(a) the characters of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" are
only slightly developed. In fact, there are rather nebulous descriptions and, at times,
conflicting descriptions of the personages of her narrative. For
instance,
While the reader knows the most about Mr.
Summers, who has "time and energy to devote to civic activities," because he has no
children; he is in charge of the black box, and is, ironically, a jovial man who runs
the coal business in town and has a termagant for a wife. With the friendly unconcern of
a salesman, he waves and calls to the townspeople, "Little late today, folks."
Portentously, the next character, Mr. Graves, carries the three-legged stool on which
the black box rests, much like a coffin. But, this is the only description. In addition,
there is really little known about the thoughts of many characters such Mrs. Delacroix.
But, above all, Jackson's minimalist descriptions of characters keeps the reader in the
dark about what is to come, along with the neutral tones and words which the characters
use that could be about almost anything.
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