Meaning Of Names In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

In Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery”, names held a high importance, and foreshadowed events. Each of the main characters names were chosen to have a specific meaning. In this essay the names of Mr. Summers, old man Warner, Mr. Harry Graves, and Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson will be analyzed for their meanings and the role they play within the story. Mr. Summers held one of the highest roles in the town. He was the one who ran the lottery, as well as any other event, every year. The lottery takes place every year on June 27th. This shows one part of how this character gets his name “Summers”. His name resents partly an old fertility ritual because the harvest that is being sacrificed to is being grown in the summer. Mr. Summers did many things to

The black box which the town used for the lottery was made before he was even born, showing that the lottery had always been around. He is known as the person who “warns” people about what would happen if they were to do away with the lottery. The author refers to him as “Old Man” because he wants the reader to understand his age, and that he will know most about the lottery. Mr. Harry Graves was the post master for the town. He is seen to be the figure that holds the most power within the town. He was the one who swore in Mr. Summers to be the official to run the lottery. Also his name “Graves” brings about the thought that death holds control over everything. His superiority over Mr. Summers is also symbolic in the fact that it shows how the sacrifice and the lottery within itself is more important that the new ideas that Mr. Summers comes up with. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson are the two characters that drew the paper with the black dots. First Mr. Hutchinson drew the black dot, which meant that everyone in his family able to draw had to. Then Mrs. Hutchinson drew the black dot, which meant that she was the one that was going to be sacrificed for that summers “lottery”. Now the beginning behind the name Hutchinson can be shortened to the word “hutch” which is defined as a chest or compartment for storage, basically a “box”. So knowing this fact while reading the story. The reader might already be able to tell that the Hutchinson's