Reed-Short Story Unit Exam

Of what might the doctor's glasses symbolize?

• Power
• Money
• Intelligence
• Social Status

Why does the child refuse to cooperate with him?

• She thinks that the doctor is scary
• She wants to remain sick to skip school
• She doesn't want to seem weak and reveal her sickness
• She isn't actually sick and wants to hide it

Why else does the doctor persist to succeed, even after her mouth has begun to bleed?

• He is scared she might die soon
• She has bitten his finger and is frustrated
• He doesn't want to upset the parents
• He doesn't want to lose the challenge started by the young girl

What is the P.O.V. of the story?

• 1st Person
• 2nd Person
• 3rd Person
• 4th Person

Read the sentence from paragraph 5 of "The Lottery" Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done. What message does this sentence imply?

• There isn’t enough leadership in the village to organize the building of a new box.
• Since everyone is busy with farming, none of the villagers have time for other projects.
• No one wants to challenge the tradition, so the villagers don’t make necessary changes.
• People are reluctant to replace the original lottery box built by the first settlers of the village.

Which two excerpts best show how the author uses character behavior to develop suspense and a feeling of uneasiness?

• Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. (paragraph 3)
• The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool, and when Mr. Summers said, “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?” there was a hesitation before two men, Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, came forward . . .
• Mr. Summers was very good at all this; in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, with one hand resting carelessly on the black box . . . (paragraph 7)
• The people separated good-humoredly to let her through; two or three people said, in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, “Here comes your Missus, Hutchinson,” and “Bill, she made it after all.” (paragraph 9)
• The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around. (paragraph 21)

Which sentence from the story conveys a tone of ridicule toward the villagers?

• They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.
• There was a great deal of fussing to be done before Mr. Summers declared the lottery open.
• Mrs. Hutchinson craned her neck to see through the crowd and found her husband and children standing near the front.
• They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously.

This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B. Part A What can the reader infer about the culture of the village?

• The citizens look forward to the lottery each year.
• The society holds older people in high regard.
• The citizens have limited food resources.
• The society is controlled by males.

Part B Which two excerpts from the story best support your answer to Part A?

• “Me, I guess,” a woman said, and Mr. Summers turned to look at her. “Wife draws for her husband,” Mr. Summers said. “Don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?”
• “Now, I’ll read the names—heads of families first—and the men come up and take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn. Everything clear?”
• “Seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more,” Mrs. Delacroix said to Mrs. Graves in the back row.
• “First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery,” he added petulantly.
• “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery,” Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd.

Based on the details of the story, the reader can infer that —

• most of the people in the village know each other
• Mr. Summers enjoys watching the outcome of the lottery
• Mrs. Hutchinson is usually running late on the day of the lottery
• the older people in the village refuse to listen to the younger people