" Bill Hutchison was standing quiet staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly Tessie Hutchison shouted to Mr. Summers, "You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!" (The Lottery, Shirley Jackson pg. 217)
I think that this line in "The Lottery" is very meaningful. As you go along reading you don't really have much of an idea what the lottery is about. People are joking and seem fairly happy. And then when Bill is quietly looking at his piece of paper and Tessie gets upset, you start to realize that maybe this lottery means something more and it's not maybe that good of a thing. You start to wonder what is really going on.
I agree! When I first saw the movie in high school, I was completely oblivious. People seemed to be enjoying their day . . . and then BAM! One of them is stoned to death. In the movie, her toddler son picks up a pretty hefty rock all on his own, ready to throw it at his mother. Pretty gruesome. But a good example of looking beyond the title to see that maybe everything isn't great.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree! Thanks for the comment! :)
ReplyDelete