Characters and their characterizations
“The Boys”- Bobby Martin, Dickie Delacroix, Harry Jones, Bobby Jones- The boys collecting stones at the beginning of the story.
Mr. Summers- He is the one in the story who runs the lottery, He seems to be in charge of a lot of the things that go on in the village.
Mr. Graves- Even though Mr. Summers acts like the big manin the village, he is still ranked below Mr. Graves. Mr. Graves is very mysterious; he doesn’t talk and is never described. He is the postmaster, so he controls how much of the outside world comes into the village, How does his name match his personality?
Old Man Warner- Old Man Warner is the one who helps keep the tradition of the lottery alive. He is the elder of the village and represents tradition. Even though no one knows why they still do the lottery or where it came from, people like Old Man Warner are there to keep the ideas of the past alive.
Tess Hutchinson (Mrs. Hutchinson) - She arrives late to the lottery and is a willing participant in the lottery itself right up until the very end. Even though she participates, she seems to want some change and doesn’t agree with all parts of the lottery, especially towards the end of the story,
Bill Hutchinson (Mr. Hutchinson) - He tells Tess, his wife, to shut up at the end of the story, What does this say about his personality?
Mr. and Mrs. Adams- They are the first family to draw in the lottery.
The Delacroix Family- This family is in the mix throughout the story. Mrs. Delacroix is chatty and picks up a huge stone at the end, the Dickie is running around gathering stones, and we see Mr. Delacroix in the story drawing his strip of paper.
The Watsons and the Dunbars- These families are minor except for the fact that they are the only households in the story that don’t have traditional father figures as their heads.
Symbolism
The stool: symbolize the trinity, or the past, the present and the future.
The black box: symbolize the tradition and the rituals
The lottery: symbolize any idea, behavior or action that is passed from a generation to another
The boys: symbolize the idea of passing the tradition from a generation to another
Point of view
Third person omniscient because the narrator reports the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters. Furthermore, the narrator is not a participant in the events that take place.
Irony
Dramatic: because the characters know what sorts of lotteries they were doing while the readers have no idea about it.
Setting
The events of the story took place on 27th in a small village, the prevailing culture is people who blindly follow the traditions
Theme (The Banality of Evil)
The term "The banality of evil" was introduced in 1963 in Eichmann in Jerusalem, a report on the banality of evil. It was a report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking Nazi official, who organized the systematic execution of millions of Europe's Jews. Eichman's defense was "He was only following orders", so it is that the banality of evil is not merely a concept of mundane everyday practices, but a recognition that the perpetrator of evil believes they have acted responsibly according to the terms that govern his or her world.
The villagers, in the beginning of the story, seem ordinary and nice to each other. In fact, they were talking about rain and planting which shows a strong connection between the villagers. However, everything changed when Tessie drew the marked paper and become the scapegoat, none of the villagers did sympathize with her, including her family, and eventually they stoned her to death. Do we have to blame the villagers? Of course, no, because they were taught the rules by heart since they have been kids, and it becomes embedded in their system unconsciously. Moreover, for them, practicing this ritual is something that benefits their society. The theme of "banality of evil" here appears clearly. In the sense that the villagers killed an innocent person, and their excuse was following the rules.
