I have just completed the first 100 pages of my book club book, "The Lottery". For this blog post, I am going to take a deeper look into each of the different characters. In a way, I did this in the last blog post, however, I am going to take a deeper look into the characters this time (since I have more reading to back it up) and compare my thoughts about the characters in the beginning of the story to what I think of them now. Along with this, I am going to add another character, just to mix it up.
" You never have to do what friends say, but you want to, because you are friends."
First off, I am going to do Perry's best friend, Keith. Keith is a character foil and does it interestingly. They are almost polar opposites, yet somehow they managed to become the best of friends. While he may seem to be a bit off color at times, he seems to have Perry's best interest at heart. Physically, Keith is much bigger, huskier, and older than Perry, but mentally he seems to be at the age of an adolescent 13 year old boy. Frequently, he will curse for almost no reason, and seems to be more interested in women than he is about anything else. There is a lighter side to him, however. When Perry wanted to add Keith to a list of people Perry trusts, Keith said , " You never have to do what friends say, but you want to, because you are friends." He seems to love finding ways to make him laugh and even though he has a rather rye sense of humor, he has a kind heart, and that's all that matters.
"Don't be smart."
Gram is Perry's grandmother, and she is quite a card. She is a rather flat character and serves as Perry's confident. She also seems to have Perry's best interests at heart. When I first began reading, I thought she was rather manipulative and might have had secret intentions that would be revealed later on. I believe I was wrong when I came up with this thought. As I read more and more of "The Lottery", the motherly love that Gram has for Perry becomes more apparent. She also seems to have a saying that she constantly uses to educate Perry's behavior.
The saying, "Don't be smart." has many connotations. I believe that it shows just how motherly Gram is. At a measly three words, the phrase is crisp, direct, and to the point, yet, it's one of the most valuable lesson Gram has taught Perry so far. For the entire time throughout the story, Perry and Gram give us insight on what they truly think of the others in the community. Whether they're a "jerk" or someone they trust, they always seem to always assess people on how smart they are (or at least how smart they are). For example, one of their relatives was being rather braggy about his MBA. Later Gram warned Perry that MBA stood for "Must Be Arrogant." I believe that when Gram says, "Don't be smart," she is not meaning it literally, rather she is trying to show Perry that when it is appropriate to make a comment that could be arrogant.
"Fall is my favorite time of year, Reader's Digest is my favorite book, and my favorite candies are Hershey's Kisses. I like to wear flannel jackets, I bounce when I'm happy, and my bike is blue with red spray paint."
Perry is innocent. His innocence has surprised me time and time again. I almost forgot he was an adult. The way he talks, the way he thinks. It screams 7 to 9 years old at me. He will randomly insert a fact about himself in the strangest places. As the protagonist, we get the pleasure of what he thinks every time an event takes place. However, the most prominent quote I could find was "Fall is my favorite time of year, Reader's Digest is my favorite book, and my favorite candies are Hershey's Kisses. I like to wear flannel jackets, I bounce when I'm happy, and my bike is blue with red spray paint." What that had to do with anything is beyond my comprehension. The words that this sentence followed was an event that took place with Keith at their jobs. Anyway, Perry is quite innocent. In a way, he seems to have a better time than anyone else. Even when he is taunted, he seems to have a positive glow that deflects the insults. Perry is one of those rare people who are immature in an innocent way. Unlike Keith who had the mind of a thirteen year old, Perry acted like he was 8. That is not to say that, being 8 is a bad thing. I envy his unconditional happiness. Maybe the L, in Perry's full name truly does stand for lucky.
As I get deeper into the story, I'll be sure to come up with deeper thoughts on these characters. Maybe my views will skew completely on what I think about Perry, Gram and Keith, but as of right now, I am fairly certain that I understand these characters now. In the next blog post, I'll try to focus more on the book's namesake. After all, what would an innocent young man like Perry do with 12 million dollars?
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