Having completed our reading of the short story "The Lottery," what are your initial thoughts? Also ponder the following:
Helen Nebeker says that ["The Lottery"] “describes man’s victimization by ‘unexamined and unchanging tradition which he could easily change if he only realized their implications’” (qtd in Kosenko).
You may post on this thread or start a new one. Also visit the threads titled Symbolism and Theme. Take a risk! DO NOT google to find answers. This is an opportunity to be a Scholar not a Student!
64 comments:
I was surprised by the ending of the story. When you see the title The Lottery. You expect some lucky person to win a bunch of money, or a car or something.
I never expected someone to die just for what seemed to be a offfering for good crops.
I couldn't figure out why the woman was trying to get her husband to pick again. I thought wining the lottery would have been a good thing. Maybe the story is trying to tell the readers a point in which, winning the lottery can ruin your life as well as make it better.
I was shocked by the ending. I started to figure it out when Mrs. Hutchinson kept saying that it was not fair. If the lottery was something they wanted to "win", she would not have been so upset.
When I saw that they were going to kill her with stones I felt horrified that they would even be capable of doing that let alone watch it happen to their friend and neighbor.
I have heard a story similar to this one before but up until Mrs. Hutchinson started freaking out it did not occur to me that wnning the lottery could be a bad thing. The only thing that does not make sense is why they do it. Why would you just kill off people?
I was really surprised by the ending of the story. When you see the title The Lottery you're thinking oh great a story about some not so forunate person win a bunch of money. But when i got to the end i couldn't believe what i was reading. How could you sit there and watch your friend, neighbor, sister, and/or relative die; let a alone do it yourself? That's insane, you have to be pretty low to do a thing like that.
At first i didn't understand why his wife kept wanting him to draw again but now i see why.
The Lottery shows that even if you win the lottery, the money you get from it can be used for the wrong things and possibly evn make your life worse than it was before you won.
The end of the story really shocked me.I would expect it to be a happy short story about someone getting lucky and winning the lottery. But what really happens is the total opposite.
It shocked me,just like everyone else i think of lottery as money.I thought at first why would they do the ceremony like that to see who won money.So the ending was a complete shock.why would they kill someone?
I thought this story was very interesting. I was very shocked to find out that everyone would kill someone for that reason. I guess it makes sense tho, people kill for weird reasons. I thought that it was an unfortunate ending. Apperently money can bring one pain as well as well being.
Do they kill for money? Take a closer look at the text. This lottery has nothing to do with the type of lottery we discussed in class today. What's the purpose of the lottery? Why are the townspeople willing to go to such extremes?
In the story the text mentions that parts of the lottery were lost in time. Traditions have faded away. All the village people know is that it is a tradition to do the lottery.
Maybe the real reason for the lottery was lost in time with the other old traditions.
At first I guessed that someone would win a lottery and get a lot of money. Obviously I was wrong and the person who won ended up getting stoned. It was definately a twist in the story that not to many people would have forseen.
My final thoughts of the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is the story was sort of depressing and suprising. I never expected Tessie Hutchinson to win the lottery or to get stoned to death. I honestly feel that I guess people do get what they really deserve. I mean Tessie was willing to put her children up before her so she could win which didn't play out in her favor because she was then stoned to death. I guess this short story sort of teaches us a little about karma and irony too. Irony in the way that what we expected to happen didn't happen it was in fact the opposite of what we expected to happen. Overall I did like the story but it was a little hard to understand.
i didnt like this story.
i thought it was really odd,
when old man warner said that other places that quit having lotteries were fools i was so confused. i thought maybe i just missed something. i also couldnt figure out the stones until the very end. wasnt what i was expecting at all.
did this really used to happen?
When I heard the lottery I thought it would be a more recent story. From how it sounds towns were small and no towns are that small nowadays. Then I wondered what the prize would be. Turns out it wasn't a great prize after all.
well i def thought this was a good story in general, but i think effect the climax had on the audience was very stunning, the sudden turn in events during the climax where the bill was sacrifice was very shocking
I believe that the people in the village don't even know why they are killing. I think that they are just following traditions and the reason for the killing has been lost over time.
I agree with trighp3. If I had just read the beginning couple pages, I would have never expected someone to die. I would have thought that someone was going to win a millon bucks, but that just goes to show how you can't judge a book by it's cover. However, I liked the story nonetheless.
The ending really surpised me. I thought they were going to win something like money or a new horse. I would never of guessed the ending to be like that
Well im going to be a scholar an take a chance, I was surprised by this story to tell you the truth. When you see the title "Lottery" you think of wow someoe is winning something this is going to be a happy story, then you read it and find out that there is much more then that. You would never think of someone being stoned or dying. Some parts i didnt understand like the wife, i didnt understand what she wanted her husband to pick again for.
When I first started reading this, there were families gathered around drawing "tickets" and I thought it was going to be something about a neighborhood lottery or something like that. I never would have guessed that the people were drawing to see what person got stoned to death.
when first reading i thought that the lottery might have been for money or some sort of prize, but it was shocking to realize that they were drawing to see who will be killed.
The killing as the lottery winner, was not expected at all. It doesn't make sense to me why they had this tradition because it seems like everyone is pretty close friends.
At first I was so confused because I didn't understand why she kept wanting her husband to choose a different card. I kept thinking that there must have been some other thing he was winning besides the lottery because no normal person in their right mind would choose not to win the lottery. At the end it started to make more sense because at first I didn't understand that she would be getting "stoned" for it but I then realized her chances of getting stoned were good.
Yeah, the title also surprised me because i was expecting someone to win the lottery and blow it on something dumb. When "DMill" was telling the story of extreme makeover during class I was thinking that this story must be about something interesting like a poor family winning the huge lottery, or as I said before maybe the family just loosing everything. It also was confusing at first because they kept on talking about that black box for like a couple paragraphs and I thought maybe Mr. Summers rigged the box so he would win or something.
After reading the story, I was pretty surprised as to what happens when someone "wins" the lottery. I don't think anyone, apart form the author, or people who have read "The Lottery" before would have guessed the ending.
I thought the story had a very surprising end. Seeing everyone just look at each other after the story was over showed that most people were also surprised. In the beginning I was a little confused about why the black box was so important and why the woman was so upset about her husband picking a "winning" paper.
My thoughts on the story were that I was suprised and ahocked. The ending is what shocked me the most, because why would they kill someone. I was kinda confused too. But overall it wasn't too bad of a story.
I was confused for most of the story on why the women kept saying it was unfair and wanted her husband to pick again, because they didnt give him enough time. I didnt understand because i figured they would want the one with the black dot, when you hear the word lottery a lot of money comes to mind. I think it was really wrong of the lady to try and put her kids life in front of her instead of her getting "stoned". I think the story also shows how people just do stuff because its a tradition they do it every year, even though its nothing you would want in life.
At first i thought that the story was going to be about a family who wins the lottery and how it changed their lives for the better. But at the end i was shocked to find out that in the story winning the lottery means death. I didnt se it comming.
Well holy Chicago, i had no idea that winning a lottery could lead to a stone cold death. i did not understand why the people were so willing to kill that bad sport Mrs. Hutchinson. if it were for a great deal of richly green money, i could easily understand why there was such a willing effort to stone a woman to death.
Well I believe that the quote given on the Original Post Page is exactly what I tried to say in my theme. The villagers have no idea of how wrong their actions are because thats the only thing they have ever known. Tradition has overcome their morals.
I was really shocked by the ending of the story. I thought that that the person who got picked would win something. I never imagined that they were picking names for someone to die. When Mrs. Adams said that "some places have already quit the lotteries," I thought that they were supposed to be a good thing. But overall I liked the story. In the beginning I did not want to stop reading because I wanted to find out what the Lottery was and why they were picking slips of paper out of the black box.
This story surprised me as well. At first, i was really excited to find out who won the lottery, but as the story went on, I got a bit confused. Especially when Mrs. Hutchinson said," It isnt fair" over and over again. Then when we got to the end, I was really shocked to find out that when they "won" the lottery, they got stoned. I didn't like the ending, but the rest of it was good and interesting.
I was a little bit confused on what the lottery meant. But after Mrs. Hutchinson had the spot on her paper and the people started getting rocks did i realize what it really meant. It was the picking of one person of the town to be stoned and die. Not really what i expected it to be about.
I thought it was a good story. AT first the children seemed happy and the lottery seemed like a good thing. At the end the lottery winner just got stoned, a crappy prize.
I thought this story wasn't going anywhere special at first. People were picking from a box and seeing if they had gotten the "lucky" ticket which I thought was for the lottery (hence the title). I asked my sister who read the story before and she told me everything. I was shocked and looked back at all the discriptions and clues that I missed. It all made sense after that. The story went from boring to disgusting for me.
I was kind of thrown for a loop by this short story. Especially in the first two pages. Nothing really seemed to add up. One thing that stuck out to me after completing the story was the fact that the townspeople looked down on other towns that stopped their lottery. Is the town a cult? I'm still unclear.
I liked the story. It was very unpredictable. When you see "The Lottery" you exspect it to have a happy ending with someone winning alot of money and getting everything they have ever wanted. But a women gets stoned byher whole town, and family.
The story has a very big twist to it. I think the title threw people off, so that they were very shocked when it came to the ending. you would never think that a story with the title the lottery and and something related so closely to the actual lottery would result in someone being stoned to death.
I had to re-read the story because i honestly wasn't that into it when we first read it in class. But now that I understand what was going on and what actually happened at the end, I'm sort of shocked at the ending of the story and how they stoned her. But I do have a question, I feel like i don't understand what The Lottery itself actually was. I don't exactly know how else to ask what I'm confused about but i guess I'll just ask tomorrow.
At the beginning I wondered what the significance of the stones was and then why the family that was picked was dreading the coming events. When Mrs. Hutchinson got the black dot I started to realize some of what was going on, but still I did not see the big picture.
I did like this story. This short story wasn't very easy to predict and by the title you would just assume that in the end there is going to be some lucking winner of the lottery, but the "lucky" person ends up dieing.
i was a little surprised about how the story would all play out because usually good things come from a lottery, which completely caught me off guard
I was very suprised by the ending of this story. I honestly didnt expect for someone to be killed by their friends and family especially in a such cruel and inhumane way. It still leaves me wondering why they would do such a thing.
Its pretty messed up to me cause i figured i'd be reading a story about some lucky guy that hits the jackpot but in the end we read about a guy that gets killed. Hah what a lucky lottery! Can i play?
The ending of the story came extremely shocking to me. I never excepted that winning the lottery could be a bad thing. In our day and time winning the lottery is something people pray for.
I was really suprised about the ending of The Lottery, because normally a lottery would be an expectation of something good. I was just confused as to why a tradition in a small village like killing a citizen once a year.
Im gonna have to go with everyone else in on the blog and say that the ending was probabley the most unexpecting part. No one i think really saw that at the ending were if you win you could get killed.
I thought the entire story was about someone winning the lottery as we know it today. The lottery today is something that everyone wishes they could win. The lottery in Shirley Jackson's story is something that everyone wishes they wouldn't win.
I was confused and tired so i didn't really understand the story and i still don't but it was a surprising ending.
I was not expecting the end to end the way it did because the whole time i was thinking lottery, like winning money, not someone dying in a horrible way.
In the beginning i didnt think this would be about determining someones fate with life and death. I thought it would be about how someone would win money or an item. So, the ending surprised me when someone died.
I had read "The Lottery" before this class, so unlike the rest of the class, I sat back and relished the reactions of the students while they finished the story. Honestly, I think the author's got some mentalities in the head that encompass a myriad of problems. To write such a morbid story...sounds like a story I'd dream up.
I think it is interesting that just because it's a ritual that they think it's ok to kill an innocent human being. Winning the lottery in this case is bad luck rather then good. Maybe it shows that winning the lottery isn't always the best thing.
I was really really shocked at the ending like everyone else was. Pretty much i was expecting a happy ending but it was the complete opposite. i know in our day in time now is different from how it was back then and that the lottery means that you win a lot of money or a big prize. It sounds to me like that this town's lottery is just choosing someone to sacrifice for some unknown reason.
And also, as some people have mentioned, i really don't know how family and friends could watch you being stoned to death just because you picked the little sheet of paper with the black dot on it. It just sounds really inhumane.
What's the real reason why they had to stone a family member/friend to death?? It doesn't make sense..
i also agree with peh1 that the lottery might not always be a good thing either! I really hope to find out the reason why this "lottery" happened.
the story really suprised me. when i saw the title i thought it was going to be about some person who really needed money and won the lottery or something, but the further and further we got into the story i started to question whats going to happen.
As the story went on, I was expecting them to be drawing papers to see who won the money, somewhat like a usual lottery. I was very shocked to find out that they were drawing to see who would be "sacrificed", and it sort of threw me off.
I struggled to realize that winning could be a bad thing since we grow up with the desire to win. This ,of course, was before i realized that they were drawing to be sacrificed.
Also the thought kind of disturbs me abit but still comes to mind is that this story relates death to luck and that is similar to what Jon Edwards was saying, repeatly, in his speech/sermon with god , or Mr. Summers in the story, holds you over hell and keeps you alive because he wants to or not, in the case of holding the lottery.
in the beginning i thought the lottery was were you draw a name out of the box and someone wins a prize. but then we get to the end of the story and the prize you get for winning the lottery isnt very pleasent. you get stoned with rocks haha. i thought the story was pretty funny cause if i was them i think i would move to a different place. =)
Starting off i was expecting a good family to win the lottery, have the crowd congratulate them, and all will be well. As i read on, i found out kids are gathering round stones to stone the winner to death. This threw me off guard and i was not expecting the outcome of the winner of the lottery to get stoned to death. In today's society, winning the lotery isn't always the best thing becuase people would love to take what you have at all cost.
I was totally caught off guard. i thought the lottery would be for a cash prizes. But then at the end when the towns people started throwing rocks at the winner, I was stunned. Never did i see that coming.
Some initial thoughts that I had was how do they think killing someone at random will make crops grow? Also the lottery is not put together well because the three man in charge can not be picked for the lottery so therefore the lottery is not fair to all the people.
Post a Comment