The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

1. The Lotteryby Shirley Jackson Background information and Setting

2. The Lottery • The story enhances the contemporary reader's uneasy sense that the group violence in the story could be taking place anywhere and everywhere, right now.

3. Why Should I Care? • If you've ever been hanging out with a group of friends and done something truly stupid, you may have heard the term, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?" • Your answer is probably "no," but Shirley Jackson disagrees.

4. Why Should I Care? • She thinks you – and anyone and everyone – would race off that bridge if your community decided it was necessary. • According to her, while individuals may be great, a group of people is another animal. An animal that eats its own.

5. Peer Pressure and Tradition • First there's peer pressure and the exclusion of one person to give the remaining community members a bonding experience • Second is tradition, which is what prevents any of the villagers from questioning their roles in ritualistic murder.

6. Tradition • "You think tradition's so great and meaningful, but look how it deadens people's abilities to think for themselves!" – Shriley Jackson • And it's sometimes true that we don't think about the origins or significance of many of our regular traditions

7. Setting Setting is the physical location and time in which a story takes place. To identify setting, we must note the specific details the author provides concerning: • The story’s location. • The time in which the action takes place. • The social environment of the characters, including the manners, customs, and moral values that govern their society.

8. What is it Mr. E? • While we often associate setting with “where” and “when,” it also has an emotional effect and can create a mood or atmosphere. • Mood is the feeling that a text conveys to readers.

9. Purpose • Authors deliberately choose a setting and include specific details to conjure a certain reaction/feeling in their readers. • Once I have identified the story’s setting, I can identify the mood by asking : • What things, thoughts, or feelings do I typically associate these details with? • Given this, what mood is the author trying to create?

10. Examples • old, abandoned house= What’s the mood? What do you feel? • warm, sunny beach= What’s the mood? What do you feel?

11. Setting as Foreshadowing • As readers, it’s not enough to just note where and when the story takes place. • By identifying the setting and the mood it conjures, we can make better predictions about what may happen in the text. To do this, I should ask myself: • What is the setting, and the mood it conjures, leading me to think might happen? • What do I need to be aware of as I continue reading?

12. Setting as Foreshadowing: Lord of the Flies