The Lottery

[a] The story describes a fictional small American community that observes an annual tradition known as "the lottery", which is intended to ensure a good harvest and purge the town of bad omens.

It has been subjected to considerable sociological and literary analysis and has been described as one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature.

Children pile up stones as the adults assemble for their annual event, practiced to ensure a good harvest; Old Man Warner quotes an old proverb, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon."

The slips are folded and placed in an age-stained black wooden box which is stored in a safe at Mr. Summers' office until the lottery is scheduled to begin.

Bill Hutchinson draws the only marked slip in the box, and his wife Tessie complains that he was rushed into making his choice.

For the final drawing, one slip is placed in the box for each member of the Hutchinson household: Bill, Tessie, and each of their three children.

I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.Jackson lived in North Bennington, Vermont, and her comment reveals that she had Bennington in mind when she wrote "The Lottery".

In the years since then, during which the story has been anthologized, dramatized, televised, and even—in one completely mystifying transformation—made into a ballet, the tenor of letters I receive has changed.

Horribly, at the end of the story, it will be Mrs. Delacroix, warm and friendly in her natural state, who will select a stone "so large she had to pick it up with both hands" and will encourage her friends to follow suit... "Mr. Adams", at once progenitor and martyr in the Judeo-Christian myth of man, stands with "Mrs. Graves"—the ultimate refuge or escape of all mankind—in the forefront of the crowd.Fritz Oehlschlaeger, in "The Stoning of Mistress Hutchinson: Meaning and Context in 'The Lottery'" (Essays in Literature, 1988), wrote: The name of Jackson's victim links her to Anne Hutchinson, whose Antinomian beliefs, found to be heretical by the Puritan hierarchy, resulted in her banishment from Massachusetts in 1638.

She was excommunicated despite an unfair trial, while Tessie questions the tradition and correctness of the lottery as well as her humble status as a wife.

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.

The story was also parodied in the 2014 Regular Show episode "Terror Tales of the Park IV", in the segment "The Hole" (a.k.a.

It has an accompanying ten-minute commentary film Discussion of "The Lottery" by University of Southern California English professor James Durbin.

[16][17] Anthony Spinner's feature-length TV film The Lottery, which premiered September 29, 1996, on NBC, expands upon the original Shirley Jackson story.

Alyson Ward of the Houston Chronicle wrote the graphics "push a little further than his grandmother's words did", though she stated Hyman's version reveals details of the story earlier than in the original work.

[19] At another point in the game, a faction inspired by Ancient Roman soldiers known as 'Caesar's Legion' holds a lottery in the town of Nipton, California, although in this case the 'winner' is set free, while it is everyone else (with the exception of the second place runner-up, who has his legs broken, and the third place runners-up, who are enslaved) who are either decapitated, crucified, or, in the case of the mayor, burned.

Marilyn Manson used The Lottery as inspiration for his music video for the song "Man That You Fear" of his album Antichrist Superstar.