Short Story Essay

Submitted By catsanddoggs34
Words: 365
Pages: 2

September 3, 2014
Period 3 English 9
Mrs. Lorenz
Reflection: The Lottery

“The Lottery”

Upon the first reading of the short story, I thought I fully understood the text. After we analyzed the test again, and stopped periodically to question each paragraph, do I fully realize the writing elements that the author used. In the first reading, I only pointed out small scenes that seemed fishy or just to read to find out what the plot is and where its heading. On page 1, the scene in which the author describes the setting as sunny with men and woman talking in separate parties and describing the preparation of the lottery wasn’t significant to me in the first read. I didn’t receive the idea of how the time period was possibly in the late 1800s because the small details pointed in that direction. Women still worked in homes and watched the children, while men were farmers. Another small detail I learned that further allowed me to understand the setting was when Mr. Summer was described to wear blue jeans and a dress shirt. Jeans weren’t invented till 1878 and women first were allowed to vote in 1920. Another detail to show sexism in the time period was a rule in the lottery that stated that males were to draw for their family. The second scene that allowed me to further understand the text in the second read was the scene where Old Man Warne was talking about his past with the lottery. In my first read, I only picked up the fact that he has been participating in