1. Where do you think "The Lottery" takes place? What purpose do you suppose the writer has in making this setting appear so familiar and ordinary?
In Jackson's "The Lottery," the structure leading to the surprise ending is dependent on the detached(adj.分離的), matter-of-fact point of view, together with the familiar and ordinary setting. The point is that the setting is ordinary. These are normal people.
The story is a scapegoat story. And all societies scapegoat(n.代罪羔羊). The point of the story would be lost if the setting wasn't familiar and ordinary. The guilt would then lie with the particular setting and those particular people.
But back to the surprise ending. If there were anything about the setting that was out …show more content…
Summers: The appearance of normalcy and cheerfulness hiding evil and corruption.
Bill and Davy Hutchinson: Betrayers. The narrator says, "Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd." As for Davy, he has pebbles(n.小卵石) ready to throw at his mother. Hutchinson was the name of an official who lodged a complaint against several women in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
Mr. Graves: Bringer of death; any sinister(adj.惡意的) influence. Graves helps Joe Summers prepare the slips of paper that will send one of the residents to his or her grave. Graves also brings the stool on which the black box rests.
Village: That which appears normal and even benevolent but which harbors inner corruption and evil.
Mrs. Delacroix: In French, de means of and la croix means the cross. Mrs. Delacroix, who treats Tessie Hutchinson cordially(adv.友善地) when the latter arrives for the drawing, later picks up a huge stone to hurl at the condemned(adj.被判罪的) woman. One may say that she "double-crosses" Tessie by helping to "crucify(v.把...的手腳釘在十字架上處死)" …show more content…
What Warner was saying was that because the town was adhering to the tradition of the lottery the town would have good luck in the coming year. The people believed that the lottery was a direct influence on their prosperity. "Corn be heavy soon," meant that the farmers in the community would have a good harvest and the community would continue to grow and prosper. "Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, also represents the theme of tradition. When Mr. and Mrs. Adams suggest to Warner that some other villages have already given up the lottery or are thinking about doing so, he replies with, "Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves . There's always been a