Lol who else is here cause its homework

The moral of this story: Just because something is "tradition" DOES NOT make it right!

damn everyone is here as a 7th grader and here I am as sophomore

I swear I’ve listened to this 50 times none of what she’s saying is sticking i literally can’t listen

Came here for 7th grade ELA during quarantine, who else is with me.

As a retired teacher. I have read and taught this story over the years. I can give a few insights. This story depicts an event that has been repeated probably millions of times in human history. It is about ritual and tradition followed to its extreme -- human sacrifice. Human sacrifice has been done in all cultures and at most times during history. The horror is created by setting human sacrifice down in a modern small town. It makes what happens to the characters more relatable. It's no longer something you read about the Aztecs doing. Suddenly it's people who could be your neighbors and friends. That is what makes it horrifying. And it is also about blind adherence to tradition and about how easily a crowd can turn into a mob. Those are all generalities, but if they point some student in the right direction, them I'm good.

Everybody's in the comments talking about how they had to read this for homework but nobody's talking about how this probably inspired The Hunger Games.

I just came to check out this story and there are a bunch of kids in the comments having to analyse it for homework so I'm just gonna leave my own analysis of the text here and maybe it'll help a future English student. I'll write it in a Q&A format. What is the general theme of this story? I'd say the general theme of this story is one of creeping dread and the idea that traditions and being part of a crowd can desensitise people to extreme violence or horror. The story, for the most part, describes everyday scenes and interactions, and people discuss going back to work and having lunch after the mysterious "event", but the mood becomes more grim and tense as the lottery takes place. People fall into silence, lick their lips nervously, hold their breath... there is the sense that something is wrong but no one will outright mention it, leading you to nervously await the big reveal. What are examples of foreshadowing in this story? The first example is probably the boys gathering a big pile of stones. It's mysteriously not mentioned what the stones will be used for, but it seems like an odd thing to do. The second is possibly the description of the old traditions surrounding the lottery being forgotten, making you feel that this event is ancient and ritualistic. Later examples of foreshadowing are the villagers discussing other places banning the lottery and it being seen as a dishonorable and even "lazy" thing to do by the older villagers. It shows that this isn't a fun event and rather something that they feel is everyone's responsibility to undergo, letting you know that the event is unpleasant. Plus, the fact that everyone gets very tense when drawing their own tickets, when the host and the first man greet each other they smile humourlessly, and people generally keep talking about "hurrying up" and "getting it over with". What makes this story disturbing? A lot... The normalisation of ritualised violence to the point where people focus on getting it over with so they can focus on everyday things. The fact that they're probably keeping their minds on those everyday things so that they don't think about the horror of what's actually happening. The fact that the woman who "wins" is initially so casual about the event. She's perfectly happy to show up late to someone's stoning and chat to her neighbours and joke around as if it's a party, but then she gets chosen to be killed and her mood changes entirely. The fact that people are so cheerful and friendly to Tessy but no one complains or stands up for her, they're happy to let tradition run its course and murder her. It makes it seem like all relations in this village are superficial. People will kill each other without a second thought, even people they seemingly like and consider as friends, even their own family. The fact that they're giving kids pebbles to throw, teaching them how to carry on this deranged tradition and showing them that it's a normal thing to do. The fact that Tessy's kids are laughing in relief because it's not them, even though they must know that one of their parents will die. The idea that showing dissent to this "tradition", as other villages are apparently doing, upsets the villagers and even angers them, even though the tradition is objectively a bad thing and its purpose and meaning have been lost to time. People are uncomfortable with the idea of changing their behaviour or facing the idea that something they have "always done" is bad. No one wants to question the reasons and morals behind this event. In a way, everyone is scared of each other. No one wants to be the dissenter, everyone wants to blend in with the crowd and just "get it over with" unless they're the one who has to die. What could this be a metaphor for? Essentially any traditional form of behaviour that has hurt people. It covers the idea that people are fine with doing harmful things because that's how they've always been done and it doesn't hurt them personally. This could be applied to racism, sectarianism, homophobia... any form of ritualised and mostly unexplained prejudice. It can also be applied to the "mob mentality" and how people are more likely to behave violently and lose their own morals and objections when theyre part of a group. It could be applied to hypocrisy, when considering the character of Tessy and how she only thinks the lottery is "unfair" when it harms her. As a last thought, another horrible thing about this story is that Tessy, even when faced with her own death, only wants to redraw the lottery and push that fate onto someone else. She doesn't want to end the suffering, she only wants it to not be her that suffers. Alright, that's enough typing lol, I hope this is useful for someone out there.

I’m here for a college class... Now I’m questioning my education.. Fuck it, Tessie ain’t the only one getting stoned.

Everyone else is a teenager here for homework and having a miserable time but here I am at 35 listening to this for fun because I love the brilliant and troubled Shirley Jackson. Y'all know she wrote The Haunting of Hill House too right?

When are we gonna start sharing answers??

I love this story. It's unsetttling and gets progressivly darker. Notice that before her family get the lottery ticket with the black dot she was happy and had no problem with the lottery only after she starts to object .

I'm so glad this video is here because I don't think I would've been able to read this by myself-

so sinister . . . extremely well written, and the reader has also got the rhythm and mood that builds up the tension and ominous implication almost from the very beginning. This economic plain speech is a wonderful medium. A feature of the best American literature since the 1950s that I always appreciate.

Anyone have to do this for ELA class for today during Quarantine ?

anyone here for english class?

the story if you dont understand: Each year there is a lottery and everyone is willing to take part and take a ticket, but the lottery is actually a sacrifice for crops and thats why stones where thrown at the woman lol.

This tab has been open for almost 3 days because 'I will totally get around to doing homework later'... 100%. Time to go back to doing anything but home work, anime time.

My mind went blank as I was reading this, from what I got in this story a women wins the lottery and gets stones thrown at her😭 WHAT IS THIS?? This was painful for me to comprehend

I hate when the schools get so lazy, that they use the same short stories every year. I remember in 6th grade we did this one, and now im in 10, and we do it again. For the 4th time.

This was written before TV a long time ago. It delves into the secret no one talks about, that doesn't get taught in schools; in agrarian societies of old, human sacrifice was a lot more common than you would imagine. Watch Christopher Lee's version of 'Wicker Man', for more on this subject. I'm not in formal school, I'm sixty five and listening for enjoyment. This is definitely not a book, for those with New York minute attention spans.

Pretty sure everybody is here because of homework lol Edit: Welp that got dark :

damn. everyone is here from high school and I'm here because of university.

Um hi, wtf is this??? I'm convinced my English professor is a serial killer.

One of the best short stories ever written

i'm here for homework. this was absolutely painful to read.i don't think i've ever read anything worse. yea, it gets better for a sentence - but then it goes right back.

This is painful for homework

I am 37 and am here just because Shirley Jackson was a mastermind and far ahead of her time. I can only imagine what people thought reading this in 1948! But I see most of the commenters are teens here for homework and now I'm upset because I would have loved to had this as an assignment in HS. I read 235 books my Junior year and never came across this. Never came across her until I was an adult. This story hopefully opens some of their eyes to the world we live in. Don't just take it for what it is. Think about all of the ritualistic and animalistic tendencies we have and do daily thoughtlessly. How self preservation is always all that ever matters. Tessie didn't want the end the lottery. In fact, she was happy and enjoying it and running late as if she showed up to a party a few min behind. She only cared when it was her household selected. Even then, she didn't want it to end, she just wanted it to not be her. The way her kids laughed and sighed with relief knowing it wasnt any of them but still were fully aware it was one of their parents. Making the children participate in this, anticipate actually from how they were there gathering stones at the beginning. It's what we still do today. Tik tok and Instagram, we shove it all in our children's faces and only have a problem when it finally brings terror to our own front door. I hope some of you take it for more than just face value. And then go read some of her other works because she truly was a genius in her field!

Nothing like listening to sad old stories on christmas eve😂

Ive already read this in 7 grade and now have to read it sophomore year

The fact that this is also being assigned as a college literary analysis assignment is crazy because even middle schoolers are doing this

I have 6 overdue lessons in the same class and I'm here on the last day of Thanksgiving break trying to write a 9 paragraph essay about this story and two others. This helped a lot as this is the last year of highschool.

Who is here for pure enjoyment!

My teacher expected me to read the actual book, naw, I’m listening to the audio book

are we gonna share answers or no

Such a great reading! You really brought across Shirely Jackson's mastery of subtle dread, foreshadowing the ending with both tone and pace. Thank you for sharing!

Am I the only one here not for hw or an assignment?

Well that took a DARK turn

9th grade gang form up Ps: when I saw I had to read this I was like why work hard when you can work smart so I looked this up

This is the world's biggest Bruh Moment lol

Every one talking about how there here from school the real question is can i get the answers?

who else is here from schoolwork doing corona

I feel like people are sleeping on this story, especially with renewed interest in the Twilight Zone. I wanna see or even make a big budget movie of this.

Had a fight with my drama teacher in my sophomore year in HS, 1972. She wanted us to portray the townsfolk as backwards, hayseed, hillbillies. I asked her if she had even read Ms Jackson's story. Teacher took a work of monumental social impact & turned it into meaningless trash. She also trashed my thoughts of a drama career but, that's on me.

Welp I’m here for hw

I’m here because of the movie, “Shirley” on Hulu. Fantastic movie

Talking about this tonight on the clubhouse app. It's a lesson on "man's inhumanity to man". Thanks for hosting it.

Everyone on here talking about how they got this for school, no one talking about how fuckin CRAZY this shit is?! It went from peaceful town in the countryside to straight up Leviticus fanfic! but like really, damn good story

It might help some of you struggling...think of The Hunger Games......you might then understand this.

I keep this open as a separate tab in case my teacher walks by

Who has to do tough questions

Thank you Cumtown. I would have never discovered this piece of art without you.

who eals is here in 2024, listening to this for school 😅

POV: you are have to read this during class

Epic story

thanks Jennifer :)

why is everyone here for their homework hell ??! am i the only one who came to enjoy ?

the weather on june 27th was actually not nice for most of history, in 1894 there was a tornado that killed 3 people and in 1928 there was another tornado tbh its really just a tornado kinda day

I'm here because I love disturbing short stories with a lesson.

20:58 I'm sure Davy was grateful for a chance of his own. "Here little guy, I know it's your mom but, you know... tradition."

Besides the dangers of tradition and groupthink, another major theme of the story is human hypocrisy. Tessie seemed eager to participate at the beginning, but when things didn't go her way, she protested. If someone else "won" the lottery, she would gladly throw stones at them. People are total hypocrites.

2021 anyone

We had to read this story in 6th and 8th grade and now we're listening to it in english 11. Love the adaptations of the education system 👍🙃🙃

7th Grade English, lol who else got this for HW :P

I'm just here because I was interested in the story. I never had it for homework or anything

Wow I and I thought only my and my class was just doing this

What a pleasing surprise to hear this story narrated by a Brit - Lancashire or Cheshire, I should guess by the sound of the accent. Fine work, Lady.

I am here cuz i love Shirley.

Wow, was not expecting that!! 😬

Why is this my f*ing HOMEWORK!!! 🤬

Don’t tell me I’m the only one who actually enjoyed this story.... Here for school lmao

Am I the onley one who couldnt pay attention????😂

Listening to this while on a road trip

god i hate having to read stories for home work, i always have to listen to audio books but then forget like half of it

need this for english day storytelling!!!!

Reading the comments are far more interesting than the story.

Everyone is here in middle or high school and I’m here in college

any one want to answer these questions before 10:00 pm ”[T]he whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." What makes this quote disturbing? ”Guess we better get started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work." What makes this quote disturbing? The villagers do not excuse children from the lottery. Even Nancy Hutchinson, 12, and her little brother, Davy, must draw from the black box. If a child draws the slip of paper with the black dot, he or she will be stoned. AND Children take part in the stoning. Little Davy is so small that he throws pebbles. Why are these passages so disturbing? Nancy Hutchinson and her brother Bill laugh when they draw blank lots. Only two people remain to draw, their father and mother. How could Nancy and Bill laugh when they know that their father or mother will draw the lot with the black spot and die?

am i the only one that didn’t come for school

thanks for helping me with hw

Grade 9 student be like :

Not sure if it would help, but here's a version with the teacher explaining and reading the story to a class. Might help it make more sense - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eryZm6hisLW6dGg.html.

can’t believe I got to read this story 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Well, that escalated, wtf

Bruh I’m here fo my fuckin friends 9th grade homework 🤣🤣🤣

i remember this happening back in 08

Tfw South Park has lead me to so much good literature and media

I will never get over the visceral horror the reveal gives me even though I've listened to this story a million times.

I watched the whole thing and im still lost asf

Yeh 9th grade Pre-Ap ELAR got me here, I will say thought that “the legend of sleepy hollow” is the worst book ever as it’s a 40 page short story but it basically just repeats itself every paragraph in a different way every time so that the book literally goes no where until page 36, that book sucked!

Teacher : “don’t read this in advance unless you already have, we will read this in class tomorrow and answer the questions together” I’m reading it anyways because I wanna know what tf happens and I don’t remember anything the first time 😭☝️

I really like this story - said no one ever

This is a better written Hunger Games

sino pang pinoy na naririto dahil sa homework,,itaas ang kamay🙋🏼‍♀️😂✌️

I have to write an essay on this.

Yup

Fuck. I have to stop reading comments and start paying attention

So anyone know what a good theme for this would be

Yea