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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jackson hint in the story when Tessie is very late arriving?
(a) That Tessie is always late for everything.
(b) That Tessie is a scatter brain.
(c) That Tessie has a premonition of something bad.
(d) That Tessie is not originally from the village.

2. What is in the black box?
(a) Wood chips.
(b) Slips of paper.
(c) Stones.
(d) Beans.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Where does Mrs. Hutchinson locate her husband and children?

3. What does Tessie try to do before Bill draws for the family?

4. In a large village, how long might the lottery last?

5. Why does Tessie try to add her daughter's family to Bill Hutchinson's second drawing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What excuse does Tessie make for being late?

2. As Mr. Summers turns to face the gathered villagers, what disturbance occurs?

3. Why is Mr. Summers always in charge of the lottery every year?

4. What does Tessie Hutchinson do when she realizes that Bill has the paper?

5. Mostly the townspeople seem to look forward to the lottery. What comment is Jackson making on human nature at this point?

6. What happens next after it is settled that Bill Hutchinson holds the paper with the black dot?

7. Until she is knocked unconscious, what does Tessie keep trying to do?

8. How is the black spot finally revealed?

9. Who participates in the subsequent activity?

10. What is Tessie doing as the rest of her family open their slips?

(see the answer keys)

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