The Cursed Slip of Paper

In class, we all received a story which had no background information. We split up into two groups, and read it. The story was quite confusing, as I wasn't quite sure as to where it would lead. It was about a gathering called the lottery, where men would take a slip of paper from a black box. One man called Bill Hutchinson got a paper with a black dot on it, while everybody else got a blank paper. His family was forced to draw papers again, and his wife, Tessie Hutchinson, got a black dot. Then the story ended abruptly, leaving me confused. I thought that the story was going to continue, and I really wanted to see what the fuss over the 'black dot' was.

Later, we were given slips of paper with our names on it, just like the story. I was surprised, yet slightly afraid. Then Mrs. Psillides told us that we could only open it at home. All of my curiosity was urging me to open it, but my self-conscience was telling me to follow the rules. My paper didn't have a black dot on it like others did. I was slightly excited by this, as I wondered if my paper had something different than the others.In the end, I didn't open it at school. I followed the rules and opened it at home. It had the much-awaited end of the story on it. Apparently, Tessie Hutchinson was shoved onto a clear space, where people had began to stone her. The last words she said was; "It isn't fair, it isn't right."

The ending scared me, as I wasn't sure what really happened. Then I was informed that people had killed her by throwing stones at her. It left me frozen, feeling quite shocked. The author was great at creating questions for the reader. I felt like I was hanging off a cliff due to the author's suspense over the black box and dot. They probably did this on purpose. The text was full of foreshadowing. It left me guessing. The ending was so suspenseful that I almost felt a little angry. The fact that Mrs. Psillides gave it to us randomly was extremely confusing. I felt lost.