The Lottery

Jovial Mr. Summers officiates at big local events, such as the Halloween festival and the lottery. Mr. Summers is orderly, methodical, and fair, attributes that impart a formal, civic propriety to the lottery. His cheerful demeanor, and the symbolism of his name, creates an ironic contrast to the dark seriousness of the ritual. 

Late for the lottery and joking about it, Tessie is a lively, friendly symbol of the warmth and civility of small-town life. She also stands in as an ugly reminder of what can happen to good people in small communities, when she is chosen by the lottery for execution by stoning. Her vocal protests that the process was too hurried to give her family a proper chance and that the entire event “isn’t fair”—constitute the only open dissent against the lottery. However, they are also a weak systemic critique since it appears unlikely that Tessie would be protesting the lottery if someone else had been selected.

Mr. Graves is the postmaster; as the keeper of the list of household names, he assists Mr. Summers in officiating at the lottery, and he provides the three-legged stool on which the lottery box rests during the proceedings.