In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Mr. Summers is certainly one of the village leaders and he conducts the lottery, but it is Mr. Graves who remains at the edge of the minds of the readers, his silent presence seeming inescapable. Jackson never describes Mr. Graves’ appearance, and even though her short story is rich with dialogue, he does not give him a single line of dialogue. It is like Jackson is pointing out the fact that eventually becomes quite apparent, that the character of Mr. Harry Graves is a major symbol in her short story, after all his last name is “Graves.” Rather than Mr. Summers, it is Mr. Graves who is the ultimate authority in the murderous lottery, and the reason is that just like his last name, the lottery sends the “winners” to their graves.
Readers can assume that Mr. Graves’ job title and his name must be important since those are the only things that Jackson reveals about him, along with the fact that he is married, just like every other respectable person in the village. Sure, the power he holds in the fictional life of the village is perhaps because of his job as the postmaster, but as a character, the symbolic power he has in the story is without a doubt because of his name.
The fact that Mr. Graves is the one who brings the stool to support the black box, confers the power the conduct the lottery on Mr. Summers, and despite his apparent importance, withdraws to the background in the story are all significant. While Jackson leaves the nature of the lottery quite vague initially, all the readers see is the fact that Mr. Summers is conducting the lottery like any event in a small town, such as the square dances, but that is only the symbolic surface of the ritual. However, since there is no intrusion from Mr. Graves into the narrative, readers tend to get dubious hints due to his presence about what the nature of the lottery really is.
It must also be kept in mind that when Mr. Graves’ wife prompts him to go forth to draw a paper from the black box for his family, readers tend to get an obvious intimation of apprehensiveness, since “all through the crowd there were men holding the small folded papers in their large hands, turning them over and over nervously.” As Mr. Graves draws the paper, the narrator zooms out and observes the sense of fear that overtakes everyone in the village, indicating towards the cruel nature of the lottery. After all, the secret of the lottery is that the prize for the winner is to be sent to his or her grave.
In the last few paragraphs of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Mr. Graves tends to appear even more menacing. Just as the readers learn that the Hutchinsons are the “winner” of the lottery, much to Tess Hutchinson’s dismay, Mr. Graves once again suddenly returns to the forefront of the story as he takes the paper from Dave Hutchinson's clenched fist and opens it. Dave seems to look up at him “wonderingly”, which probably implies that this is the first time he will be watching a person die, and the person who is to die is his own mother. Since his mother is going to her grave, it seems only relevant hat it is Mr. Graves who introduces him to the lottery’s savage lessons of death, human nature, and life.
References
Jackson, S. (1948). The lottery. Retrieved from http://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf
