Shirley Jackson's the Lottery

A few of my favorite authors are Joseph Heller and Joyce Carol Oates and they fit in the boundaries on higher literature. My favorite book is Catch-22 which is not particularly a "formula" book. I believe I try to use all of the seven guidelines in the book. I definitely use my imagination whenever I read a story. I usually judge a story on whether or not I can envision the characters in my head. I try to visualize the scene, characters, and events, and if I can't see it in my head, than the story is too boring for me. I also believe you have to read a story with an open mind. Like that expression "Never judge a book by its cover", you can't start a book with the thought that it is going to be a bad story.

"Wants" by Grace Pauley is an excellent example of the criteria I look for in a story. Her portrayal of dealing with the fact that there is more to life than wanting to have possession of a certain item. Sometimes when two people have different outlooks, attitudes and values in life, their personalities tend to clash.

Journal Entry #2

I read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and I was completely surprised by the ending of the story. It starts out with villagers gathering in the town center for the annual lottery on the morning of June 27th. All the children are running around and are gathering stones and "eventually made a great pile of stones" . The men arrive after the children, and then the women follow. The event for which they are all gathering for is the annual Lottery conducted by Mr. Summers a man without children or a wife. After all the villagers arrive, the Lottery begins. After a person from each family draws a small piece of paper, one slip with a black spot indicates the Hutchinson family has been chosen. When each member of that family draws again to narrow the selection, the family's mother, Tessie Hutchinson, is the final choice. She is then stoned by everyone present, including her own family. The reader does not know the true situation until the first stone strikes Tessie, although the tone becomes darker as her fate draws near. The author uses chance to initiate the story and to send the message of her theme, that in life, people