#Classic The Lottery

- Author: Shirley Jackson (1916 – 1965)
- Title: The Lottery
- Genre: Short story, horror, realism
- Published: June 26, 1948 ( The New Yorker)
- Reading time: 6 minutes
- Classic Club Master List
- List of Challenges 2020
- Monthly plan
Conclusion:
- Even thought I knew how the story ended
- …I felt a dread.
- This horror of the ending and the even cheery,
- …atmosphere of the scene
- …small town USA just rattled this reader.
- Narrative style: deadpan, 3rd person
- Strong point: unexpected shock of the ending
- Tone: calm
- Point of the story: expose how people seize upon a scapegoat
- …release the cruelties that people seem to have dammed up within themselves.
- Trivia: story is taught in high school for decades
- …often referred to as the best-known short story of the 20th century.
- #Classic
3 Comments
Post a comment

Small-town USA rattles me too and I grew up in one. I’ve reread this story a few times over the years and it’s always unsettling and vaguely dread-inducing despite knowing the outcome. Such a deserving classic!
I did some research and discovered the ‘hidden meanings’
Jackson wanted to express with names like: Delacroix, (..of the cross, sacrifice) Mr. Summers (jovial) Mr. Graves (last resting place), Hutchinson (Anne Hutchinson, religious reformer Purtain), Old Man Warner (…one who sends out a warning…)
Jackson really did her homework with this 3500-4000 word short story!
So interesting!!