45 pages 1 hour read

Shirley Jackson

The Lottery

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1948

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Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. In which month does the story take place? 

2. Who officiates the lottery? 

3. What object is the focal point of the lottery? 

4. When a head of household is called up, what do they do? 

5. What objects were in the box before the population of the town grew so large? 

6. Which family is chosen in the first section of the lottery? 

7. What happens to the person chosen by the lottery?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the group of boys doing in the exposition, or beginning, of the story?

2. How would you describe Old Man Warner?

3. What happens to the black box when it is not used for the lottery? 

4. What does the audience learn about Tessie Hutchinson when she tries to get her married daughter and her daughter’s husband included in the second section of the lottery? 

5. What does Tessie Hutchinson claim about the lottery at its conclusion? 

6. What shocking action does Davy Hutchinson do at the end of the story? 

7.