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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Jackson satirizing by having the children participate so willingly in the stoning?
(a) Hansel and Gretle.
(b) Well behaved children.
(c) Parents who let their children run their lives.
(d) Bringing children up with adults' biases.

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

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

4. What trouble does Bobby Martin get into?
(a) He puts the stones he collected in his pocket.
(b) He does not respond to his mother's call and his father reprimands him.
(c) He gets his clean clothes all dirty and has to go home and change.
(d) He gets in a fight with another boy and has a bloody nose.

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

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

7. What is the age of majority in the village?
(a) Twenty-one.
(b) Thirty.
(c) Eighteen.
(d) Sixteen.

8. What is the irony of Tessie Hutchinson drawing the black dot?
(a) She drew the dot because she was late.
(b) She was the only one who protested the procedure.
(c) Dessenters are a threat to tradition and must be removed.
(d) Tessie did not know the tradition.

9. How long has the lottery been going on?
(a) Over several generations.
(b) For the last five years.
(c) Since before people arrived from Europe.
(d) Since the Pilgrims.

10. Why is everyone participating, even the Hutchinson children?
(a) Because they have nothing better to do.
(b) Because they will be jailed if they do not.
(c) Because they are all hypnotized.
(d) Because it is a village activity.

11. Who is assigned to conduct the lottery?
(a) Mr. Hutchinson.
(b) Mr. Graves.
(c) Mr. Martin.
(d) Mr. Summers.

12. Though they do not remember all the ancient ritual, what do the villagers all remember?
(a) The march.
(b) The stones.
(c) The song.
(d) The burning of the box.

13. In a large village, how long might the lottery last?
(a) As much as seven days.
(b) An hour because the slips were mailed to the people.
(c) All day because they have more activities in the square.
(d) Not long because of better equipment.

14. What is happening when they make any change in the lottery procedure?
(a) It is a break with tradition.
(b) It makes the tradition stronger.
(c) It is nothing drastic in the minds of the villagers.
(d) The people are becoming better educated.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the instruction given to the villagers about what to do after they have drawn?

2. What does Jackson suggest about civic prominence in the character of Mr. Summers.

3. In the story, what idea does Shirley Jackson carefully avoid?

4. What are the men doing before it is time for the lottery to begin?

5. What accusation does Tessie make to Joe Summers?

(see the answer keys)

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