The Lottery Review

On June 27th in a small town, the villagers gather together in the square for the town lottery. Village children run around collecting stones and making a pile of them in the square. The men arrive next, followed by the women. Parents call their children over and families stand together. Mr. Summers is the man in charge of the lottery. He arrives in the square with the black box, followed by Mr. Graves, the postmaster. Mr. Summers mixes up the slips of paper in the box. He and Mr. Graves made the papers the night before; before the lottery can begin a list is made of all the families and households in the village. Mr. Summers is sworn in. In the past there used to be a song and salute, but these have been lost. Tessie Hutchinson is late due to the fact she had forgotten that today was the lottery. She joins her husband and children at the front of the crowd and people make jokes about her tardiness. Mr. Summers asks whether anyone is absent, and the crowd responds that Dunbar isnt there. It is decided that Mrs. Dunbar will draw for him. Mr. Summers then asks whether the Watson boy will draw, and he answers yes. Mr. Summers also ensures that Old Man Warner is present. Mr. Summers reminds everyone of the lotterys rules: hell read names, and the family heads come up and draw a slip of paper. No one should look at the paper until everyone has drawn. Each person then comes up and draws a paper. Mr. Summers finishes calling names, and everyone opens his or her papers. Word quickly gets around that Bill Hutchinson has got it. Tessie argues that Bill didn't have enough time to make a fair draw. Mr. Graves dumps the contents of the box on the ground, then puts five papers in for the Hutchinsons. Each member of the family then draws another paper. When they open their slips, they find that Tessie has drawn the paper with the black dot on it. Mr. Summers tells everyone to hurry up. The villagers grab stones and run toward Tessie, who stands in a clearing in the middle of the