“The Lottery” Vocabulary

VOCABULARY, define the word in your own words / SENTENCE that you create, in your own words / A VISUAL IMAGE that will help you remember the vocabulary word
Boisterous (adj.): (of a person, event, or behavior) is noisy, energetic, and cheerful. / The boisterous students in the cafeteria were excited about getting out of school early. /
Jovial
Paraphernalia
Profuse
Underfoot
Interminable
Petulantly

Answer all the questions. Write in complete sentences; write at least 3-4 sentences.

1. Write down your first thoughts after reading the story.

2. Why are the townspeople holding the lottery?

3. Why don’t they stop?

4. Were you surprised by the ending of the story? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does Jackson foreshadow, or give hints about, the ending?

5. Conversely, how does Jackson lull us into thinking that this is just an ordinary story with an ordinary town?

6. What are some examples of irony in this story? For example, why might the title, "The Lottery," or the opening description

in paragraph one, be considered ironic?

7. What type of atmosphere did Jackson create at the beginning of the story? How did that change? How could you tell it was changing?

8. How does the author create meaning? (Discuss setting, mood, irony, foreshadowing, symbolism, and theme). What themes appear in The Lottery?

9. What warning does Jackson give readers about the dangers of tradition? How does she use symbolism to convey this theme?

10. Describe the point of view of the story. How does the point of view affect what we know about the situation? How does it preserve the story's suspense?

11. What do you understand to be the writer's own attitude toward the lottery and the stoning? Exactly what in the story makes

her attitude clear to us?

12. This story was published in 1948. Are there any cultural or historical events that Jackson might be commenting on here? Is this JUST a story about this particular time and place, or is she trying to say something important about human nature?