This round of book clubs got me the book titled "The Lottery". So far, this book has been centered around a young man name Perry. Perry is an extremely interesting character to write about and as I get farther in the book, there are sure to be more characteristics that will be revealed.
The quote I have displayed above reveals something interesting about Perry. The fact that this was the first thought Perry shared with us the innocent nature that Perry has. If you were to talk to someone on the street, no one would feel that, that sentence is nescary to speak. I believe that Perry feels a pang of pride when he reveals that fact about him. In the beginning pages, he reveals that when he was younger people called him names such as moron, idiot, and retard. Maybe when he found out the fact that he was not retarded, he felt a sense of pride and happiness. Maybe this is how he copes with the memories of being teased as a child. There's more to Perry. Perry is actually borderline-retarded. According to Reader's Digest (his words not mine) an IQ number has to be lower than 75 points in order to be considered retarded. His IQ is 76. That shows the innocence within him. Any other person would have been embarrassed to reveal that number as their IQ. Perry stated the fact with no emotion. That is not to say that Perry is completely oblivious. In fact, Perry understands that he is slower than other people. However, he does not let it deter him. He has many ambitious goals such as memorizing the entire dictionary (albeit at a fairly slow rate).
"No, it's not a mistake to rethink. Rethink means you get to change your mind. You're never wrong if you just change your mind." -Gram
Another prominent charter in the book Lottery is a woman who Perry refers to as "Gram". The quote above is merely one example of one of the many lessons (tips?) that Gram gives to Perry, and Perry follows them blindly. Gram (presumably short for Grandma) seems to care very much about Perry. She raised him for most of his life, and comforts him in his troubles. She is the one who tells Perry that the L in his middle name stands for Lucky. She is the one who tells Perry that he is not slow, every one else is simply too fast. However, there is a dark side to Gram. She seems to be manipulating Perry.
"We add and subtract people from our list [of people we trust] all the time. Sister Margret used to be number five on the list, but Gram took her off because she tried to collect money from us... When Sister is nice to us at bingo, we put her back on the list."
The "list" is a list of people who Perry should trust in case of trouble. She bases the list off of how someone seems to be treating her that day. Does that sound a little wrong to you? She also misleads Perry at times like when she told him that an MBA meant that someone "Must Be Arrogant . Or when she told Perry that them playing Bingo and the lottery wasn't Gambling because "Gambling's something people do that loses money, Perry." I'm not saying her heart isn't in the right place. I truly believe that she cares for the well being of Perry. It's just that sometimes I feel that she cares more about the well being of herself.
Of course, Perry and Gram seem to be living a fairly happy life. They keep on buying lottery tickets, dreaming of a day when they win the lottery, but as of right now they haven't won anything yet (contrary to what the title suggests). Maybe the next chapter.
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