The Lottery Characters

In a story this sparse, it's pretty striking how much the boys of the village tell us, not only about the nature of the lottery (consider that early, ominous pile of stones), but also about the raw...

Unlike many characters in "The Lottery," we find out a lot about Mr. Summers. He's married to "a scold" and has no children, so the villagers feel sorry for him – even though he runs a coal b...

Mr. Summers may act like he's the Big Man of the Village, but he still has to be sworn in by the mysterious Mr. Graves. Mr. Graves is never described, and he never has a line of dialogue, which, in...

So, Mr. Summers is the shiny surface of the lottery, Mr. Graves is its grim end, and the boys are the vicious, primitive spirit that drives its enjoyment. But obviously this story is about traditio...

Mrs. Tess Hutchinson stands out right from the start: she arrives at the lottery late, having "clean forgot what day it was" (8). The town treats her tardiness lightly, but several people comment o...

Mr. Adams is the first person to draw in the lottery, which makes sense alphabetically – but we don't think we're stretching too far to say that it's also because he's the First Man. Yes, "Th...

The Delacroix family is in the mix right from the start. There's Dickie Delacroix, who gathers his stones with the other boys, there's Mr. Delacroix drawing his strip of paper, there's Mrs. Delacro...

The Watsons and the Dunbars are both intriguing because Jackson specifies that their family arrangements break the father-as-head-of-the-family-drawing-the-lottery-papers norm. Mrs. Dunbar must dra...

Mrs. Graves is the wife of Mr. Graves. She is a friend of both Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. Hutchinson. She tells Tess frankly that the lottery is fair – after all, everyone took an equal chance.

Bill Hutchinson is the husband of Tess Hutchinson. When she protests his selection in the lottery, he tells her to shut up. It is unclear why he does so – perhaps he believes in the lottery,...

The Hutchinson children are named Bill, Jr., Nancy, and Dave. Nancy has supporters in the crowd who openly express hope that she is not the one chosen.

Baxter is the oldest son in the Martin family.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin are the parents of Baxter and Bobby. They run the grocery store.