english the lottery quotes

“The people of the village began to gather in the square”

Community; conformity; tradition

“The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program”

Normalisation of violence; tradition; irony

“Mr. Summers was very good at all this”

Authority; normalisation of violence; conformity

“there was a great deal of fussing to be done”

Bureaucracy; tradition; normalisation of cruelty

“the villagers kept their distance”

Fear; social division; collective responsibility

“the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago”

Tradition; deterioration; resistance to change

“Mr. Adams was standing next to Old Man Warner”

Generational conflict; tradition; resistance to change

“Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery”

Blind obedience; tradition; resistance to progress

“There's always been a lottery”

Conformity; unquestioning obedience; tradition

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones”

Violence; symbolism; blind tradition

“Some places have already quit lotteries”

Social change; resistance to progress; conformity

“Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them”

Generational conflict; resistance to change; tradition

“Be a good sport, Tessie”

Injustice; victim-blaming; lack of empathy

“It isn't fair, it isn't right”

Injustice; protest; hypocrisy

“and then they were upon her”

Mob mentality; collective violence; loss of individuality