Essay - Plot in "The Lottery"

An Analysis on the Plot in “The Lottery”

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson and it was first published in The New Yorker magazine in 1948. Ironically, the lottery has a bad meaning which leads the readers shocked. After the publication, many letters were sent to the magazine and subscriptions to the magazine were cancelled. Many readers complained about this violent story, but some readers praised it as a brilliant moral allegory. It was from “The Lottery” that the author’s greatest success was achieved and today the story is ranked as one of the most famous short stories in the history American literature. 

The first thing the readers might see from the title is a big sum of money when someone wins the lottery. On the contrary, the lottery in this story is used for a public stoning to kill the one who wins the lottery. We can take a look at the plot of the story to find why most readers were shocked when they read the ending. This essay is made to analyze the plot and its aspects such as the pattern of action, the types of plot and conflict, suspense and foreshadowing.

First, the pattern of action in this story begins with the exposition and followed by the conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, then ended with denouement. There are three kinds of patterns: a line slanting upward, a straight horizontal line, and line with a peak and a downward slide. The third pattern is the pattern that is used in “The Lottery”. At the very beginning of the story, it is stated clearly about the setting of the story. On June 27, which is a beautiful day, the villagers of a small town are gathered in the town square for the town lottery. The second and third paragraphs are still introducing the situation around the place. The children, who have already finished their school for the summer, play and collect stones around the square. Then the men begin to gather, talking about planting and rain, tractors, and taxes. The women greet each other and exchange bits of gossip. After standing by their husband, they call their children.

Then, the story starts to introduce the main characters and other characters that join the ‘festival’. Mr. Summer arrives in the square carrying the black box for the lottery and Mr. Graves follows him carrying a three-legged stool. Mr. Martin and Baxter come to help the preparation. The story also introduces Old Man Warner who is the oldest man in the town and Mrs. Hutchinson who comes late because she had forgotten the day of the lottery. As the preparation of the lottery is finished, Mr. Summer begins to call every head of family. One by one, all of the characters enter to the story such as Mrs. Graves, Bill Hutchinson, Mr. and Mrs. Delacroix, Mrs. Dunbar, Watson, Bentham, and Mr. and Mrs. Adams. Up to this parts are included in the exposition. 

The process of the lottery has two rounds. In the first round, every head of household have to draw the slips in the black box. The second round is for the family members to draw. Then the conflict happens in the first round. It is Bill Hutchinson who has been selected and his wife disagrees about the result. She protests and says “It wasn’t fair!” The rising action starts in the second round when all of the members from Hutchinson’s family draw the paper slips. The one who wins the lottery is Tessie Hutchinson (Mrs. Hutchinson). That is the climactic moment of the story. The falling action starts when all of the people included her husband, her daughter, and her children, are carrying stones and neglecting her protest. Finally, the denouement of the story is the public stoning for the winner until she dies. The conclusion of the story is the death of the ‘winner’ and the readers do not have any option of the ending. This denouement can be included into closed denouement.

Second, we can analyze the types of plot and conflict. According to Lukens (1999), in her book A Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature, there are two types of plot which are progressive plot and episodic plot. Progressive plot has the center climax which is followed by denouement. Whereas episodic plot consists of a series events related by the main character like the story of Winnie-the-Pooh. Because “The Lottery” has the central climax and denouement, the type of the plot in this story is progressive plot. 

In the same book, conflict is divided into four types: person-against-self, person-against-person, person-against-society, and person-against-nature. “The Lottery” takes person-against-society because the ‘winner’ of the story discontent and protest against her society and the ritual. The entire process of the lottery is inherently unfair because it is selected randomly. However, none of the villagers protest or question the ritual. To the villagers, the lottery is a town institution and a sanitized sacrifice. They do not see the lottery as a senseless murder. Then, the seventy-eighth victim protests to Mr. Summer and the villagers, but they repudiate her protest.

Talking about the plot, we will also deal with the foreshadowing and suspense. Because of the nature of the title, many readers perhaps expected a story about a winner. Supported by the setting in the beginning of the story which are described as an ordinary and pleasant community, conventional town, and friendly inhabitants, most readers were shocked by the author’s portrayal of violence and brutality in the ending. Some readers failed to recognize the foreshadowing in the story. In the beginning of the story, actually, there is a foreshadowing: “children collect the stones.” This is the clue for the public stoning. Other foreshadowing, for example, is the disagreement and discontent of Tessie when her family got the slip in the first round. This part is also the hint, because the ‘winner’ of the lottery will be the ‘loser’ which means to death. The disagreement from Tessie is also the part of suspense where the readers feel curiosity and wondering to what will happen next, why the character said “It wasn’t fair!”, and what actually the lottery is. From this part, the readers want to keep going to read the story and find the surprised ending

In conclusion, “The Lottery” has well-organized plot with complex pattern of action, using progressive plot and person-against-society conflict, and a few foreshadowing and suspense. It is an extreme and horror story because of the ending, but it is still good to read. Personally, it amazes me how the author organized such story and makes me surprised when it comes to the ending. 

by ELisa

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No Title

"no title, just a piece of mind"

Kadang aku merasa hidup itu ‘lucu’ ya.

Aku tidak tahu aku akan bertemu dan berpisah dengan siapa

Aku percaya pada pertemuan dan perpisahan

Selama bertahun-tahun aku merasakan sebuah perpisahan

Namun bertahun-tahun itu pula jalan hidup kita tidak benar-benar berpisah

Apa ini hanya sekedar kebetulan?

Atau bahkan bukan sesuatu yang berarti?

Tapi terkadang aku pun bertanya-tanya

Tahun itu, di sini, di tempat ini, bersama seseorang, tempat tujuan ketika aku masih remaja

Namun ternyata kita berpisah. 

Tahun berikutnya, seorang yang lain justru ada di tempat yang sama, di kota yang sama

Seorang yang sama sekali belum kulupakan bahkan sejak perpisahan yang harus aku alami sewaktu SMP

Karena dia seorang yang istimewa saat itu.

Sampai kini, aku tidak pernah sekalipun bertemu dengannya

Kepindahannya ke kota ini membuatku mengenang masa lalu

Aku ingin bertemu, namun aku tidak bisa

Dia tidak mengingatku sama sekali

Aku yakin,

Meskipun kelas kita dulu hanya beda satu lantai

Meskipun desa kita hampir bersebrangan

SMA pun hampir bersebelahan

Dan bahkan sekarang universitas kita berdekatan layaknya masa lalu.

Ah sungguh ‘lucu’.

Aku dan dia selalu ada di wilayah yang sama

Tapi tidak pernah berkesempatan untuk bertemu

Dan menjalin pertemanan.

Bagaimana mungkin? Aku hanya seorang penakut dan pemalu.

Aku tidak mungkin mendekatinya dan mengatakan ‘hai, ini aku, masih ingat?’

Atau semacamnya.

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