The Lottery and Other Stories Study Guide

Glossary of Terms

"Gallia est omna divisa in partes tres"

"Gaul is a whole divided into three parts," from Caesar's Gallic Wars, Book 1.

"The Daemon Lover"

An English ballad about a man named James Harris who, scorned by his first love, returns to steal her away from her husband and takes her to hell.

alienation

feeling or experience of detachment

ambiguity

a confusing, unclear, or two-sided term or condition

belligerent

aggressive; warlike

codeine

a drug similar to morphine used to treat pain

colloquy

conversation; dialogue

decorum

civil, proper behavior

headwaiter

the chief of the dining staff

inflection

nuances or special characteristics of speech or expression

paraphernalia

accessories or various associated items

petulant

ill-humored, often to the point of being rude

pillar of salt

a biblical reference to the fate of Lot's wife. Against God's orders in Genesis, she turned to look back at the destruction of Sodom and was punished by being turned into a pillar of salt. Salt may represent tears of loss.

psychosomatic

concerning emotional troubles embodied in bodily symptoms

R. H. Macy

Rowland Hussey Macy Sr., the founder of the department store Macy's

renegade

unconventional dissenter

segregate

to separate into groups

The Charterhouse of Parma

an 1839 novel written by Stendhal, a French writer

ventriloquism

the art of making it seem that one is not speaking when one really is, often making use of a doll or "dummy" made to seem to be the speaker

William Butler Yeats

a famous Irish poet and dramatist (he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923)