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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. Who needs help from Mr. Graves to open his slip?
(a) All of the children.
(b) Tessie.
(c) Little Dave Hutchinson.
(d) The youngest daughter.

2. What is Tessie doing in the center of the circle of her friends, neighbors, and family?
(a) Dancing the lottery jig.
(b) Gloating that she is the winner.
(c) Sitting on a makeshift throne.
(d) Holding out her hands and crying that it is not fair.

3. What does the village look like on the morning of the lottery?
(a) It is gloomy and cold looking with gray houses.
(b) It is dusty and dry with the paint peeling off the houses.
(c) It is very metropolitan with shiny glass commercial buildings.
(d) It is in the sun with neat houses, green lawns, and flowers everywhere.

4. What is stressed as important to the lottery all through the story?
(a) That family is the least important thing in the village.
(b) That everyone does not need to be present.
(c) That it is a tradition that must be continued.
(d) That everyone knows how the tradition began.

5. What is the traditional job of the village boys on Lottery Day?
(a) They play an exhibition football game before the lottery.
(b) They keep the younger children off the grass.
(c) They form an honor guard for the lottery box.
(d) They collect stones and bring them to the town square.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are some villages rumored to be doing with their lottery?

2. Why does his oldest son not draw for him?

3. How does Jackson suggest that tradition may be questioned?

4. What finally happens with Tessie?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Jackson saying about children in this story?

2. What kind of lists are required for the conduct of the lottery?

3. Where are the women and what are they doing?

4. What does the setting of THE LOTTERY say about the citizens of the village.

5. Why does the first person called for the lists not appear?

6. What formality occurs before the lottery is officially open?

7. Who is the second citizen of the village and what is his function in the lottery?

8. What happens as the stoning begins?

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

10. At what point in the story does Jackson raise the question of what's going on with her readers?

(see the answer keys)

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