45 pages 1 hour read

Shirley Jackson

The Lottery

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1948

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Answer Key

Reading Check

1. June (Paragraph 1)

2. Mr. Summers (Paragraph 4)

3. The black box (Paragraphs 4-5)

4. Pull a slip of paper out (Paragraph 19)

5. Wood chips (Paragraph 6)

6. The Hutchinsons (Paragraph 43)

7. They are stoned.

Short-Answer Response

1. They are gathering stones and putting them into piles. (Paragraph 2)

2. He is a grouchy old man who strictly adheres to the tradition and is critical of other towns that have done away with the lottery. (Paragraph 33) 

3. It is simply stashed away in places like a barn, an office, or a shelf and is largely forgotten. (Paragraph 6) 

4. Tessie is willing to sacrifice someone in her family to save herself. (Paragraph 50)

5. She claims that “It isn’t fair!” (Paragraphs 52 and 79)

6. Davy is given a handful of pebbles to throw at his own mother who lost the lottery. (Paragraph 78)

7. The ending is foreshadowed by the boys collecting stones at the beginning of the story. (Paragraphs 2 and 76)