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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do they list the villagers before the lottery begins?
(a) From the oldest to the youngest.
(b) In alphabetical order.
(c) From the youngest to the oldest.
(d) By heads of families.

2. Where is Tessie by the time everyone has their stones?
(a) In the center.
(b) With her family.
(c) Running to hide.
(d) Behind Mr. Summers.

3. What is on each of the children's papers?
(a) A secret message.
(b) Nothing. They are blank.
(c) Gift certificates.
(d) Colored pictures.

4. Why are the children running around that morning?
(a) Lottery Day is a special holiday for children.
(b) It is Saturday and there is no school.
(c) Lottery Day is a school holiday.
(d) The teachers are in the lottery so they come to see them.

5. Which man holds the winning paper?
(a) Bob Martin.
(b) Old man Warner.
(c) Mr. Graves.
(d) Bill Hutchinson.

6. What are the women doing before the lottery?
(a) Running around looking for their children.
(b) Avoicing each other's eyes.
(c) Putting up the bunting.
(d) Standing together and gossiping.

7. What is on Tessie Hutchinson's paper?
(a) A message.
(b) Nothing.
(c) A black spot.
(d) The number 6.

8. How does Jackson suggest that tradition may be questioned?
(a) The village is getting smaller so tradition may die out.
(b) Old man Warner compares it to the Stone Age.
(c) Some people oppose the lottery and some villages have already stopped it.
(d) A lot about the lottery has been forgotten.

9. What are some villages rumored to be doing with their lottery?
(a) Holding parades before the lottery.
(b) Adding a consolation prize.
(c) Discontinuing it.
(d) Combining it with another holiday.

10. What is Jackson saying about tradition.
(a) That it is necessary to keep a culture alive.
(b) That very few people question it.
(c) That tradition is better than creating new ways.
(d) That it is bad luck to change it.

11. How do they assemble when it is time to begin the ceremony?
(a) Making a huge circle in the town square.
(b) Coming together in family groups.
(c) In double file lines.
(d) Crowding forward to try and be first to draw.

12. Who tells the boys what to do on the morning of the lottery?
(a) No one, they all know their responsibility.
(b) Their fathers.
(c) Their mothers.
(d) The village council.

13. In the story, what idea does Shirley Jackson carefully avoid?
(a) The time it takes to hold the lottery.
(b) The odds of winning.
(c) Sweepstakes.
(d) Winning the lottery.

14. What does Mrs. Dunbar hold in her hands?
(a) The Hutchinson baby.
(b) A bag full of small stones.
(c) A slingshot.
(d) More moderate stones than Mrs. Delacroix.

15. What is Jackson's first element of surprise in the story?
(a) Mr. Summers changing the tradition.
(b) Tessie being late for the lottery.
(c) The boys gathering stones.
(d) Mr. Graves forgetting the stool.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Tessie do with her paper?

2. Who is the last person accounted for before the lottery begins?

3. What is revealing about the social order of the village?

4. What is the traditional job of the village boys on Lottery Day?

5. In general, what type of village is the setting of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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