The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay

The Lottery, a short story by Shirley Jackson, exposes humanity’s brutal and inhumane actions through different characters. Set in a rural village, the plot highlights how traditional customs and practices can lead to the acceptance of cruel behavior. The Lottery literary analysis essay discusses the dangers of blindly following tradition and the need to question and critically evaluate social norms. It is an important summary of the destructive nature of blindly following rules. The Lottery analysis essay also explores the theme of tradition and its impact on society.

Basically, ‘lottery’ in this story is a yearly occasion in which an individual in the town is chosen at random to be stoned by hi/her allies and family members. Notably, the atmosphere created by Jackson in presentation of the sureness and the norm of the practice of lottery within the village is quite convincing that, this practice was readily welcomed.

The ultimate fate of all the practices presented in this short story is marked by ‘death’, perceived as redeemer for many evils people commit against each other. This paper presents the tools of characterization and the setting of the short story “The Lottery”.

One of the most outstanding tools of characterization in this short-story is actions. Though this story is not dominated by many actions, characterization is well defined by the few actions the characters are involved.

For example, Mrs. Delacroix is brought out in the story as being highly determined and quick tempered lady. This is reflected by her action of selecting a large stone ‘so large that she had to pick it with two hands in anger of ….” (Shirley 76).

More so, the unfolding of events in this short story seems as if Jackson is revealing the hypocrisy and evil-nature of human kind. As stated in the story, “They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip…manhandling each other without a flinch of pity…” (Shirley 281). Though the reader of this short story expects the practice of lottery to be beneficial to the villagers in a way, nothing of worth is gained form such practiced of lottery.

It should be noted keenly that, this short story portrays extreme evil committed in just ordinary manner, which implies an underlying evil of man. This quite evident in the way such evils presented in this short story are happening in just friendly atmosphere, reflecting the camouflaging nature of humans.

Despite the short story being not insidious until near its end, the author seems to be foreshadowing this notion of deadliness as brought out through M. Summers, who is in charge of lottery, and his colleague Mr. Graves. The picture brought out of Mr. Summers in this short story makes him seem a respected man as he coordinates various social activities.

This humble nature of Mr. Summers, yet a very dangerous one is reported by Shirley (282) that, “Mr. Summers was very good at all this ….. with one hand resting carelessly on the black box, he seemed very proper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves and the Martins”. Such activities may seem normal with regard to the village norms, but they reflect high degree of human rights violation.

The main characters used in this short story depict the mood of the actual events in this short story. For instance, the name ‘Summers’ symbolizes the fundamental theme of the story, and ultimate outcome of the entire events (Marshall 3).

Further, the name of Mr. Summer’s colleague, Mr. Graves, who happens to be his assistant in activities of lottery, prefigures iniquity of ordinary people. Basically, imagery is clearly brought out in this short story by having the author give the names of the main characters portray the entire theme.

Together with hypocrisy, ‘lottery’ in this short story presents the weak nature of human nature. Considering that this act of lottery had been a routine in this village for many years, no one seems to question its negative impacts in the general human welfare.

As reflected in Shirley (282), “There’s always been a lottery and no one has been nervous about it…everyone goes on with it…” reveals how hypocritical the people in the village were.

According to Hyman (35) no one had expressed fear of disgust of the act, despite it being depriving human nature of their human rights for survival. The kind of evil and malevolence presented in this short story goes beyond human violence since all is done calmly and in unity.

As Marshall (3) suggests, the use of protagonism in this short story is a real reflection of how people are deeply engraved in hypocrisy and wickedness. Ironically, Mrs. Hutchinson, who emerges to protest and rebel against lottery, emerges as the victim of the act of lottery the day she was going to protest against it.

This retracts all acts of rebellion against the act of lottery, and everything goes on as usual. Though before drawing from her fellow women to face her fate she seems happy, Mrs. Hutchison she is brought out to be happy to leave to see the way her fellow humans are mistreated (Hyman 46).

This reveals the way oppressive norms and cultures deem hopes of liberalization from such oppressive cultures. Particularly, the death of Mrs. Hutchison marks the continuity of evil nature of human kind eternally, despite their facial appearance seeming friendly.

Generally, the unfolding of the short story reflects the way humans mistreat each other, presumably in conformation to cultural beliefs and practices. Since the act of lottery as presented in this short story seems to undermine human nature, people seem to condone such evils with less regard on their negative impacts.

As the story ends, the ‘light of hope’ for liberalization, Mrs. Hutchison, dies which implies the unending nature of human wicked nature and evil. Generally, the short story reflects the societal malpractices committed by mankind to each other, as though they are ordinary events.

Works Cited

Hyman, Stanley. The Presentation of Evil in “The Lottery”. New Jersey: Bantam Publishing Co., 2000.

Marshall, Garry. Analysis of “The Lottery” a Short Story by Shirley Jackson. New York: Lori Voth Publishers, 2003.

Shirley, Jackson. The Lottery. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1948.

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IvyPanda. (2018, May 30). The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/literary-analysis-of-the-lottery/

"The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay." IvyPanda , 30 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/literary-analysis-of-the-lottery/.

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IvyPanda . 2018. "The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay." May 30, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/literary-analysis-of-the-lottery/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay." May 30, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/literary-analysis-of-the-lottery/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay." May 30, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/literary-analysis-of-the-lottery/.

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Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Lottery’ is the best-known story of the American writer Shirley Jackson. Published in the New Yorker in 1948 and collected in The Lottery and Other Stories , the story is about a village where an annual lottery is drawn. However, the fate of the person who draws the ‘winning’ slip is only revealed at the end of the story in a dark twist.

‘The Lottery’ forces us to address some unpleasant aspects of human nature, such as people’s obedience to authority and tradition and their willingness to carry out evil acts in the name of superstition.

You can read ‘The Lottery’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Jackson’s story below. You might also be interested in the following articles we have written on other aspects of the story:

‘The Lottery’: key quotes explained

‘The Lottery’: key themes discussed

‘The Lottery’: main symbols

But for the present, let’s start with a brief summary of the plot of the story.

‘The Lottery’: plot summary

The story takes place one morning between ten o’clock and noon on 27 June, in a village somewhere in (presumably) the USA. The year is not stated. The three hundred villagers are gathering to undertake the annual ritual of the lottery, which is always drawn on this date every year. Some of the children of the village are busy making a pile of stones which they closely guard in the corner of the village square.

The lottery is led by a Mr Summers, who has an old black box. Inside the black box, slips of paper have been inserted, all of them blank apart from one. The head of each household, when called up to the box by Mr Summers, has to remove one slip of paper.

When every household has drawn a slip of paper, the drawn slips are opened. It is discovered that Bill Hutchinson has drawn the marked slip of paper, and it is explained that, next, one person from within his family must be chosen. His family comprises five people: himself, his wife Tessie, and their three children, Bill Jr., Nancy, and Dave.

Bill’s wife, Tessie, isn’t happy that her family has been chosen, and calls for the lottery to be redrawn, claiming that her husband wasn’t given enough time to choose his slip of paper. But the lottery continues: now, each of the five members of the Hutchinson household must draw one slip from the black box. One slip will be marked while the others are not.

Each of the Hutchinsons draw out a slip of paper, starting with the youngest of the children. When they have all drawn a slip, they are instructed to open the folded pieces of paper they have drawn. All of them are blank except for Tessie’s, which has a black mark on it which Mr Summers had made with his pencil the night before.

Now, the significance of the pile of stones the children had been making at the beginning of the story becomes clear. Each of the villagers picks up a stone and they advance on Tessie, keen to get the business over with. One of the villagers throws a stone at Tessie’s head. She protests that this isn’t right and isn’t fair, but the villagers proceed to hurl their stones, presumably stoning her to death.

‘The Lottery’: analysis

‘The Lottery’ is set on 27 June, and was published in the 26 June issue of the New Yorker in 1948. Perhaps surprisingly given its status as one of the canonical stories of the twentieth century, the story was initially met with anger and even a fair amount of hate mail from readers, with many cancelling their subscriptions. What was it within the story that touched a collective nerve?

analytical essay of the lottery

We may scoff at the Carthaginians sacrificing their children to the gods or the Aztecs doing similar, but Jackson’s point is that every age and every culture has its own illogical and even harmful traditions, which are obeyed in the name of ‘tradition’ and in the superstitious belief that they have a beneficial effect.

To give up the lottery would, in the words of Old Man Warner, be the behaviour of ‘crazy fools’, because he is convinced that the lottery is not only beneficial but essential to the success of the village’s crops. People will die if the lottery is not drawn, because the crops will fail and people will starve as a result. It’s much better to people like Old Man Warner that one person be chosen at random (so the process is ‘fair’) and sacrificed for the collective health of the community.

There are obviously many parallels with other stories here, as well as various ethical thought experiments in moral philosophy. The trolley problem is one. A few years after Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ was published, Ray Bradbury wrote a story, ‘ The Flying Machine ’, in which a Chinese emperor decides it is better that one man be killed (in order to keep the secret of the flying machine concealed from China’s enemies) than that the man be spared and his invention fall into the wrong hands and a million people be killed in an enemy invasion.

But what makes the lottery in Jackson’s story even more problematic is that there is no evidence that the stoning of one villager does affects the performance of the village crops. Such magical thinking obviously belongs to religious superstition and a belief in an intervening God who demands a sacrifice in recognition of his greatness before he will allow the crops to flourish and people to thrive.

Indeed, in the realms of American literature, such superstition is likely to put us in mind of a writer from the previous century, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose tales (see ‘ The Minister’s Black Veil ’ for one notable example) often tap into collective superstitions and beliefs among small religious communities in America’s Puritan past.

But even more than Hawthorne, we might compare Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ with a couple of other twentieth-century stories. The first is another ‘lottery’ story and perhaps the most notable precursor to Jackson’s: Jorge Luis Borges’ 1941 story ‘ The Lottery in Babylon ’, which describes a lottery which began centuries ago and has been going on ever since. Although this lottery initially began as a way of giving away prizes, it eventually developed so that fines would be given out as well as rewards.

In time, participation in the lottery became not optional but compulsory. The extremes between nice prizes and nasty surprises, as it were, became more pronounced: at one end, a lucky winner might be promoted to a high office in Babylon, while at the other end, they might be killed.

Borges’ story is widely regarded as an allegory for totalitarianism, and it’s worth bearing in mind that it was published during the Second World War. Jackson’s lottery story, of course, was published just three years after the end of the war, when news about the full horrors of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust were only beginning to emerge in full.

Hannah Arendt, whose The Origins of Totalitarianism was published three years after ‘The Lottery’, would later coin the phrase ‘ banality of evil ’ to describe figures like Adolf Eichmann who had presided over the Nazi regime. Such men were not inherently evil, but were aimless and thoroughly ordinary individuals who drifted towards tyranny because they sought power and direction in their lives.

What is Jackson’s story if not the tale of decent and ordinary people collectively taking part in a horrific act, the scapegoating of an individual? Jackson’s greatest masterstroke in ‘The Lottery’ is the sketching in of the everyday details, as though we’re eavesdropping on the inhabitants of a Brueghel painting, so that the villagers strike us as both down-to-earth, ordinary people and yet, at the same time, people we believe would be capable of murder simply because they didn’t view it as such.

These are people who clearly know each other well, families whose children have grown up together, yet they are prepared to turn on one of their neighbours simply because the lottery decrees it. And the villagers may breathe a collective sigh of relief when little Dave, the youngest of the Hutchinson children, reveals his slip of paper to be blank, but Jackson leaves us in no doubt that they would have stoned him if he had been the unlucky victim.

And the other story with which a comparative analysis of ‘The Lottery’ might be undertaken is another tale about the idea of the scapegoat : Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1973 story, ‘ The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas ’. In Le Guin’s story, the inhabitants of a fictional city, Omelas, enjoy happy and prosperous lives, but only because a child is kept in a state of perpetual suffering somewhere in the city. This miserable child is imprisoned and barely kept alive: the price the inhabitants of Omelas willingly pay for their own bliss.

Or is it? One of the intriguing details of Le Guin’s story is whether we are truly in a magical realm where this one child’s suffering makes everyone else’s joy possible, or whether this is merely – as in Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ – what the townspeople tell themselves .

Just as men like Old Warner cannot even countenance the idea of abandoning the lottery (imagine if the crops failed!), the people of Omelas cannot even entertain the notion that their belief in their scapegoat may be founded on baseless superstition. They’re making the child suffer, in other words, for nothing, just as Tessie Hutchinson is sacrificed for nothing: the crops will fail or flourish regardless. There are no winners in Jackson’s lottery: just three hundred losers.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery

Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 28, 2021

As were many of Shirley Jackson’s stories, “The Lottery” was first published in the New Yorker  and, subsequently, as the title story of The Lottery: or, The Adventures of James Harris in 1949. It may well be the world’s most frequently anthologized short story. A modern horror story, it derives its effect from a reversal of the readers’ expectations, already established by the ordinary setting of a warm June day in a rural community. Readers, lulled into this false summer complacency, begin to feel horror, their moods changing with the narrator’s careful use of evidence and suspense, until the full realization of the appalling ritual murder bursts almost unbearably on them.

The story opens innocently enough, as the townspeople gather for an unidentified annual event connected to the harvest. The use of names initially seems to bolster the friendliness of the gathering; we feel we know these people as, one by one, their names are called in alphabetical order. In retrospect, however, the names of the male lottery organizers—Summer and Graves—provide us with clues to the transition from life to death. Tessie, the soon-to-be-victim housewife, may allude to another bucolic Tess (in Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles ), whose promising beginnings transformed into gore and death at the hands of men.

analytical essay of the lottery

Shirley Jackson/Erich Hartmann

The scholar and critic Linda Wagner-Martin observes that only recently have readers noticed the import of the sacrificial victim’s gender: In the traditional patriarchal system that values men and children, mothers are devalued once they have fulfilled their childbearing roles. Tessie, late to the gathering because her arms were plunged to the elbow in dishwater, seems inconsequential, even irritating, at first. Only as everyone in the town turns against her— children, men, other women invested in the system that sustains them—does the reader become aware that this is a ritual stoning of a scapegoat who can depend on no one: not her daughter, not her husband, not even her little boy, Davy, who picks up an extraordinarily large rock to throw at her.

No reader can finish this story without contemplating the violence and inhumanity that Jackson intended it to portray. In the irony of its depiction lies the horror of this classic tale and, one hopes, a careful reevaluation of social codes and meaningless rituals.

Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s Stories

https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-authors-voice/a-m-homes-reads-shirley-jackson-the-lottery

BIBLIOGRAPHY Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery: or, The Adventures of James Harris. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1949. Wagner-Martin, Linda. “The Lottery.” In Reference Guide to Short Fiction, edited by Noelle Watson, 783–784. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.

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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson: A Critical Analysis

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson first published in 1948 takes place in a small, seemingly idyllic town in rural America, where the townspeople gather every year to participate in a ritual lottery.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson: A Critical Analysis

Introduction: “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Table of Contents

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson first published in 1948 takes place in a small, seemingly idyllic town in rural America, where the townspeople gather every year to participate in a ritual lottery. The lottery, which involves randomly selecting a winner from the townspeople, takes a dark and disturbing turn, revealing the hidden cruelty and brutality that lies beneath the surface of the seemingly peaceful community. The story has become a classic of American literature and is often studied for its exploration of themes such as tradition, ritual, and the dark side of human nature.

Main Events in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

  • The story opens on a beautiful summer morning in a small town where the residents are gathering in the town square for the annual lottery.
  • Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, the town leaders, arrive with the black box that contains slips of paper for each household in the town.
  • The townspeople draw papers from the box, with the head of each household going first, and the person who selects the slip of paper with a black dot on it is declared the “winner” of the lottery.
  • Tessie Hutchinson, a housewife, is declared the winner of the lottery and protests that the process was not fair.
  • The other townspeople ignore Tessie’s protests and start gathering stones, which are used in the second half of the ritual.
  • As Tessie is surrounded by the angry townspeople and pelted with stones, the reader is made to understand that this is a long-standing and accepted part of the community’s culture.
  • The stoning continues until Tessie is dead.
  • The villagers return to their daily routines as if nothing has happened, indicating that the event has become normalized in their society.
  • Some of the younger townspeople seem uneasy with the violence, but they do not speak out.
  • The story ends with the chilling description of the pile of stones left at the scene of the murder, as well as the shocking realization that this is a community-wide event that has been happening for generations.

Literary Devices in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

  • Allusion : The names of some of the characters in the story have symbolic significance, such as Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, which allude to the nature of the event they oversee.
  • Hyperbole : Jackson uses hyperbole to emphasize the villagers’ excitement about the lottery, describing it as “the one day of the year that was desirable.”
  • Imagery : Jackson uses vivid imagery to describe the setting, creating a contrast between the idyllic summer day and the brutal violence of the lottery.
  • Irony : The story is full of irony, such as the fact that the villagers who are supposed to care for each other end up stoning one of their own.
  • Metaphor : The black box used in the lottery is a metaphor for the town’s history and tradition, as well as the darkness that lies beneath the surface.
  • Personification : The black box is personified as a character with its own history and significance, as well as the power to choose the “winner” of the lottery.
  • Point of View : The story is told from a third-person point of view, which allows the reader to see the events from the perspective of multiple characters.
  • Satire : Jackson uses satire to criticize the blind acceptance of tradition and the cruelty of mob mentality.
  • Simile : Jackson uses similes to create vivid descriptions, such as comparing the black box to a “joke.”
  • Social commentary: The story is a commentary on the dangers of blind acceptance of tradition and the power of mob mentality.
  • Symbolism : The black box represents the history and tradition of the lottery, as well as the community’s willingness to sacrifice one of its own.
  • Tone: The story has a dark and ominous tone, which creates a sense of foreboding and tension.
  • Verbal irony : Jackson uses verbal irony to create a sense of tension and unease, such as when the villagers cheer for the winner of the lottery.
  • Situational irony : The outcome of the story is a clear example of situational irony, as the person who wins the lottery is also the victim of the stoning.
  • Dramatic irony : The reader knows more than the characters in the story, which creates dramatic irony, such as when Tessie protests that the lottery was not fair, even though the reader knows that she will be the victim.

Characterization in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Major characters:.

  • Tessie Hutchinson: The central character, Tessie is initially portrayed as a concerned wife and mother, arguing with her husband about a missing household item (“Wouldn’t these stones hurt all over?”). However, as the story progresses, her character gains depth through her growing unease and eventual defiance (“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right”).
  • Mr. Hutchinson: Tessie’s husband, Bill, serves as a foil to her. He blindly follows tradition, even when it turns against his family (“All right, Tessie. That’s enough of that”). This highlights the conflict between blind tradition and individual survival.

Minor Characters:

  • Old Man Warner: The oldest villager, Warner represents the unwavering adherence to tradition. He defends the lottery’s importance (“Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”) despite its brutality.
  • Mr. Summers: The lottery official, Summers, embodies a disturbing normalcy. He treats the event as a routine task, using a cheerful tone (“Good morning, everyone!”) to mask the ceremony’s sinister nature.

Characterization Techniques:

  • Dialogue: Dialogue reveals characters’ personalities and motivations. Tessie’s arguments expose her growing fear, while Bill’s acceptance highlights the danger of unquestioning tradition.
  • Actions: Characters’ actions speak volumes. Old Man Warner’s insistence on following the rules, despite the potential for his family to be chosen, showcases the tradition’s grip on the community.
  • Indirect Characterization: Descriptions of characters and their surroundings paint a picture of their roles and the story’s atmosphere. The seemingly idyllic setting (“The morning of June 27th was clear and warm”) contrasts sharply with the dark lottery ritual.

Impact of Characterization:

The characterization in “The Lottery” creates a sense of unease and foreshadows the horrifying climax. The villagers’ casual acceptance of the lottery (“Mr. Summers.. used the same stone year after year”) makes the ritual even more disturbing.

By focusing on the characters’ blind adherence to tradition and Tessie’s desperate rebellion, Jackson critiques the dangers of unquestioning authority and the potential for barbarity hidden within seemingly normal traditions.

Major Themes in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

1. The Power of Tradition:

  • Description: The story emphasizes the deeply ingrained tradition of the lottery. Phrases like “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Old Man Warner) highlight its connection to the harvest and a perceived necessity for good fortune.
  • Impact: The villagers blindly follow the ritual, even Mr. Summers uses the “same stone year after year” despite its horrifying outcome. This unwavering adherence to tradition, regardless of its purpose, becomes a central theme.

2. Danger of Blind Conformity:

  • Description: The villagers act as a unified group, unquestioningly participating in the lottery. Even children like Dave Hutchinson are expected to participate, highlighting the pressure to conform.
  • Impact: Tessie’s eventual rebellion (“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right”) stands out against the conformity. Her fate emphasizes the danger of blindly following tradition without questioning its consequences.

3. Juxtaposition of Peace and Violence:

  • Description: The story establishes a peaceful setting (“The morning of June 27th was clear and warm”) with children playing and families gathering. This normalcy is shattered by the violent act of the lottery.
  • Impact: The contrast between the idyllic setting and the brutal ritual creates a sense of unease and exposes the potential for violence lurking beneath the surface of seemingly normal traditions.

4. The Randomness of Persecution:

  • Description: The lottery chooses its victim at random, with each villager having an equal chance of being selected (“each head of a household reached forward…).
  • Impact: This randomness heightens the fear factor. No one is safe, showcasing the senselessness and cruelty of the tradition. The lottery doesn’t punish wrongdoing, it simply chooses a scapegoat.

Writing Style in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

  • Deceptive Simplicity and Understated Horror: Jackson uses plain language and a straightforward narrative style to lull the reader into a false sense of security, making the shocking conclusion all the more unsettling.
  • Foreshadowing and Symbolism: She employs foreshadowing and symbolism to hint at the story’s darker themes. Examples include the black box and the ominous gathering of stones.
  • Vivid Imagery and Sensory Detail: Her use of vivid imagery and sensory detail, particularly in the description of the stoning, creates a visceral and disturbing effect on the reader.
  • Effective Theme Conveyance: Overall, Jackson’s writing style in “The Lottery” effectively conveys the story’s themes of blind conformity, the dangers of tradition, and the potential for violence lurking beneath the surface of normalcy. It leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Topics, questions, and thesis statements about “the lottery” by shirley jackson.

  • Topic: The Power of Tradition
  • Question: How does Shirley Jackson portray the power of tradition in “The Lottery”?
  • Thesis Statement: In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson utilizes the unwavering adherence to the annual ritual to highlight the dangers of blindly following tradition, even when it leads to violence and injustice.
  • Question: To what extent does “The Lottery” explore the conflict between blind conformity and individual survival?
  • Thesis Statement: Jackson’s “The Lottery” exposes the dangers of blind conformity through the villagers’ unquestioning participation in the lottery, contrasting it with Tessie’s desperate rebellion, which ultimately highlights the importance of individuality in the face of oppressive traditions.
  • Question: How does Shirley Jackson utilize symbolism and foreshadowing to create suspense and hint at the dark themes in “The Lottery”?
  • Thesis Statement: In “The Lottery,” Jackson employs powerful symbols like the black box and the gathering of stones, alongside subtle foreshadowing, to create a sense of unease and gradually reveal the story’s horrifying climax.
  • Question: How does Jackson challenge the idyllic small-town setting in “The Lottery” to expose a darker reality?
  • Thesis Statement: Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” dismantles the idyllic facade of a seemingly peaceful town by unveiling the brutal lottery ritual, highlighting the potential for violence and barbarity lurking beneath the surface of normalcy.

Short Question-Answer about “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

  • What is the purpose of the black box in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson?
  • The black box in “The Lottery” is a symbol of tradition and the power it holds over the people in the community. The box has been used for generations to hold the slips of paper that determine who will be the annual sacrifice, and the people in the community are afraid to change it. They even refer to the box as “the tradition,” and it serves as a physical manifestation of the hold that tradition has over their lives.
  • How does Shirley Jackson use foreshadowing in “The Lottery”?
  • Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing in “The Lottery” to create a sense of unease and anticipation in the reader. She drops hints throughout the story that the lottery is not going to have a happy ending, such as the ominous description of the villagers gathering and the reference to the “bad” lottery in nearby towns. By doing so, Jackson builds tension and a sense of dread that culminates in the shocking and violent conclusion.
  • What does “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson say about human nature?
  • “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson suggests that humans have a tendency to blindly follow tradition and groupthink, even when it goes against their morals and values. The people in the community are willing to sacrifice one of their own every year because that’s what they’ve always done, and they’re afraid to break from tradition. Jackson’s story shows how easily people can be swayed by group dynamics and the power of tradition, even when it leads to violence and harm.
  • How does “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson critique society?
  • “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a critique of society’s tendency to blindly follow tradition and the harm it can cause. Jackson’s story shows how easily people can be controlled by tradition and the pressure to conform, even when it goes against their own morals and values. By depicting the violent and ritualized sacrifice of a community member, Jackson exposes the darker side of societal norms and traditions and the danger of blindly accepting them.

Literary Works Similar to “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

  • Works with Similar Themes:
  • “ The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas ” by Ursula K. Le Guin: Explores the concept of a utopian society built upon the suffering of one individual.
  • “ Harrison Bergeron ” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Satirizes the dangers of enforced equality and conformity in a dystopian future.
  • “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find ” by Flannery O’Connor: Explores themes of violence, morality, and the grotesque in the American South.
  • “ The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Uses a first-person narrative to create a sense of psychological horror and societal expectations.
  • “ We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson: Explores the isolation and unsettling family dynamics within a seemingly normal setting.
  • The Veldt by Ray Bradbury: Creates a chilling atmosphere with a focus on technology, childhood desires, and the darkness within seemingly perfect families.

Suggested Readings: “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

  • Westlake, Sarah. “Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’: An Allegory of Our Times?”. Studies in Short Fiction , vol. 21, no. 3, 1984, pp. 363-369. JSTOR: [invalid URL removed]
  • Melville, Dana. “Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’: The Logic of Sacrifice.” The Kenyon Review , n.s., vol. 9, no. 4, 1997, pp. 127-141. JSTOR: [invalid URL removed]
  • Burlingame, Sandra K. Shirley Jackson: A Literary Life . Viking, 1997.
  • Franklin, H. Bruce. The Lottery: A Social History of Gambling in America . Knopf, 1999.
  • SparkNotes . “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. SparkNotes:
  • Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: Themes.” Shmoop University . Shmoop: ([This is a free resource])

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analytical essay of the lottery

Analysis of 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson

Taking Tradition to Task

ThoughtCo / Hilary Allison

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When Shirley Jackson's chilling story "The Lottery" was first published in 1948 in The New Yorker , it generated more letters than any work of fiction the magazine had ever published. Readers were furious, disgusted, occasionally curious, and almost uniformly bewildered.

The public outcry over the story can be attributed, in part, to The New Yorker 's practice at the time of publishing works without identifying them as fact or fiction. Readers were also presumably still reeling from the horrors of World War II. Yet, though times have changed and we all now know the story is fiction, "The Lottery" has maintained its grip on readers decade after decade.

"The Lottery" is one of the most widely known stories in American literature and American culture. It has been adapted for radio, theater, television, and even ballet. The Simpsons television show included a reference to the story in its "Dog of Death" episode (season three).

"The Lottery" is available to subscribers of The New Yorker and is also available in The Lottery and Other Stories , a collection of Jackson's work with an introduction by the writer A. M. Homes. You can hear Homes read and discuss the story with fiction editor Deborah Treisman at The New Yorker for free.

Plot Summary

"The Lottery" takes place on June 27, a beautiful summer day, in a small New England village where all the residents are gathering for their traditional annual lottery. Though the event first appears festive, it soon becomes clear that no one wants to win the lottery. Tessie Hutchinson seems unconcerned about the tradition until her family draws the dreaded mark. Then she protests that the process wasn't fair. The "winner," it turns out, will be stoned to death by the remaining residents. Tessie wins, and the story closes as the villagers—including her own family members—begin to throw rocks at her.

Dissonant Contrasts

The story achieves its terrifying effect primarily through Jackson's skillful use of contrasts , through which she keeps the reader's expectations at odds with the action of the story.

The picturesque setting contrasts sharply with the horrific violence of the conclusion. The story takes place on a beautiful summer day with flowers "blossoming profusely" and the grass "richly green." When the boys begin gathering stones, it seems like typical, playful behavior, and readers might imagine that everyone has gathered for something pleasant like a picnic or a parade.

Just as fine weather and family gatherings might lead us to expect something positive, so, too, does the word "lottery," which usually implies something good for the winner. Learning what the "winner" really gets is all the more horrifying because we have expected the opposite.

Like the peaceful setting, the villagers' casual attitude as they make small talk— some even cracking jokes—belies the violence to come. The narrator's perspective seems completely aligned with the villagers', so events are narrated in the same matter-of-fact, everyday manner that the villagers use.

The narrator notes, for instance, that the town is small enough that the lottery can be "through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." The men stand around talking of ordinary concerns like "planting and rain, tractors and taxes." The lottery, like "the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program," is just another of the "civic activities" conducted by Mr. Summers.

Readers may find that the addition of murder makes the lottery quite different from a square dance, but the villagers and the narrator evidently do not.

Hints of Unease

If the villagers were thoroughly numb to the violence—if Jackson had misled her readers entirely about where the story was heading—I don't think "The Lottery" would still be famous. But as the story progresses, Jackson gives escalating clues to indicate that something is amiss.

Before the lottery starts, the villagers keep "their distance" from the stool with the black box on it, and they hesitate when Mr. Summers asks for help. This is not necessarily the reaction you might expect from people who are looking forward to the lottery.

It also seems somewhat unexpected that the villagers talk as if drawing the tickets is difficult work that requires a man to do it. Mr. Summers asks Janey Dunbar, "Don't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?" And everyone praises the Watson boy for drawing for his family. "Glad to see your mother's got a man to do it," says someone in the crowd.

The lottery itself is tense. People do not look around at each other. Mr. Summers and the men drawing slips of paper grin "at one another nervously and humorously."

On first reading, these details might strike the reader as odd, but they can be explained in a variety of ways -- for instance, that people are very nervous because they want to win. Yet when Tessie Hutchinson cries, "It wasn't fair!" readers realize there has been an undercurrent of tension and violence in the story all along.

What Does "The Lottery" Mean?

As with many stories, there have been countless interpretations of "The Lottery." For instance, the story has been read as a comment on World War II or as a Marxist critique of an entrenched social order . Many readers find Tessie Hutchinson to be a reference to Anne Hutchinson , who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious reasons. (But it's worth noting that Tessie doesn't really protest the lottery on principle—she protests only her own death sentence.)

Regardless of which interpretation you favor, "The Lottery" is, at its core, a story about the human capacity for violence, especially when that violence is couched in an appeal to tradition or social order.

Jackson's narrator tells us that "no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box." But although the villagers like to imagine that they're preserving tradition, the truth is that they remember very few details, and the box itself is not the original. Rumors swirl about songs and salutes, but no one seems to know how the tradition started or what the details should be.

The only thing that remains consistent is the violence, which gives some indication of the villagers' priorities (and perhaps all of humanity's). Jackson writes, "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones."

One of the starkest moments in the story is when the narrator bluntly states, "A stone hit her on the side of the head." From a grammatical standpoint, the sentence is structured so that no one actually threw the stone—it's as if the stone hit Tessie of its own accord. All the villagers participate (even giving Tessie's young son some pebbles to throw), so no one individually takes responsibility for the murder. And that, to me, is Jackson's most compelling explanation of why this barbaric tradition manages to continue.

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analytical essay of the lottery

The Lottery

Shirley jackson, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Shirley Jackson's The Lottery . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Lottery: Introduction

The lottery: plot summary, the lottery: detailed summary & analysis, the lottery: themes, the lottery: quotes, the lottery: characters, the lottery: symbols, the lottery: theme wheel, brief biography of shirley jackson.

The Lottery PDF

Historical Context of The Lottery

Other books related to the lottery.

  • Full Title: The Lottery
  • Where Written: North Bennington, Vermont
  • When Published: June 26, 1948
  • Literary Period: Modernism
  • Genre: Realistic Fiction; Dystopian Literature
  • Setting: A rural small town, mid-twentieth century
  • Climax: Tessie Hutchinson is stoned to death by her neighbors, which reveals the purpose of the mysterious annual lottery.
  • Antagonist: The tradition of the lottery, the human inclination toward violence
  • Point of View: Third Person

Extra Credit for The Lottery

Readers’ Responses. When the New Yorker published “The Lottery” in June of 1948, the magazine received hundreds of written responses to the piece, which were characterized, according to Jackson, with “bewilderment, speculation, and old-fashioned abuse.” Many readers went so far as to cancel their subscriptions to the New Yorker due to its publication of the story. The reaction to the story was so dramatic that Jackson issued a statement about it in the San Francisco Chronicle , explaining her purpose in crafting the story as an attempt to “shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.”

Banned in the Union of South Africa. The story was banned in South Africa, a fact which (as Jackson’s husband later reported) pleased Jackson. He wrote that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned ‘The Lottery,’ and she felt that they at least understood the story.”

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The Lottery

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Analysis: “The Lottery”

“The Lottery,” a short story by Shirley Jackson published in 1948, caused a sensation with its tale of a pleasant American town where, each summer, one citizen is chosen by random lottery and stoned to death. The story presents an extreme case of conventional thinking and mindless group action untethered by reason or compassion. When it published the story, The New Yorker magazine received a firestorm of criticism, hate mail, and cancelled subscriptions. Today, however, “The Lottery” is widely considered a classic of horror fiction.

Though her career was cut short at age 48, author Shirley Jackson was prolific, writing hundreds of short stories and several novels, most of them in the mystery and horror genres. Her most famous creations are the controversial short story The Lottery and the gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House ); both are regarded as superlative examples of horror fiction, and both have been adapted for stage and screen.

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The Lottery Critical Analysis

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a classic American short story that tells the tale of a small town that participates in a horrific annual tradition. The story follows the townspeople as they go about their everyday lives, leading up to the moment when they must choose one person to sacrifice. The lottery is portrayed as a very dark and disturbing event, and Jackson does an excellent job of making the reader feel the tension and suspense that comes with it. The story is a great example of the power of tradition, and how it can be used to control people. It is also a reminder of how dangerous it can be to blindly follow traditions without question.

The tale ‘The Lottery’ was written by Shirley Jackson, and the author builds up suspense toward the end of the story. The narrative takes place in a little town where people are friendly and tradition is important. A lottery is held annually in which one individual in the village is chosen at random by a drawing to be brutally stoned by friends and relatives. This is a traditional custom that is said to promote good agricultural results. Every resident of the community participates in the lottery drawing, which has been taking place for more than 77 years.

The story looks at the role of tradition in society and how it can be used to control people. The lottery is a tradition that is used to control the people in the town, as it gives them something to focus on and something to fear. The lottery is also used to keep people in line, as it is a way of reminding them of their place in society. The story is a warning about the dangers of blindly following tradition and not questioning why things are done. It is also a reminder that even the most innocent seeming traditions can have dark and dangerous consequences.

The opening of the tale is drastically different from the conclusion; at first, we have no clue what the lottery is, and we don’t realize it’s responsible for someone’s death every year. We should believe it’s a typical lottery in which numbers are chosen; however, by the end of the narrative, we discover that we couldn’t have been more wrong. The tone is surprisingly bright early on in the story, and there is a genuine sense of normality. As a result of this surprise at the conclusion of the narrative, suspense builds as we learn that “The Lottery” isn’t our usual lottery.

The story is set in a small village, on a Summer’s day. The villagers are all very friendly to each other and seem to know each other well. The author uses excellent descriptive language to create an image of the setting. The village sounds like a lovely place to live, with green grass and flowers everywhere. We get the impression that the people who live there are very traditional as they still use ‘Old man Warner’ who is the oldest man in the village, as their guide for the lottery.

He has been attending the lottery for seventy-seven years and says that when he was young, people were much more superstitious about it than they are now. This suggests that over time, the lottery has lost its meaning for the people and they no longer believe in it as much as they used to. The lottery is very important to the village as it is something that has been passed down from generation to generation.

The way that Shirley Jackson has written the story, we do not find out what the lottery is until the end. She does this by gradually building up suspense throughout the story. The author uses foreshadowing effectively to hint at what is going to happen. For example, when Tessie Hutchinson arrives late for the lottery, her husband says ‘clean forgot what day it was’. This makes us think that maybe Tessie knew what was going to happen and was trying to avoid it. The fact that Old man Warner thinks that getting rid of the lottery would be foolish also suggests that something bad is going to happen. The use of foreshadowing creates a sense of unease in the reader as we wait to find out what the lottery is.

When we finally find out what the lottery is, it is a huge shock. The fact that it is a person who gets stoned to death every year is very shocking. The way that Shirley Jackson has written the story, we feel just as shocked as the character of Tessie Hutchinson when she realizes she has been chosen. The villagers seem to accept what happens without question and this makes us question their morals. The ending of the story is extremely powerful and leaves us feeling shocked and disturbed.

In conclusion, Shirley Jackson has written an excellent short story which is full of suspense. The use of foreshadowing is effective in hinting at what is to come. The ending is shocking and leaves us feeling disturbed. The story makes us question the morals of the villagers.

During her narrative, Shirley Jackson fails to disclose crucial information, as we are not informed explicitly what the lottery is. The violent ending and coda of “The Lottery” were foreshadowed in many of the details given to us throughout the story. Children put stones in their pockets and build piles of stones in the town square until it’s revealed that they’re there for a sinister purpose at the conclusion of the tale.

The black box is also a key symbol in “The Lottery” as it represents tradition and the blind following of said tradition. The box is old and battered, showing that the lottery has been around for a long time. The fact that it is black also suggests death, which is ironic as the winner of the lottery will be killed.

When Tessie Hutchinson is selected as the winner of the lottery, she protests and says that it isn’t fair. This shows that she does not want to die, despite the fact that she has participated in the lottery every year. Her husband tries to comfort her, saying that it isn’t anyone’s fault, again highlighting the blindness of following tradition without question. The fact that Tessie Hutchinson is the one to be killed also makes her a symbol of sacrifice. She is giving up her life so that the crops will be good and her family will be safe.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story that uses symbolism to hint at the violent climax of the tale. The stones, black box, and Tessie Hutchinson are all key symbols in the story which help to foreshadow the ending.

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analytical essay of the lottery

The University of Chicago The Law School

Inside higher ed covers analysis from sonja starr on changes to college essay prompts, re-evaluating the ‘essay carveout’.

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in two lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last summer, the justices seemed to leave room for colleges to consider race through applicants’ essay responses.

“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA).

Sonja Starr, a law professor at the University of Chicago, has been analyzing changes to college essay prompts since the fall. She told  Inside Higher Ed  that the “essay carveout,” as it’s often called, is a “meaningful path forward” for colleges trying to maintain their racial diversity. Her report on “ Admissions Essays After SFFA ,” published last month in the  Indiana Law Journal , suggests that many selective colleges are taking the approach seriously, too.

Read more at Inside Higher Ed

analytical essay of the lottery

2024 NBA mock draft: Top pick projections after Hawks win draft lottery

The 2024 NBA Draft is still over one month away, but the top of the draft order is set after Sunday's NBA draft lottery .

The Atlanta Hawks , a play-in tournament team this year, won the No. 1 overall pick in the lottery. They're followed by the Washington Wizards , Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs in the first four picks of the draft.

Early analysis suggests there isn't much drama surrounding the draft's top pick, with almost all projections having the Hawks take French center Alexandre Sarr No. 1 overall. However, new mock drafts suggest there isn't as much of a consensus with the next several picks.

From NFL plays to college sports scores, all the top sports news you need to know every day.

Here's how the latest mock drafts around the web project this year's top picks to go after the draft lottery set the early order.

NBA MOCK DRAFT: Atlanta Hawks projected to take Alex Sarr with No. 1 pick

2024 NBA Draft projections

No. 1 overall pick, atlanta hawks.

Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY : Alex Sarr, C, Perth (Australia) Wildcats

Zillgitt writes: "A strong defender and shot-blocker who plays with force on both ends; has good hands, uses his body well and though he doesn’t have the prettiest shot, he gets it to go in."

Kevin O'Connor, The Ringer : Alex Sarr, C, Perth (Australia) Wildcats

O'Connor writes: "[W]ill Atlanta use the pick to try to bolster the roster around one or both of its star guards? Or will the Hawks take this opportunity to go full rebuild? Sarr is a choice that could send them in either direction; he’s an excellent defender who brings versatility and could come to life in a two-man game with [Trae] Young or [Dejounte] Murray."

Jonathan Wasserman, Bleacher Report : Alex Sarr, C, Perth (Australia) Wildcats

Wasserman writes: "With Clint Capela entering the final year of his deal, there would be a clear pathway to the starting 5 spot for the 7'1", 19-year-old who blocks shots and switches effortlessly around the perimeter."

No. 2 overall pick, Washington Wizards

Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY : Zaccharie Risacher, SF, JL Bourg (France)

Zillgitt writes: "Has the scoring ability, size, length, quickness and athleticism teams are seeking in today’s NBA. Quick release on catch-and-shoots, is able to create off the dribble and runs the court well."

Kevin O'Connor, The Ringer: Donovan Clingan, C, UConn

O'Connor writes: "While there are no certainties in the draft, let’s lean on the safer side in this mock and select Clingan, who could offer the type of rim protection that Washington has been missing for years."

Jonathan Wasserman, Bleacher Report: Zaccharie Risacher, SF, JL Bourg (France)

Wasserman writes: "The draw to Risacher revolves around his outstanding positional tools/athleticism, shotmaking and defensive court coverage, a combination that suggests Washington would still get a valuable three-and-D wing in a worst-case scenario with no on-ball improvement."

No. 3 overall pick, Houston Rockets

Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY : Nikola Topić, PG, Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)

Zillgitt writes: "The Serbian point guard, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, has great size for his position; loves to drive to the rim and can finish with either hand; can shoot the 3 but will need to improve his percentage. Strong passer, not flashy, but sees the court and can make the right pass."

Kevin O'Connor, The Ringer: Nikola Topić, PG, Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)

O'Connor writes: "There’d be no pressure for Topic with Fred VanVleet already under contract. He could learn from him while working to improve his jumper and adjusting to NBA physicality."

Jonathan Wasserman, Bleacher Report: Reed Sheppard, PG, Kentucky

Wasserman writes: "As a 6'3" combo, Sheppard would ideally be playing next to a big point guard, and Houston could have one in Amen Thompson, who could also use Sheppard's floor-spacing shooting next to him on the wing."

DRAFT LOTTERY: Winners and losers: What Hawks' win means for top picks, NBA

When is the 2024 NBA Draft?

  • Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
  • When: June 26-27, 2024
  • Cable TV: ESPN; ABC
  • Streaming : ESPN+ ; fuboTV

HOW TO WATCH: Watch the 2024 NBA Draft with a subscription to ESPN+

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2024 NBA mock draft: Top pick projections after Hawks win draft lottery

May 12, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields reacts after getting the number one pick in the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery at McCormick Place West.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Lottery — Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”: A Rhetorical Analysis

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analytical essay of the lottery

2024 NBA mock draft: Projecting all 58 picks post-lottery

analytical essay of the lottery

The Atlanta Hawks won the 2024 NBA draft lottery Sunday, securing the No. 1 overall pick on June 26. It will be the first time the Hawks have ever had the top pick.

Unlike last year, when Victor Wembanyama was the clear-cut No. 1 prospect, there's not a consensus top player on draft boards for the 2024 class. Going into this week's NBA combine, the top two prospects are French players: Zaccharie Risacher (Bourg) and Alex Sarr (Perth). Two college prospects are close behind them: UConn's Donovan Clingan and Kentucky's Rob Dillingham .

Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo share their first mock draft post-lottery, which reflects a thorough evaluation of the 2024 class and considers intel from scouts and front office personnel.

analytical essay of the lottery

FIRST ROUND

analytical essay of the lottery

1. Atlanta Hawks

NBA

NBA mock draft 2024: Alex Sarr to Hawks in first post-lottery projection

The 2024 NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone, with what is seen as an unpredictable draft also featuring an unpredictable lottery.

The Atlanta Hawks spiked all the way up to the No. 1 overall pick despite having the 10th-best odds and only a 3 percent chance at winning. The Washington Wizards were the only team with one of the league’s four worst records to stay in the top four; they’ll pick second. The Houston Rockets will pick third after jumping into the top four from the No. 9 odds using a pick they acquired from the Brooklyn Nets . The San Antonio Spurs will pick fourth and eighth after receiving the Toronto Raptors’ first-round pick amid all of the chaos.

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This draft class is still seen as weak among NBA teams, particularly those at the top. I will not rank anyone in my Tier 1 or Tier 2, the first time that’s happened since I began using this system. Over the last two years, I’ve ranked nine players that highly, but this class doesn’t have anyone I’d consider a top-three pick in a normal draft.

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NBA teams believe a number of players in the top 10 can help fill out their rosters and round out their cores. This draft is light on shooting, especially within the top group of players, but it possesses solid wing depth near the top, a number of smaller guards who profile as potential starters and some bigs as far down as the late-first, early-second-round range who should be rotation players in the future.

There are players to be found in every class. This year just might be riskier than prior seasons.

Here’s where we stand now that we officially have a draft order. (Ages listed are as of draft night; heights listed are NBA Draft Combine or G League Elite Camp measurements without shoes, when available) :

1. Atlanta Hawks

Alex sarr | 7-0 big | 19 years old | perth wildcats.

Sarr emerged early in this draft cycle as a potential No. 1 pick. His performance against the G League Ignite in early September had scouts coming away believing he was the best prospect on the court.

Sarr is a difference-maker on defense who covers a ton of ground with his arms and quick feet, similar to bigs such as Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. , Cleveland ’s Evan Mobley and Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton . He flies around rotating off the ball and can handle himself in a variety of ball-screen coverages, ranging from switching to drop. If he’s waiting at the rim and opponents challenge him, odds are he’ll get contest the shot, if not outright block it.

The other end is the question. Sarr has shown potential as a rim runner in ball screens, but for the most part, his offensive game involves pick-and-pops, and he doesn’t make great screen contact. He’s not a high-impact defensive rebounder, which has led to some questioning if he can consistently play center in the NBA. If Sarr indeed requires a more physical center alongside him, his limited offensive game may be exposed. He’s best served playing next to a floor-spacing five, or he’d need to become a dangerous perimeter shooter himself.

There is not really a consensus among teams about what the Hawks will do at the top. I’ve given them Sarr here because they finished in the bottom four on defense last season and have Clint Capela entering the final year of his contract. Sarr makes the most sense, at least.

2. Washington Wizards

Nikola topić | 6-6 lead guard | 18 years old | crvena zvezda.

Topić returned to play for Crvena zvezda recently following a knee injury that kept him out three months. He’s coming off the bench for a loaded team that features a number of EuroLeague stalwarts, and his games so far have been more in line with a mid-first-round pick as opposed to a top-three guy.

Why is he placed this highly, then? Because in 13 Adriatic League games for Mega Basket before his transfer to Crvena zvezda, Topić averaged 18.6 points and 6.9 assists while shooting 52.4 percent from the field. He’s a dynamic ball-screen distributor and consistently lives in the paint in the Adriatic League, which consists of teams from the six countries that once made up Yugoslavia. He can execute nearly every pass in the book once he gets a downhill advantage and hits teammates with flair and creativity. Topić also scores proficiently at the rim, using inventive touch to finish high off the glass and around rim protectors.

Scouts have consistently brought up two issues with Topić’s game: First, where is he as a shooter? He makes his free throws but is an inconsistent marksman from 3-point range. If he can’t make enough jumpers to keep defenses honest, how will that affect the rest of his game? The second question is whether he can get separation from NBA opponents who are quicker than the slower players who make up the Adriatic League. On the other hand, Topić may benefit from the wider spacing of an NBA game.

The Wizards have shown a willingness to go international under general manager Will Dawkins and need a point guard with Tyus Jones hitting free agency and not necessarily being a top-half-of-the-league starter.

3. Houston Rockets

Donovan clingan  | 7-2 center | 20 years old | connecticut.

Clingan had a monster finish to his season, helping to lead Connecticut to the national title while averaging 13.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.9 blocks over his last 18 games, including 16 points, 9.4 rebounds and three blocks per game in his last seven. After returning from ankle and foot injuries and getting back up to speed, he was one of the most dominant players in college basketball.

Using his enormous frame, Clingan shuts down the paint when he’s in the game. He moves well for his size and is elite in drop coverage defensively, stopping ballhandlers from turning the corner on him and getting to the rim. His ability to backpedal on-balance is rare for his size. When not defending the ball, he makes his presence felt when necessary.

The other part of Clingan’s game that impressed evaluators was his passing. In the back half of the season, he became an excellent dribble-handoff big, as well as a playmaker for cutters and shooters off kickouts. He’s a sharp screener and knows how to play in a modern offense.

Clingan is firmly in the mix, along with all of the players above him, to go No. 1. He was within the NBA’s top-six prospects in the memo to teams outlining who will be allowed access to his medical information.

The Rockets traded for Steven Adams in the spring, but the veteran center only has one year left on his deal. That trade could be taken as a sign that Rockets coach Ime Udoka wants to find a defensive difference-maker on the interior even with Alperen Şengün in the fold. The Rockets are extremely well-stocked with young players across the board, so this pick is a luxury with which they can take the highest impact player available.

4. San Antonio Spurs

Zaccharie risacher | 6-8 wing/forward | 19 years old | jl bourg.

The French wing has produced at a high level in EuroCup competition. Through May 10, he’s averaging 10.7 points across EuroCup and French League games while shooting 46 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from 3 and 71.9 percent from the free-throw line. He’s rebounding at a reasonable rate for a wing and has shown some passing and decision-making chops, but he’s in the middle of a serious downturn, having made just 22 percent of his 3s since Jan. 31. He has struggled to consistently make an impact in games since then.

The opinions NBA team and scouting personnel have shared with me on Risacher are all over the map. Some still view him as a contender for the No. 1 pick and attribute his downturn to fatigue from playing nearly 60 professional games already this season as a teenager. Others rank him closer to the middle of the top 10, while others view him more in the Nos. 8-12 range. The worry is Risacher might not have enough on-ball upside to warrant a top-five pick, even in this class.

Big wings with ball skills, shooting ability and off-ball defensive coverage, however, are hard to find. If you believe in Risacher’s jumper translating despite its recent downturn, his future has a pretty high floor.

The Spurs now have two top-10 picks and can easily look to bolster their depth across the wings and backcourt around Victor Wembanyama . Here, I have them taking Risacher, another Frenchman whose feel for the game, shooting and length would make a lot of sense.

5. Detroit Pistons

Matas buzelis | 6-9 wing/forward | 19 years old | g league ignite.

Buzelis has benefited from multiple factors all occurring at once in this class.

First, his size, off-ball capabilities and athleticism with the ball in transition make him a high-upside swing in a draft class lacking in them. Second, bigger wings with somewhat similar profiles, such as Charlotte ’s Brandon Miller , Memphis’ G.G. Jackson, Washington’s Bilal Coulibaly and Houston’s Cam Whitmore , put together promising rookie seasons while displaying skills they didn’t consistently showcase in their pre-draft seasons.

Still, Buzelis did not have an ideal pre-draft campaign playing on a catastrophically bad G League Ignite team that struggled to compete in games. He averaged 14.1 points per game but only shot 45.5 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from 3, though he upped those numbers to 17.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 blocks over his last 13 games. He also won some plaudits from scouts for his play in the Rising Stars event at All-Star Weekend, where he helped the G League team upset a roster of NBA rookies and sophomores that included Victor Wembanyama.

There are certainly questions about Buzelis even after his in-season improvement, and shooting is the one that comes up most. Buzelis shot the ball well the season before at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas but hasn’t been consistent during his youth career. While Buzelis was able to fit into an offensive role with G League Ignite instead of pressing the issue, scouts wish they’d have learned more about his ability to create on his own. Additionally, while Buzelis’ off-ball defense has largely won over scouts, he struggled on the ball this past season in large part due to a lack of strength.

The Pistons desperately need a four in their core, and Buzelis profiles well as a good fit next to Cade Cunningham as long as the team believes in his jumper.

go-deeper

Why the Pistons should trade the No. 5 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft

6. Charlotte Hornets

Stephon castle  | 6-6 wing | 19 years old | connecticut.

Castle’s performance in the NCAA Tournament, including a 21-point Final Four game and a 15-point national title game, seems to have cemented his status as a top-eight pick. He was included in the No. 2 through No. 6 range of the NBA’s recent memo to teams outlining which will be granted access to his medical information.

NBA released a 78-player list for the 2024 Draft Combine in Chicago this month. Teams vote on participants, which include Bronny James. New "Top 10 Players" ranked for which teams are able to access Combine information: pic.twitter.com/AoRpaSnCFw — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 3, 2024

Once the calendar turned to 2024, Castle averaged 11.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and three assists over 27 games while shooting 47.6 percent from the field. He was the connective tissue for the best team in the country, playing high-level defense across multiple different player types and initiating the team’s offense at times. He was the only freshman in the country who consistently made an impact for a high-major winning team on both ends of the court.

Castle is seen largely as a secondary ballhandler, so his future will be tied to his ability to improve his jumper. Can he consistently knock down shots? He only made 26.7 percent from 3 this past season, and while nothing is broken with his jumper mechanically, he also didn’t consistently knock down shots from distance in the past. If he can make perimeter shots, he has significant upside.

Castle makes a ton of sense for the Hornets as a secondary ballhandler between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. He’s also a tough-minded defender who can take difficult assignments across the perimeter.

7. Portland Trail Blazers

Dalton knecht | 6-5 wing | 23 years old | tennessee.

Knecht scored at a dizzying pace, averaging 25.5 points in 18 SEC games while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from 3. Overall, he averaged 21.7 points per game on 46 percent from the field, but those stats are dragged down by a stretch during which he played at less than 100 percent following an ankle injury against North Carolina .

Great college players aren’t always great NBA players, but the style of Knecht’s game makes him a likely lottery pick. Everything he does offensively should translate to NBA settings. Not only is he a terrific shooter, proficient in spot-up situations and off movement, but he’s also a higher-end athlete than most floor spacers. He can sky in transition and finish inside with hang time. He simply has a knack for scoring.

The draft gets a bit wild here. I’m not sure any of the remaining top prospects included in the 7-10 range in the NBA’s memo outlining medical information access make a ton of sense for the Blazers. Knecht can knock down shots at a high level next to Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe long term, which would be very valuable.

analytical essay of the lottery

8. San Antonio Spurs (via Raptors)

Reed sheppard | 6-2 guard | 20 years old | kentucky.

Evaluators who work for NBA teams remain all over the map with Sheppard. Some see him as a legitimate top-five prospect, while others peg him more in the later lottery.

The good stuff: Sheppard averaged 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting an absurd 53.6 percent from the field and 52.1 percent from 3. He also blocked nearly a shot per game and grabbed 2.5 steals. Offensively, Sheppard is potent leading the fast break or delivering hit-ahead passes to his teammates. Those attributes, when combined with his elite shooting, make Sheppard one of the best connective players in this class. His games against Mississippi State (32 points, seven assists and five rebounds on Feb. 27) and Tennessee (27 points, five rebounds and five assists on March 9) were eye-openers for NBA personnel who wanted to see him play more of a primary point guard role.

Questions certainly remain. Sheppard is listed at just 6-3, and scouts are skeptical he’s that tall. He lacks the length or athleticism typical of a top-10 pick, and he left a bad final impression by struggling mightily in Kentucky’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland. His defense can be hit or miss; he’s disruptive and reads plays incredibly early but also suffers off-ball lapses and can be targeted for mismatches against switches.

Teams must decide if they believe in his production, shooting and basketball IQ or worry that his tools won’t translate? I believe in Sheppard, but I’m not the one making the picks.

The Spurs can get a guard of the future here to pair with Wembanyama. Sheppard would tick multiple boxes for the Spurs, and it would be a home run for them to end up with one of the bigger wings in the lottery.

9. Memphis Grizzlies

Ron holland | 6-7 wing | 18 years old | g league ignite.

Holland was the Ignite’s most productive player this past season, averaging 19.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while being one of the team’s few offensive creators. Most of those points, however, came in transition or inefficiently in half-court settings. He had a below-average true shooting percentage and more turnovers than assists as he struggled with his decision-making. That’s somewhat to be expected from an 18-year-old playing professionally for the first time, but it also left evaluators in a tricky spot as they try to determine where to slot him. He also ended up missing the end of the G League season with a thumb injury that held him out of competition as he was improving.

Holland’s motor is what excites NBA teams most. He constantly plays hard, getting the most out of his terrific athleticism by going 100 percent at every moment. His energy can sometimes bite him on defense, when he gets overaggressive and overly physical. But amid the Ignite’s poor season, Holland showed a real capacity for growth that impressed many scouts.

Holland’s range is quite wide, as teams are still trying to figure out his exact NBA niche if his jumper never improves; he hit just 24 percent of his 3s this past season. But it was a good sign that he was placed within the NBA’s top-10 prospects in the memo to teams outlining who will be granted access to his medical information.

10. Utah Jazz

Rob dillingham | 6-1 guard | 19 years old | kentucky.

Dillingham is a prospect with dizzying highs and significant question marks. Scouts love his touch and elite speed with the ball in his hands. He averaged 15.2 points and 3.9 assists per game this season while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3. He maintains control well despite playing at a fast pace, uses a bevy of quick crossovers and maximizes his speed with well-timed hesitation moves to change pace. Evaluators are confident he will be able to separate from his man in the NBA.

He’s also listed at 6-3, and many scouts aren’t convinced he’ll even measure that tall at the combine. That lack of size impacts Dillingham as a finisher at times and causes issues on the other end. Dillingham may be the worst defender in the class, given his struggles getting over screens at the point of attack and issues dealing with any mismatch. He also can get distracted off the ball, with poorly timed digs and rotations.

Can Dillingham be a starting point guard, or is he more of a bench sparkplug? Is he a good enough distributor to be the former, or is he too much of a score-first guard? Can he hold up on defense well enough to close key games? I feel confident Dillingham will produce in the NBA, but we’ll see if his output impacts winning.

The Jazz could use another creative guard within the youngest part of their core. Dillingham’s electricity with the ball in his hands, mixed with Keyonte George ’s shot making, would be a very fun offensive combo for coach Will Hardy.

11. Chicago Bulls

Isaiah collier | 6-3 guard | 19 years old | usc.

Collier is one of the toughest players to evaluate in this class. He started the season on fire and looked like a candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick but tailed off as USC fell apart. He struggled with turnovers and defense before hurting his hand and missing time.

Once he returned, he took the Pac-12 by storm. As USC closed the season as one of the better teams in the Pac-12, Collier averaged 18.7 points and 4.3 assists in his final seven games while shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3. He was the bruising, powerful, bowling-ball-like driver we saw early in college and throughout his high school career, reaching the foul line to the tune of seven free-throw attempts per night.

Collier is an impressive downhill athlete who lives in the paint and has the wherewithal to hit kickouts and dump-offs for assists. Despite his size and strength, he has not been an impactful defender in any way, struggling to stay in front of opposing guards and wings. There are still questions about his feel for the game and shooting ability. And yet, it’s hard to find players who live at the free-throw line and possess Collier’s sheer force and athleticism.

The Bulls are one of the tougher teams to figure out in the NBA. They have bigger issues to focus on this summer, including DeMar DeRozan ’s free agency and Zach LaVine ’s future.

go-deeper

NBA Draft 2024: John Hollinger's Top 20 prospects — who's No. 1?

12. Oklahoma City Thunder (via Rockets)

Cody williams | 6-7 wing | 19 years old | colorado.

The brother of Thunder wing  Jalen Williams , Cody Williams profiles as the kind of prized high-end prospect who can pressure the rim, pass, make plays and potentially defend multiple positions.

At 6-8 with long arms, Williams has shown the ability to play some point guard this past season in addition to attacking in transition and slashing from the wing in a straight line. He struggled to finish after an ankle injury sapped a lot of his explosiveness, but in his previous 14 games, he’d been averaging 15.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 60.6 percent from the field.

Scouts worry more about Williams’ self-creation upside. These days, NBA wings must be able to create and knock down pull-up jumpers. That’s not a part of Williams’ game right now, and it wasn’t in high school, either. If he can show any upside as a pull-up shooter, NBA teams would feel better about taking him in the top three. Even so, many evaluators have him in the top-six range. However, it was telling that Williams was left off the NBA’s consensus top-10 prospects in this class in the memo to teams outlining who will be allowed access to his medical information.

Oklahoma City can afford to take a flier on another wing like this, and it doesn’t hurt that Williams’ wildly competitive brother would be around to push him.

13. Sacramento Kings

Jared mccain | 6-2 guard | 20 years old | duke.

McCain was seen as a potential one-and-done lottery prospect entering the season, but a slow start made evaluators pause as they waited to see how he’d settle in. Over the last two-thirds of the season, McCain was one of the best freshman scorers in high-major college basketball. Starting with Duke’s Dec. 9 game against Charlotte, McCain averaged 16.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists over his last 28 games. He made 41.6 percent of his 6.4 3-point attempts per game during that span and was consistently getting into the lane in transition or when driving closeouts. Many scouts see McCain being a high-level shooter even by NBA standards, often invoking Seth Curry ’s name as a potential comparison.

The key for McCain will be showing he can impact games in other ways. He rebounds well for a small guard and makes good decisions, but there isn’t much margin for error for him considering he’s 6-3 and doesn’t possess a ton of length. The Kings might lose Malik Monk this summer in free agency. McCain would be a good get for this team with his ability to run and provide spacing around De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis .

14. Portland Trail Blazers (via  Warriors )

Tidjane salaun | 6-9 wing/forward | 18 years old | cholet.

Salaun is a big forward with some perimeter skill. The 6-9 prospect has been productive in the French League and Basketball Champions League this season, averaging 9.5 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 32 percent from behind the 3-point line. He has a smooth stroke and also shows some upside handling the ball in transition.

Teams worry about Salaun’s feel for the game and overall skill level, but he’s enormous, plays hard and defends. I get the sense that team evaluators are higher on him than folks in the public. The Blazers love to take shots on upside, as shown by their run of picks under Joe Cronin’s front office, and Salaun would represent a big swing.

15.  Miami Heat

Devin carter | 6-2 guard | 22 years old | providence.

Carter was one of the best players in college basketball this past season. The son of former NBA point guard Anthony Carter, Devin was terrific in the 2022-23 season after transferring from South Carolina but leapt to another level this past campaign.

Carter has always been a terrific defensive player, rightfully nominated as a semifinalist for National Defensive Player of the Year. He is aggressive at the point of attack and has elite off-ball defensive instincts. His athleticism is basketball-functional and allows him to fly around the court. Plus, he processes the game as well as one would expect as the son of a former NBA player.

His biggest jump this past season came on offense. After years of being a questionable shooter, Carter hit 37.7 percent of his nearly seven 3-point attempts per game. His shot is something of a moon ball that arcs high in the air before falling, but it went in this season. He averaged 19.7 points and 8.7 rebounds.

His NBA role projects as a 3-and-D guard who can do a little bit more. That’s a perfect player for the Heat around Tyler Herro , Terry Rozier and others in their backcourt. It also doesn’t hurt that Anthony Carter played four seasons for the Heat and was a player development coach with them for five seasons before being hired by the Grizzlies last year.

16.  Philadelphia 76ers

Ja’kobe walter | 6-4 wing | 19 years old | baylor.

Walter had an up-and-down season, averaging 14.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He was an inconsistent shooter, although teams don’t worry about his long-term upside there. His shot looks clean and he can make them from a variety of situations.

Teams, however, worry about everything else. Walter isn’t really a lead guard because he doesn’t see the floor well as a passer. Defensively, Walter struggled at times to stay in front of players.

Scouts are split on Walter’s upside. Most don’t see him as a star, but they disagree on whether he’s a long-term NBA starter or merely a rotation player. Those who believe he will a high-level shooter despite making just 34.1 percent from 3 last season tend to be buyers. But his range is somewhere from No. 11 down to No. 22 or so, which is lower than what it was earlier in the season.

The 76ers are seen league-wide as a candidate to trade their pick. Either they will need to move their pick for a star, or they’ll need to create enough cap space to add a star and more talent in free agency.

analytical essay of the lottery

17. Los Angeles Lakers

Kyle filipowski | 6-11 big | 20 years old| duke.

The New Orleans Pelicans can choose to take the Lakers’ selection this year or wait to take it in 2025. That choice needs to be made by the start of June. I project the Pelicans defer to what is perceived as a stronger draft in 2025.

If the Lakers get the pick, Filipowski makes a ton of sense as a big man who can shoot and either pair well with Anthony Davis or serve as a third big. Filipowski averaged 16.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting about 50 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3 this season. He carried Duke through long stretches of games with his ability to catch the ball on the block and score, but pro scouts find his well-rounded perimeter game more appealing. Filipowski can shoot from the perimeter, attack heavy closeouts and bring the ball up the court in grab-and-go situations. His passing took a nice leap this past season, and he was more comfortable reading the court.

I also think Filipowski’s defense is better than its reputation. The Blue Devils had a top-16 defense in the country this past season, and he usually positions himself well, contests enough shots and can slide his feet a couple of times on an island to stay with wings and even some guards. It’s difficult to find 7-footers who can dribble, pass and shoot. Filipowski can do all three.

18.  Orlando Magic

Tristan da silva | 6-8 forward | 23 years old | colorado.

Da Silva has long been one of my favorites, but scouts have finally come around following his strong finish to the year and play in the NCAA Tournament. Over his final 14 games, da Silva averaged 17.1 points while shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from 3. He grabbed 4.6 rebounds, dished out 2.2 assists and grabbed 1.3 steals.

Da Silva is an extremely well-rounded player. He’s made nearly 40 percent from 3 over the last two seasons. He moves well without the ball but can also handle it himself and make good passing decisions. He processes the game quickly and plays at a high speed even if he doesn’t have great athletic tools himself. He isn’t an elite defender, but he’s smart, adequate against other forwards and sharp off the ball. He ticks a lot of boxes that make him profile well as a solid rotation player in today’s NBA.

He hits a lot of what the Magic could use in the frontcourt.

19.  Toronto Raptors (via  Pacers )

Yves missi | 6-11 big | 20 years old | baylor.

Missi is a project, but he’s one with elite tools that project to a clear NBA role. As a legitimate 7-footer with a 7-5 wingspan, Missi might have the best frame of any low-usage center prospect in the class. He’s a terrific athlete who moves his feet fluidly in space, given his size, and can sky for impressive lob finishes in transition and from the dunker spot underneath the hoop. He blocks shots well and has potential to stick with guards for multiple slides on defense. He made the Big 12 All-Defense team as a freshman while averaging 10.7 points per game on 61 percent from the field.

He profiles as a Clint Capela-style NBA big man who can guard a bit in space once he picks up the nuances of ball-screen coverage and protect the rim with his physical frame. He needs to put on some weight in his lower half and get stronger through his base, as he too often gets moved on the block and can struggle on the defensive glass. But he has the look of a competent defensive starting center if he can reach his ceiling.

The Raptors could use big-man depth behind Jakob Poeltl . They tried to fill that hole by drafting Christian Koloko early in the second round in 2022, but his blood clot issue forced the team to release him.

20. Cleveland Cavaliers

Bub carrington | 6-4 guard | 18 years old | pittsburgh.

Carrington was the talk of the scouting community after conference championship week, when he put together several monster games as Pittsburgh made a late push for an NCAA Tournament berth that came up short. His best games make him look like a future lottery pick. His worst games make him seem like a player who will be stuck in the G League for multiple years as he learns how to attack and make decisions.

I’ve come around on Carrington after digging deeper into his tape once the season ended. He is a monster pull-up shooter, a sharp passer and improved defender throughout the year. He was productive at Pittsburgh this season in averaging 13.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists, though he shot just 41.2 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from 3. He’s also the youngest high-level college player in the class, not turning 19 years old until July.

Any team that takes him will need to be patient and willing to go through some growing pains, but those willing to do so may end up with a lottery-level talent. His range is seen as being No. 15 to No. 35, but I bet he goes in the first round. The Cavs could use more scoring depth off the bench behind Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland , given that Caris LeVert is a free agent this summer.

21. New Orleans Pelicans (via MIL)

Zach edey  | 7-4 center | 22 years old | purdue.

Edey was the best player in college basketball, averaging 25.2 points, 12.2 rebounds and more than two blocks per game on his way to back-to-back National Player of the Year awards. He establishes position anywhere and everywhere on the court because of his size and strength, yet possesses remarkable touch around the rim. He’s somehow underrated in ball-screen actions. One could make the case that he’s the best screen-setter in the country with the way he consistently crushes guards trying to get through and rolls to the rim for deep post-ups or easy buckets. Edey has improved defensively over his time in college. He become a good, impactful drop-coverage pick-and-roll defender and takes up enough space to dissuade guard from driving and finishing around the basket.

The issue with his fit in the NBA are obvious: He’s a 7-4 supergiant who doesn’t move particularly well laterally. Can he stop ballhandlers from turning the corner on him defensively? Can he get back in transition in the up-and-down NBA?

The Pelicans might have a significant need at center with Jonas Valančiūnas hitting free agency. I’d rather have a center who can shoot from 3 next to Zion Williamson , but Edey is clearly the best big on the board at this point.

22.  Phoenix Suns

Johnny furphy | 6-8 wing | 19 years old | kansas.

Furphy has a lot of the attributes NBA teams seek when trying to identify projects worth a long-term investment. It’s hard to find wings with Furphy’s size and athleticism. He’s come a long way in just 18 months to even get to this point. His athleticism and shooting ability always made him an intriguing upside swing, but when he played at the Center of Excellence in Australia, he didn’t seem to know how to impact the game. He was up and down this past season at Kansas, but he clearly earned Bill Self’s trust, which is not particularly easy for freshmen to do. Still, he averaged nine points per game in total and only 8.6 points in 30 minutes per night with a 44.1 true shooting percentage over his final seven games.

Furphy is projected by scouts as a likely first-round pick, but I’ve placed him here in large part because there is little leaguewide belief in the Suns being the team to will be making this selection. Owner Mat Ishbia is clearly in win-now mode, and the team can package this pick with its 2031 first-rounder to get a player who can provide more immediate value. Additionally, team president and GM James Jones is not known to value the draft highly.

23. Milwaukee Bucks (via NOP)

Pacome dadiet | 6-8 wing | 18 years old | ratiopharm ulm.

Dadiet is rising fast up the board for teams after a strong stretch of games in Germany, where he has averaged about 10 points per game while shooting 54 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3 in limited attempts. A big French wing with long arms, Dadiet’s offensive game has impressed scouts most. He looks to have a workable NBA shot as well as sharp offensive instincts as a cutter. However, he does not play up to his tools on defense at this stage and hasn’t shown a ton as a playmaker for his teammates.

The Bucks are in a tough spot, and it’s hard to tell exactly what they will do with this pick. Trading it should certainly be on the table given their commitment to winning now. On the other hand, general manager Jon Horst’s front office has really prioritized the project-wing archetype in recent years with picks such as Andre Jackson Jr. , MarJon Beauchamp and Chris Livingston . It’s clear they’re trying to find a player to fill that big wing role.

24. New York Knicks  (via  Mavericks )

Tyler kolek | 6-1 guard | 23 years old | marquette.

Kolek was exploding onto the scene before suffering an oblique injury that held him out the Big East tournament. From Jan. 15 until Feb. 25, Marquette went 10-1 as Kolek averaged 16.9 points and 9.6 assists per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3. In total, Kolek rightfully won All-American honors on his way to 15.3 points and 7.7 assists per game.

Kolek is a crafty guard. I’m not convinced he can even dunk, but he knows exactly how to play off two feet and is an elite distributor in ball screens. He made a big leap as a shooter this past season, drilling 38.8 percent from 3 while looking much more confident pulling up when opportunities arise. Kolek must prove he has the foot speed to hold up on defense in the NBA, and he’ll need to prove he can create separation with the ball in his hands against better defenders. But any team looking for a backup guard could plug Kolek in early.

Indiana’s T.J. McConnell is a name that often comes up as a comparison for Kolek.

25. New York Knicks

Daron holmes | 6-9 big | 21 years old | dayton.

Holmes had an outstanding season at Dayton this past year, winning All-American honors by averaging 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 blocks while hitting 54.4 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from 3. He a versatile big who has a lot of answers for what teams present him in ball screens. He can pick-and-pop, short roll to pass, short roll to finish himself or roll all the way to the rim to catch a lob. Defensively, he’s a good shot blocker on the interior and has flashed potential to stick with guards for a couple of slides on the perimeter.

The Knicks are another team seen league-wide as a potential trade partner, as coach Tom Thibodeau is not likely to want multiple first-round rookies on his team. Additionally, the Knicks have generally tried to add more assets for the future to create more potential avenues to complete trades involving future draft picks.

analytical essay of the lottery

26. Washington Wizards (via  Clippers )

Bobi klintman  | 6-9 wing/forward | 20 years old | cairns taipans.

Klintman had an up-and-down season in the National Basketball League. Playing for Cairns as a member of the league’s Next Star development program, Klintman had some big games, especially in the first half of the season when Cairns was rolling. However, he missed sporadic time dealing with a few injuries over the back half of the season as Cairns fell out of contention.

Klintman can knock down shots from the perimeter, having made 35.4 percent from 3 this season and 80 percent from the line. He’s excellent on the break, where he can handle and make nice passes. He’s still learning his own capabilities as he grows into his frame, and his feel for the game is still developing after he picked up the sport late in his youth. In total, he averaged 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season.

Not every team likes Klintman, but the ones who do tend to like the idea of a big wing who can shoot. I think somewhere in the No. 20 to No. 35 range is his most likely landing spot.

27.  Minnesota Timberwolves

Hunter sallis | 6-4 guard | 21 years old | wake forest.

Sallis has been one of this draft cycle’s biggest risers. The former Gonzaga guard averaged 18.3 points per game while shooting 49.9 percent from the field and 41.6 percent from 3 in his lone season with Wake Forest. The 3-point shooting is the big leap. In his two seasons at Gonzaga, Sallis never hit more than 27 percent of his 3s. Now, Sallis has confidence and drilled his nearly six 3-point attempts per game at a high level. If he can keep that up — and his free-throw percentages have long indicated some shooting potential — he has a chance to be the kind of scoring combo guard who litters NBA benches league-wide. He’s athletic and shifty and can play on or off the ball consistently.

At this point in the draft, teams are just looking for a useful rotation player. Sallis ticks a lot of boxes for the Timberwolves if his shooting is real, considering their need for scoring off the bench.

28.  Denver Nuggets

Alex karaban | 6-7 wing | connecticut.

Karaban is one of the players who is really testing their draft stock this season. He may or may not be in this draft, and a big part of that decision will have to do with his performance at this week’s NBA Draft Combine. Karaban can really shoot the ball and has drilled 39 percent of his nearly 400 3-point attempts the last two seasons. He averaged over 13 points and five rebounds last season while cutting at a high level and defending off the ball in a team concept at a terrific level.

He’s an extremely high IQ player in a way that would translate exceptionally well toward playing with Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets. Under general manager Calvin Booth, the Nuggets have tended to draft older prospects who profile as winners off the bench.

29. Utah Jazz (via Thunder)

Tyler smith | 6-9 big | 19 years old | g league ignite.

Smith is an upside swing for a team seeking a big with perimeter skills. He’s an unfinished player, but it’s hard to find big athletes who can shoot like him. At 6-11 with about a 7-1 wingspan, Smith moves well in transition and off the ball on offense. He’s a strong backdoor cutter and has the leaping ability to play effectively out of the dunker spot. More than that, Smith has a beautiful jumper that should translate well to the NBA as he gets stronger and more consistent. He hit 36 percent from 3 on his way to 13.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Smith’s defense, however, needs a lot of work, whether he’s defending power forwards or centers. He’s messy in help situations and needs to get much more comfortable executing within a team’s scheme. It’s hard to see him logging a lot of minutes early in his NBA career, but the former five-star prospect could become a difference-maker down the road if his team is patient.

30.  Boston Celtics

Jaylon tyson | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | california.

Tyson has gone on a real journey. After entering college as a top-40 player in his recruiting class, Tyson went from Texas to Texas Tech to Cal in three years. He finally emerged as an NBA prospect this past season. At 6-7 with long arms, he has great measurements for the NBA. He’s not an explosive athlete, but he’s powerful and isn’t all that bothered by contact, allowing him to get the most out of his length and athleticism. He averaged 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 47 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from 3.

He’s another guy scouts are on the fence about. His decision-making can be frustrating, as he often predetermines his reads, and his shooting remains in question because he’s never taken a high volume of 3s. Somewhere between picks No. 20 and No. 40 looks about right at this stage, although I think he could move up in the pre-draft process.

Second Round

31. Toronto Raptors (via Pistons): Ryan Dunn | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | Virginia

32. Utah Jazz (via Wizards): Kyshawn George | 6-7 wing | 20 years old | Miami (Fla.)

33. Milwaukee Bucks (via Trail Blazers): Kel’el Ware | 7-0 big | Indiana

34. Portland Trail Blazers (via Hornets) : Cam Christie | 6-5 wing | Minnesota

35. San Antonio Spurs: Baylor Scheierman | 6-6 wing | Creighton

36. Indiana Pacers (via Raptors): Payton Sandfort | 6-6 wing | Iowa

37. Minnesota Timberwolves (via Grizzlies): Cam Spencer | 6-3 guard | Connecticut

38. New York Knicks (via Jazz) : Melvin Ajinca | 6-7 wing | Saint-Quentin

39. Memphis Grizzlies (via Nets): P.J. Hall | 6-8 big | Clemson

40. Portland Trail Blazers (via Hawks):  A.J. Johnson | 6-4 guard | Illawarra

41. Philadelphia 76ers (via Bulls): Oso Ighodaro | 6-10 big | Marquette

42. Charlotte Hornets (via Rockets): Trey Alexander | 6-3 guard | 21 years old | Creighton

43. Miami Heat: Jamal Shead | 6-0 guard | Houston

44. Houston Rockets (via Warriors): Antonio Reeves | 6-5 wing | Kentucky

45. Sacramento Kings: Kevin McCullar | 6-5 wing | Kansas

46. LA Clippers (via Pacers): Pelle Larsson | 6-5 wing | Arizona

47. Orlando Magic: Justin Edwards | 6-6 wing | 20 years old | Kentucky

48. San Antonio Spurs (via Lakers): Dillon Jones | 6-5 wing | Weber State

49. Indiana Pacers (via Cavaliers): Ajay Mitchell | 6-3 guard | UC Santa Barbara

50. Indiana Pacers (via Pelicans): K.J. Simpson | 6-0 guard | Colorado

51. Washington Wizards (via Suns): Ariel Hukporti | 6-11 big | Melbourne United

52. Indiana Pacers (via Bucks): Adem Bona | 6-8 big | UCLA

53. Detroit Pistons (via Knicks): Nikola Djurisic | 6-7 wing | Mega

54. Boston Celtics (via Mavericks): Tristen Newton | 6-3 guard | Connecticut

55. Los Angeles Lakers (via Clippers): Ulrich Chomche | 6-10 big | NBA Africa Academy

56. Denver Nuggets (via Timberwolves): Juan Nunez | 6-3 guard | Ratiopharm Ulm

57. Memphis Grizzlies (via Thunder): Jalen Bridges | 6-7 wing | Baylor

58. Dallas Mavericks (via Celtics): Nique Clifford | 6-5 wing | Colorado State

(Top photos: Paul Kane / Getty Images, David Becker / NBAE via Getty Images, Altan Gocher / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images. Illustration by Sean Reilly / The Athletic)

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Sam Vecenie

Sam Vecenie covers the NBA Draft, college basketball and the NBA for The Athletic. His podcast, the Game Theory Podcast, is regularly ranked among the top podcasts on iTunes. Previously, he worked for CBS Sports, SB Nation, Sporting News, and Vice. Follow Sam on Twitter @ Sam_Vecenie

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  1. Literary Analysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

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  1. The Lottery Literary Analysis

    The Lottery literary analysis essay discusses the dangers of blindly following tradition and the need to question and critically evaluate social norms. It is an important summary of the destructive nature of blindly following rules. The Lottery analysis essay also explores the theme of tradition and its impact on society.

  2. A Summary and Analysis of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'

    By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) 'The Lottery' is the best-known story of the American writer Shirley Jackson. Published in the New Yorker in 1948 and collected in The Lottery and Other Stories, the story is about a village where an annual lottery is drawn.However, the fate of the person who draws the 'winning' slip is only revealed at the end of the story in a dark twist.

  3. Analysis of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    As were many of Shirley Jackson's stories, "The Lottery" was first published in the New Yorker and, subsequently, as the title story of The Lottery: or, The Adventures of James Harris in 1949. It may well be the world's most frequently anthologized short story. A modern horror story, it derives its effect from a reversal of….

  4. The Lottery Summary & Analysis

    Analysis. The morning of June 27th is a sunny, summer day with blooming flowers and green grass. In an unnamed village, the inhabitants gather in the town square at ten o'clock for an event called "the lottery.". In other towns there are so many people that the lottery must be conducted over two days, but in this village there are only ...

  5. Literary Analysis: "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

    The short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson discusses several issues affecting people in modern society. The story examines a small village of about three hundred people who gather in a town to participate in a lottery exercise — of being sacrificed to bring good to the community. Residents in some towns already abandoned this ...

  6. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson: A Critical Analysis

    Literary Devices in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Allusion: The names of some of the characters in the story have symbolic significance, such as Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, which allude to the nature of the event they oversee.; Hyperbole: Jackson uses hyperbole to emphasize the villagers' excitement about the lottery, describing it as "the one day of the year that was desirable."

  7. Analysis of 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson

    Analysis of 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. Taking Tradition to Task. When Shirley Jackson's chilling story "The Lottery" was first published in 1948 in The New Yorker, it generated more letters than any work of fiction the magazine had ever published. Readers were furious, disgusted, occasionally curious, and almost uniformly bewildered.

  8. The Lottery Study Guide

    Both husband and wife enjoyed socializing and hosting events, and they had a wide circle of literary friends, which included Ralph Ellison. Jackson is best known for her short story "The Lottery" (1948), and for her ghost story "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959). Jackson died in her sleep due to heart failure in 1965.

  9. The Lottery Jackson, Shirley

    ∗The Road through the Wall (novel) 1948 The Lottery; or The Adventures of James Harris (short stories) 1949 Hangsaman (novel) 1951 Life among the Savages (nonfiction) 1953 †The Bird's Nest ...

  10. Analysis and Themes of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

    Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is one of the most famous short stories ever. It's a perfect candidate for anthologies, having a manageable length of about 3,400 words, and a shocking twist ending. It's told by a third-person objective narrator. "The Lottery" Summary. It's June 27th in the village, at about 10 AM.

  11. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

    The Lottery Analysis: Patriarchal Violence, Romantic Nationalism, and Conformity in Post-War America. Jackson's exploration of group psychology and invented traditions like nationalism has obvious historical significance. The story came immediately after World War II, when mob mentality and romantic nationalism plunged the globe into total war.

  12. The Lottery Story Analysis

    Analysis: "The Lottery". "The Lottery," a short story by Shirley Jackson published in 1948, caused a sensation with its tale of a pleasant American town where, each summer, one citizen is chosen by random lottery and stoned to death. The story presents an extreme case of conventional thinking and mindless group action untethered by ...

  13. The Lottery Critical Essays

    What analysis can be drawn from paragraphs 2 and 3 of "The Lottery", considering language, imagery, symbolism, and character? What's a good thesis for an argumentative essay on "The Lottery's ...

  14. The Analysis of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

    Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a short story that has become a classic in American literature due to its portrayal of the dark aspects of human nature. In this essay, I will analyze the literary elements, themes, and symbolism in the story, as well as the literary techniques utilized by Jackson to enhance the meaning and impact of her work.

  15. Literary Analysis of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    The main theme in The Lottery is blindly following tradition. In the story, there's an annual tradition of people coming out and joining the traditional lottery. The author develops the theme of blindly following the tradition no matter how bad it is. The author also developed the theme by using the same old black box, yet not being the ...

  16. The Lottery Critical Analysis Essay

    The tale 'The Lottery' was written by Shirley Jackson, and the author builds up suspense toward the end of the story. The narrative takes place in a little town where people are friendly and tradition is important. A lottery is held annually in which one individual in the village is chosen at random by a drawing to be brutally stoned by ...

  17. Inside Higher Ed Covers Analysis from Sonja Starr on Changes to College

    She told Inside Higher Ed that the "essay carveout," as it's often called, is a "meaningful path forward" for colleges trying to maintain their racial diversity. Her report on " Admissions Essays After SFFA ," published last month in the Indiana Law Journal , suggests that many selective colleges are taking the approach seriously ...

  18. 2024 NBA mock draft: Top pick projections after Hawks win draft lottery

    Early analysis suggests there isn't much drama surrounding the draft's top pick, with almost all projections having the Hawks take French center Alexandre Sarr No. 1 overall. However, new mock ...

  19. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery": a Rhetorical Analysis

    Published: Dec 3, 2020. 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson is an account of an irregular town trapped in a snare of continually following custom, in any event, when it isn't to their greatest advantage. Jackson utilizes images all through the story that identify with the general topic.

  20. 2024 NBA mock draft: Projecting all 58 picks post-lottery

    The Atlanta Hawks won the 2024 NBA draft lottery Sunday, securing the No. 1 overall pick on June 26. It will be the first time the Hawks have ever had the top pick. Unlike last year, when Victor ...

  21. 2024 NBA Draft Lottery: Hawks win No. 1 pick after having 3 percent

    By John Hollinger, David Aldridge, Kelly Iko, Eric Koreen and Jenna West. The Atlanta Hawks won the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago on Sunday.. The Hawks had a three percent ...

  22. NBA mock draft 2024: Alex Sarr to Hawks in first post-lottery

    Sam Vecenie. May 12, 2024. The 2024 NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone, with what is seen as an unpredictable draft also featuring an unpredictable lottery. The Atlanta Hawks spiked all the way ...