Violent Punishment In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

Stoning people is a very violent punishment. Although in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson it isn’t a punishment it is a community activity. The story The Lottery started on June 27th, which is after school gets out for the summer so all the children are able to attend and participate and so can the teachers and wife’s. It usually took 2 days, but this village was small enough that they were able to get it done in a few hours. In the story everyone in the town gathers for the lottery. All the heads of houses, or the oldest male in the house, go up to a black box and pull a piece of paper. On one of the papers there is a black dot, the one who pulls that paper then brings his family up and every member pulls a paper from the box. On those papers there is only one that has a black dot on it. Whoever gets that paper then stands in front of everyone as they throw stones at the person. In many situations this would seem abnormal. To this community it is perfectly fine. This event that includes the children, is a cruel activity, and has many significant meanings/ …show more content…
The first name is Mr. Summers. He is the man who conducts the lottery. In the story “The lottery” it states: “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (Jackson, 139). The quote and Mr. Summers shows that it takes place in the summer with the man who is in charge being Mr. Summer. Also since Mr. Summers is in charge he “summons” the villagers up to draw papers and to be stoned. Then there is Old Man Warner. Old Man Warner “the oldest man in town” (Jackson, 140) had participated in 70 years of lottery. His name is ironic because he is going around warning people about the lottery. Next there is Mr. Graves, he is the postmaster and helps prepare everything for The Lottery. He works closely with Mr. Summers. In the summer Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves fill “graves” during the