I would call this story "The Lottery's Black Box". The story centers about the black box which is confusing as when the people pick out a piece of paper for themselves, they were all curious about who the "chosen" one was. The reactions of each person left me in wonder why some people kept their distance from the black box, and some people looked as if they were excited. That is why I centered those thoughts in to that title.
2) What did you think was going to happen? What clues in the text led you think this?
This story kind of frightened me because recently, I have read the Hunger Games, which they pick out a name from the jar, and the person who was picked out was the tribute the participate in the Hunger Games, a game of death. I thought, being picked out of the black box was not pleasant because the term they use for "box" seems really, dark, and mysterious. However, the result was different. Being picked out of the box was a pleasant event for them. They described the day of the lottery as the fresh warmth of a full summer day. Flowers were blooming, and people were smiling. These evidences let me think this.
3) How did you feel when the end of the story was not given to you?
My face was in the expression of confusion. The story was straight forward from the start, and the ending was chaotic for me. What did the story really mean? I had no idea what was going on besides the lottery. I couldn't tell the people's emotions towards the "black box". It was frustrating. I wanted the answer immediately. I wanted more information so that I would fully understand the text.
4) How did you feel when you were handed the mystery paper? What did you think was in it? Did you follow the instructions? Why/Why not?
I felt scared. I feared the paper and what would be inside it. Well since the mystery paper had a lot of text, I thought it was an ending of the story. Our class was divided into two groups of black dots and blank paper, which I think that blank and black dot have a different ending on its own. I did follow the instructions. I never opened it in school, and waited, and waited. I forgot about the paper until 6 o' clock. I followed the instructions because I thought it was worth to save it until we got home.
5) How did you feel about the black box and the black spot/blank paper? Explain.
The black box, black spot, and the blank paper made me think, is this something like separation between human beings? I was also a little bit frightened of what would come next because the black color represents as death to me. I thought a crisis was going to happen.
6) How did you feel when you read the end of the story? Explain.
I couldn't fully understand the end of the story, but I could tell someone was upset against the lottery, as the words that it wasn't fair, made me think, "here comes the war of fairness." It was also confusing because I felt that the story didn't connect with the ending. The one theme I came up with is that the peaceful village turned into a war of the fairness of lottery.
7) Were your predictions correct? How did you feel about that?
My predictions weren't correct as I thought the black box sent misfortune to people, but people in the story felt different about it. I felt rather frustrated about this story, as the parts in this story were quite hard to understand and because my predictions were wrong, I couldn't interpret the text in my mind.
8) What would have helped you to make a better prediction?
Reading the title would have helped me, because titles are the main keywords that describe this story. So if the title was there, I would have understand a little bit. Also, if the text had the setting of where it was, and what the time setting was in the story, the story would have been easier to read.
9) Why did the author leave these voids in the story?
I think the purpose was to make the reader feel the same as the people in the story. When we received the mystery papers, I think it was to make us feel nervous about the paper. Like what was in the paper. All in all, I think the voids in the story made us purposely confused and wait for the outcome of the ending.
10) Explain the power of the void in this experience.
a. No title/ author information
b. No ending
c. Text clues and foreshadowing throughout
d. Mystery paper
e. Delayed ending
f. Anything that created tension and conflict for you
The power in this story, overpowered us from reaching the real meaning. The title that wasn't showed to us, made us confused and more curious to know what the story was. But then, the story didn't tell us all of it's background information, including the paragraphs of this story. The foreshadowing was incredible as it made me confused for the whole time. The mystery paper made us nervous and curious about the outcome, but then the ending in the mystery paper was delayed. I can't describe this feeling in many words, but I would say that it was frustrating.
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