An Abundance of Books discussion

Happy new year everyone!

This year's first Short Story of the month is going to be The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

This is a really interesting Dystopian short story that kind of reminds me of the Hunger Games (you'll see why!)

The link to the story is here. You can either answer the discussion questions attached to the document, or just comment with what you think.

Have fun!

My favorite short story of all-time!!

Jennifer wrote: "My favorite short story of all-time!!"

I know right! It's so amazing.

This is such a great story :)

I always hated the books/short stories/poems etc that teachers forced on me just on principle. I know what interests me. But the first time I was forced to read this story was in middle school and I just remember when we got to the end my teacher was asking questions and instead of raising my hand which I was known for I just sat there trying to have the story sink in. To this day I remember sitting in the second row and just staring off into space trying to fathom this story. From then on, I tried to be a little more open-minded towards teacher-approved literature.

wow, that's a really great story. Well, I hope you'll give these short stories another go :)

I have a question for the group.

SPOILER!!!!

I assume everyone has read the story by now and I'm curious what everyone thinks about Mrs. Hutchinson's reaction wanting her daughter and son-in-law to draw with them? to 'have their turn' I think she puts it.

Jennifer wrote: "I have a question for the group.

SPOILER!!!!

I assume everyone has read the story by now and I'm curious what everyone thinks about Mrs. Hutchinson's reaction wanting her daughter and son-in-law..."


That is a really interesting point Jennifer, I wondered about this too. Originally I thought it was because she wanted more chances for something good to happen to her family. Obviously once I had read the ending I realised this wasn't the case.
I did wonder if it was a comment about the desperation people feel when they know something bad is coming. And how they will do anything to improve their odds, even if it means seeing their own child or son-in-law die.
What I found particularly upsetting was how normal the villagers found this practice, and with no explanation other than 'tradition' particularly when certain traditions were over looked. I get the impression this is the point of the short story, to make readers consider tradition and it's grasp on us, particularly those with no other relevance to the modern day.

Yeah, the deepness of this story really hits hard.

As far as Mrs. Hutchinson's reaction, I do actually think it is to improve her own chances (horrible, I know). I think the story is trying to comment on human nature and our sometimes selfish views.

I think the whole "tradition" thing is really similar to the viewpoint from The Hunger Games. A government (probably) has done this so often that it's the norm for them.

The only thing that still confuses me - What do the questions mean by the use of the names (Particularly Hutchinson) being symbolic?