didn't believe him. "Why don't you use my board?
Show me one of those flips," Romeo challenged. Juan
gulped and grabbed the board. "Uh… Ok," he replied. When
you see a good skater on TV or in a video game,
skateboarding may look easy, but just moving properly, let
alone doing any tricks, takes a lot of practice. Because of
this, I was not the least bit surprised when Juan landed flat
on his can before he even made it across a single sidewalk
square. "Wow! What an awesome flip, Tony Hawk. You'll
have to teach me that," Romeo sneered. Now Juan eats
lunch alone.
Oral Response
THE LOTTERY
The Lottery: Oral Response
You will have:
• 3 minutes to prepare
• 60 seconds to respond
The Lottery: Oral Response
• You will be recording your own response.
The Lottery: Oral Response
The format should be:
• Restate the question
• Ideas/Context
• Examples/ Supporting details
• Conclusion
The Lottery: Oral Response
The Lottery: Oral Response
• What warning does Jackson give readers
about the dangers of tradition? How does she
use literary elements to convey this theme?
In your response, make sure you:
• Clearly articulate Jackson’s warning
• Identify at least TWO literary elements (think tone/mood,
symbol, foreshadowing, setting) used by the author and explain
how it conveys her theme or warning to readers.
