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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 revealing about the social order of the village?
(a) The children and running around unsupervised.
(b) The women hold a superior position.
(c) The men are drinking ale.
(d) The men and women are not together.

2. What is Old man Warner's meaning when he says lottery in June, corn harvest soon?
(a) He thinks the lottery magically makes the harvest good.
(b) He thinks that June is too soon for the lottery.
(c) He judges time by the lottery.
(d) He sees the lottery as a way to fill time until the harvest.

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

4. Why does Tessie try to add her daughter's family to Bill Hutchinson's second drawing?
(a) The more people in the drawing, the greater chance she has of not getting the dot.
(b) She feels the need to have all her family with her.
(c) She is trying to get the whole thing done over.
(d) She wants her daughter to have a chance to win, too.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

4. What is happening when they make any change in the lottery procedure?

5. How long has the lottery been going on?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the heads of families instructed to do with their slips of paper?

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

3. How does Jackson draw the reader into the spirit of the lottery?

4. Why is everything so organized in the village for the lottery?

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

6. What is THE LOTTERY meant to satirize?

7. What excuse does Tessie make for being late?

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

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

10. Eventually, how do the people assemble as they wait for the lottery?

(see the answer keys)

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