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The Lottery
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Watch a dramatization of Shirley Jackson's allegory of barbarism and social sacrifice “The Lottery”
Compare Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery” to the Old Testament's Naboth with James Durbin
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The Lottery

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Watch a dramatization of Shirley Jackson's allegory of barbarism and social sacrifice “The Lottery”
Watch a dramatization of Shirley Jackson's allegory of barbarism and social sacrifice “The Lottery”This video dramatizes Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery,” a frightening and highly controversial tale that uses the mundanity of life in a rural town to intensify the shocking revelation of what its yearly lottery decides. This 1969 video is a production of the Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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The Lottery, short story by Shirley Jackson, published in The New Yorker in June 1948 and included the following year in her collection The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris. Much anthologized, the story is a powerful allegory of barbarism and social sacrifice.

Compare Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery” to the Old Testament's Naboth with James Durbin
Compare Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery” to the Old Testament's Naboth with James DurbinJames Durbin discussing “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. This 1969 video is a production of Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
See all videos for this article

The story recounts the events on the day of a small New England town’s annual lottery. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves conduct the lottery drawing, a festive event that, according to nostalgic Old Man Warner, has lost some of its traditional lustre. Tessie Hutchinson is announced as the winner; she begins to protest but is silenced when the community surrounds her and stones her to death. The unemotional narrative voice underlines the horror of the final act.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.