We've finished listening to and reading the short story 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson.
Please write a short paragraph in which you include the following points:
- Your opinion on the story: do you like it or not and why?
- Did the story develop as you had expected? If not, how was it different from your expectations?
- Do you think the story is well-written or not and why?
Apart from writing a short paragraph yourself, also comment on at least one of your classmate's paragraphs.
I don´t like the story or better said I don´t like the way the story turn´s out. They are forced to be a part of this lottery where one of the people out of the village get´s killed by the rest of the people, even little childeren had to participate. I did not expect this end at all, I expected them to win a cow or maybe the one chosen had to fulfill a certain task, but I did NOT expect this.
ReplyDeleteI do think the story is well written, because off the suprise element the writer uses, the storing is also written in a way that you don´t fall a sleep while reading or listening. it´s not something I would choose to read but it is a good story.
What kind of suprise elements the writer uses did you liked the most? Why won't you choose such a story as this one? And what kind of stories do you like to read?
DeleteSelma - you wrote a good start to the questions asked. Malou - good questions in return. What do you think are the surprise elements the writer used and which ones do you like most?
DeleteI liked the end the most, that´s actually the only surprising thing I saw in the story. That the lottery was not what I thought it would be like. It turned out to be a very different type of lottery.
DeleteI wouldn´t choose a story like this because, it´s not an exciting story. Maybe the end is shocking, but while your reading the story it´s actually pretty boring.The beginning is not really tempting to read.
I would read a romantic novel,a book about the supernatural or like I said an exciting book.
I don't like the story because it is about a lottery but the winner gets killed. Doesn't sound like a nice price to me. I didn't had any expectations of the story while reading because I had red this story last year. I don't really remember what my expectation was about last year but definatly not the same as how the story ends. I thought the winner of the lottery really got a price but in fact is was'nt that way.
ReplyDeleteI think the story is well written because there is a lot of tension during the story and you can feel that. I also find it a littlebit of a sad story because of the discription of the place, like the little village, that's used in the story. I think I would like to read more stories like this one because I like the sort of suprise you get in the end of it.
Well put Malou. Have you thought about why the author, Shirley Jackson, might have chosen this ending? Is there anything this ending makes you thing of?
DeleteYou say that you don't like the story because somebody gets killed. Of course, you don't expect this from a lottery, but do you dislike a story when somebody dies? Or is this just because the death is the prize? Or because this is the end of the story so you 'leave' feeling bad for the kid?
DeleteGood questions... Keep them coming and keep trying to answer them....
DeleteI didn't really like this story. Especially the ending, it would've been better if the ending wasn't sad. Although I thought it was interesting that the end of the story turns out different than you would expect. When I started reading, I expected a normal lottery where the winner gets something nice. It's a pretty old story so the winner could get something to use on the land instead of money.
ReplyDeleteI think the story is well written. It keeps you interested, because it's obvious that it isn't a normal lottery. So you wonder what it is that makes the people of the village not excited about it.
You say the story would be better if the ending wasn't sad. So if you could remake the end of the story, how would you do that?
Deleteyou say that the winner get something to use on the land instead of money. what did you thought that the winner gets for the land?
DeleteI don't like the way the story ends. But I do like the way the story is written, because there's a lot of tension, and that keeps me reading.
ReplyDeleteThe story did not end as I had expected. When I think about a lottery, I think about nice prices, happy people and a happy atmosphere. But nothing is said about the atmosphere and so I didn't actually know what was going on there. The winner of the lottery doesn't win a million dollars for example, but he will die!
I think the story is well written because the person who has written it, knows how to make people interested and make them to want to read the rest of the story. She makes me interested to read more and that's a miracle.
Isolde and Ruby - good that this story manages to maintain your interest! Why do you think the author made this type of lottery exist at all?
ReplyDeleteI guess I am the only one who likes the ending. Of course, I don't like the fact that somebody, a child, is killed, but it is well thought! No one of us saw this ending coming and it is very imaginary. At least, I hope that this didn't truely happened. I expected the villagers to win a goat or some sort of animal because of the fact they live on the country side. Though, something in me was doubting this since it was obligated to join the lottery.
ReplyDeleteI think it was rather boring for the first few pages. Nothing happened except for people joining the lottery. Though, the end was so suprising that it made me feel better towards the writing.
Only it was the child's mother who was stoned...
DeleteI like the story. Only not the end , because when I think about winning the lottery I think people get a prize to do nice things and that there live completely chance but in this story is the prize that you are killed. The ending of the story was not expected because I thought that the winner of the lottery won a nice prize not money but something that they could use in live and that wasn’t true.
ReplyDeleteI really think that the story is well written because I didn’t expect the ending of the story. In the beginning is the story not really interesting but at the end it was really interesting because there happens something that you not expect. I think that the writer has thought very much about how he was going to telling this story.
Why don't you like the beginning of the story?
DeleteI don't like the story, because during the lottery the name of on person must be drawn. This person will be killed. The story didn't develop as I had expected . I had expected that the lotery was a regular lottery as we known it. So, a lottery in which you can win nice prices. I totally didn't expect the winner to be killed.
ReplyDeleteI think the story is written wel, because it pulls your leg and takes an unexpected turn.
You didn't like this story, but do you like stories with an end like this? Or do you don't like stories like this at all?
DeleteIt's a good story. The end is not what i expected. When I read a story about the Lottery, I think of winning a cow or something because if I would join the lottery, i would get a price. But in this time, people are forced to join the Lottery and the 'price' is death. That's shocking.
ReplyDeleteThe story is very well written. Because I really didn't expect that they would kill the winner. So the end was a surprise and I like that.
Did you expect an end like this?
DeleteI actually like the story. It begins, in my opinion, boring because of the writing style. Shirley points out a lot of details and describes everything very precisely. But the end is terribly shocking and totally unexpected, wich makes the story interesting, freaky and rememberable. She did a great job by writing it this way because that is what escalades the situation. A story worth reading.
ReplyDeletewould you participate in a lottery like this, or would you flee?
DeleteGood question... Do you think the people in the story had a chance to 'flee'?
DeleteI didn't like the story at first because it was quit boring, but as we came closer to the end it became quit interesting. Because i didn't expect that it would turn out like this, that somebody had to die. When you are taking part of a lottery, I dont think you will be expecting the price is dying. So it was quit different from my expectations. I think that story is well written because it keeps you interested, but in my opinion the first few pages were quit boring.
ReplyDeleteyou wrote down that at first it was quit boring ..
Deletewhat could the author of the story do to make it more interesting?
I thought it was a boring story but actually it wasn’t. The ending was unexpected. You would think that if you are the winner you’ll get money or something. But it was here not money it was the dead. I expected a very different end. But this lottery is very different from the normal lottery. I think the author has written the story well because it's usually nice when the end is unexpected just like in this story.
ReplyDeleteAt first i thought that the story would be boring. Would you change the story to make it less boring in the beginning?
DeleteI don't really like the story,i expected that someting would happen what would be different than our lottery's. But a end like this, i never saw that comming. I thought there would be a weird price or something. Biside the fact that the story has an un pleasant end, it is well written. The author realy shows the tension of the crowd.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really like the story, in the beginning it was boring and I couldn't understand what exactly was going on. But in the middle of the story I knew it was about a lottery in the village. But with a lot of characters in the story it´s a bit hard to follow.
ReplyDeleteThe end was unexpected, first you're reading a boring story and at the end someone is being killed. It's a bit overwhelming and unexpected. I thought that someone would win the lottery and then went back home with a lot of money.
I think the story is well-written but it’s a bit hard to understand what is going on. There are a lot of characters and they all say something, sometimes I didn’t knew who was talking to who.
I did like the story, because it really holds your attention. You want to know what's going to happen at the end of the lottery and that is what keeps you reading. I knew something bad was going to happen at the end of the story but i didn't know exactly what, but it did develop the way i thought it would.
ReplyDeleteIt's an well-written story because of the mysterious atmosphere in the beginning. But sometimes it was a little bit confusing because of all the characters.
I didn't like the story, in the beginning it was for me to boring so it didn't hold my intention. I was really surprised that the 'winner' not a lucky bastard was but a death person. I thought that the winner will get a prize or something beatyfull, but the winner has to die. For me the story was a little bit weird and confusing at the end.
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DeleteIf you had to rewrite the end of the story, how would the story end so it isn't weird of confusing for you
Deletei also liked the story because there was an unexpected end of the story, i always like that.the beginning of the story was a little boring but the end was very strong.i thought the winner would win a price and everybody would be happy . i think its an wwell-written story but there is a lot of diffucelt lenguage in the text and there are so many characters!
ReplyDeleteI didn't liked the begin of the story, it was a bit tedious and there wasn't much tension.
ReplyDeletewhen I started reading the story, I got a little suspicion, the people weren't excited about the lottery, and why wouldn't you be excited if you could win a prize!? That was for me a sign that something was gonna happen.
later in the story, my thoughts came true, the 'winner' didn't get a price, but received the death-penalty... This plot twist was very surprising! the story was in the beginning pretty boring, but the end was tensive. I would call such a story a mindfuck
what do you think about that someone is killed because of the tradition of the lotery.
Deletei thought it was a story you have to think about. if you know the end of the story and you read it again, you understand better like the stones on the field, the black box, the name of mister summers and the name of mister graves. the fact that see died is just part of the story and it is only a story. i can imagine this happened in the past but i think is horrible that it stil happens. i am glad that her in holland it forbidden by law.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really fond of "what a twist" stories because they're kinda useless, since the whole build-up is ignored, but this story is different, it really focuses on the build-up that's very abnormal and unusual for a twist plot, it suprised me in a good way, it wasn't well-written enough to give me the vibe of the fact that something bad was approaching, but it was well-written enough to be very dark and once the underlining motives are elaborated on it really enlightened me on different perceptions.
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ReplyDeletei actually didn't like the story that much..
ReplyDeleteit's shows the negative dark side of winning this lottery the winner gets killed.I didn't had any expectations of the story .
the plot twist instead did was surprising because nobody would have expected that the winner recieved the death.so that was interesting.
another thing i liked was the tension that was in the story , that kept it alive .
I do not like the story, if i think about a lottery i think about a big present or a price that everybody likes, money or a car for example.
ReplyDeleteBut i think it's a wellwrite story, because i think no one had the idea that this would happen. And the end of the story was very unexpected
I think the story is pretty nice. The way the author has build up the story line, in combination with tricking the reader in such a smooth way is a really good job. Not many people have the writing skills to make such a powerful story, yet keep it short.
ReplyDeleteI did not think the story would develop in that way, because when you think of a lottery, the first thing that pops up in your mind is winning something that you can benefit from, and death isn't a benefit.
I have enjoyed reading it because of the writing style, however I would not recommend it to someone else simply because of the fact that I'm not into these types of books / stories.
I thought the end of the story was rather surprising, in the sense of the lady being stoned. I think we had all expected her to win money, or cattle (since in took place in a small village). As the story progressed you could see that, what we thought were the nerves, was actually the fear of being thrown at with stones. I thought the 'moral' of the story was well thought of, but I did'nt enjoy reading it, simply because it was a really slow story, in which nothing actually happened.
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