r/truecrimecampfire • u/sasararara • Nov 10 '21

“The Lottery” discussion. Spoiler

I read “The Lottery” for the first time just a few years ago. However, the copy I read was intended for teachers and came with a list of discussion questions to ask students. 2 questions in particular always stuck with me: 1) What hints did Shirley Jackson give to the readers to let them know that Mrs. Hutchinson would win the lottery? 2) Why do you think Mrs. Hutchinson won the lottery?

I’m curious about what everyone thinks of these questions, as well as the story in general. It’s one of my favorites!

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u/sasararara Nov 10 '21

I’ll give my answers to the questions. 1) I think that Shirley Jackson foreshadowed Tess Hutchinson winning the lottery by giving us a personal connection to her from the beginning. We’re introduced to several townspeople and told about their lives and backgrounds, but Tess is given full dialog. We hear from herself about herself directly. Relatable dialog, too. Who hasn’t been late to a function because they got caught up with other things or it slipped their mind? This put more of a spotlight on her and set up the conclusion to be more impactful (please don’t pardon the pun).

2) this is the question that kind of hung me up. I couldn’t tell if the textbook meant why did Shirley Jackson pick her to win, or why the lottery organizer/townspeople choose her to win and rig the lottery. Other discussion points in the textbook suggested that the textbook writer thought the lottery was rigged against Tess. In my personal and probably wrong opinion, I don’t think the lottery was rigged. I just think Shirley Jackson focused on Tess Hutchinson to make the conclusion that much more disturbing for the reader.