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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 is the tone as the story begins?
(a) An average day with overcast sky.
(b) Dreary and ominous.
(c) Dry like a newspaper article.
(d) Cheerful, bright, and colorful.

2. Who is the last person accounted for before the lottery begins?
(a) Mrs. Dunbar.
(b) Old man Warner.
(c) The tall Watson boy.
(d) Tessie Hutchinson.

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

4. What does Mrs. Delacroix have in her hands?
(a) The lottery flag.
(b) A chocolate cake.
(c) The Hutchinson baby.
(d) A huge stone.

5. Why are people gathering in the town square?
(a) It is the annual lottery day.
(b) There is a band concert that morning.
(c) They are voting whether to discontinue the lottery.
(d) The mayor is making a speech.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the village look like on the morning of the lottery?

2. What is stressed as important to the lottery all through the story?

3. Why does the lottery begin late in this village?

4. What serious formality occurs before the lottery begins?

5. What is Jackson's first element of surprise in the story?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What request do Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves make of the villagers and who volunteers?

3. What excuse does Tessie make for being late?

4. After locating the holder of the black spot, what do the villagers do?

5. How does Jackson make the scene seem like a normal village fair?

6. In naming the holidays observed by the village, how does Jackson hint at the macabre nature of the lottery?

7. Have there ever been deviations from tradition in the past? What are they?

8. How does Tessie try to widen the odds of her drawing the black dot?

9. Who participates in the subsequent activity?

10. What are some other town functions that Mr. Summers presides over?

(see the answer keys)

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