The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Mr. Graves?
Mr. Graves is the postmaster of the unnamed New England village in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," serving as the principal deputy to lottery official Mr. Summers. His role is almost entirely procedural: he helps prepare the slips of paper the evening before the drawing, carries the three-legged stool on which the black box rests, assists in calling the roll of family heads, and steadies the box while villagers draw. In any other context he would be recognisable as a solid community servant — reliable, efficient, unobtrusive. Jackson makes him deliberately unremarkable, and that ordinariness is precisely what makes him disturbing. His name, of course, does the work his personality refuses to do: "Graves" quietly announces the story's destination before a single slip has been drawn, marking him as a figure in whom civic duty and lethal function are inseparable.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Mr. Graves's arc and motivation?
Mr. Graves has what might fairly be called a non-arc — and that flatness is a deliberate formal choice. He enters the story as a functionary and leaves it as an executioner, with no discernible inner movement between those two points. His motivation is not cruelty, ideology, or even fear; it is normalcy. He assists in the lottery because assisting in the lottery is what he does, in the same spirit that he sorts the village's mail. Jackson uses this stasis to argue that the most durable institutional violence is not sustained by monsters but by men like Mr. Graves, who never pause long enough to become anything other than useful.
03·Key moments
What are Mr. Graves's key moments?
The preparation scene the evening before the lottery is the story's first signal of Mr. Graves's centrality. He and Mr. Summers together make the paper slips — a quiet, domestic act of manufacture that will culminate in murder. When the lottery opens, it is Mr. Graves who carries the three-legged stool, that slightly unstable, improvised piece of furniture that mirrors the tradition itself: old, no longer quite fit for purpose, yet treated with solemn respect. He calls names alongside Summers, lending the roll call the feel of a town meeting or school register. The most chilling moment attached to him comes during the family drawing, when he hands young Davy Hutchinson a slip of paper. The image of a postmaster passing a death lottery ticket to a small child — with neither drama nor hesitation — concentrates the story's horror into a single domestic gesture. Finally, Mr. Graves joins the crowd that stones Tessie Hutchinson, completing his transition from administrator to participant without a single line of dialogue or moment of reflection to mark the crossing.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Mr. Graves's most important relationships?
With Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves forms a seamless civic partnership. Their coordinated preparation — slips made the night before, stool carried out on the day — presents the lottery as institutional rather than impulsive, a scheduled community service rather than a spontaneous act of violence. This partnership is the story's most effective piece of normalisation.
With Tessie Hutchinson, the relationship is one of invisible power. Mr. Graves manages the second drawing that produces her marked slip; every procedural step he has taken through the story has been moving toward her death. He never singles her out, never looks at her with malice — and that indifference is the point.
With Bill Hutchinson, Mr. Graves exercises quiet authority, directing Bill's family through the final draw while Bill himself remains passive. The ease of that direction exposes how thoroughly the community has surrendered individual judgment to the ritual's mechanics.
With Davy Hutchinson, the moment of handing a child his slip crystallises the lottery's most troubling feature: it recruits every generation into complicity before they are old enough to refuse.
With Old Man Warner, Mr. Graves shares a function as a pillar of tradition, though where Warner defends the lottery in words — loudly, nostalgically — Graves defends it in actions. Between them, vocal conviction and silent efficiency cover every avenue of dissent.
05·Connected characters
How is Mr. Graves connected to the other characters?
Study06–07
06·Questions
Questions readers ask about Mr. Graves
What does Mr. Graves's name symbolize in 'The Lottery'?
Mr. Graves's name functions as onomastic foreshadowing, subtly signaling the story's deadly outcome before any slip is drawn. Paired with "Mr. Summers," the two names reflect Jackson's central thematic irony: that the warmth of community life and the finality of death are overseen by the same cheerful, civic-minded neighbors. His name performs the moral work his personality does not.
What is Mr. Graves's role in preparing for the lottery?
Mr. Graves assists Mr. Summers in creating the paper slips the evening before the lottery and carries the three-legged stool that holds the black box on the drawing day. These tasks lend the ritual an air of bureaucratic legitimacy, framing collective murder as a routine community service rather than a violent act.
How does Mr. Graves's relationship with Mr. Summers normalize the lottery?
Their seamless collaboration — preparing the slips the night before, coordinating the roll call, steadying the black box — presents the lottery as a well-organized civic institution rather than a barbaric practice. Jackson utilizes their efficient teamwork to argue that institutional structures, not individual malice, sustain collective atrocity across generations.
Why does Mr. Graves hand young Davy Hutchinson a slip of paper?
Mr. Graves hands Davy his slip as part of the family drawing once the Hutchinsons are identified, performing this act with the same procedural calm he applies to every other task. The gesture is chilling due to its lack of drama: a postmaster passing what amounts to a potential death sentence to a small child without hesitation, illustrating how the ritual enlists every generation into complicity before they are old enough to refuse.
Does Mr. Graves show any moral conflict or hesitation in 'The Lottery'?
No — Mr. Graves shows no visible moral conflict at any point in the story. His character arc remains intentionally flat; he enters as a functionary and exits as an executioner without a moment of reflection marking the crossing. Jackson uses this stasis to suggest that normalized, institutionalized evil is most dangerous because it requires no monstrous inner life to enact.
How does Mr. Graves contribute to Tessie Hutchinson's death?
Mr. Graves contributes at every procedural stage: he helps prepare the slips that will select her family, manages the second drawing that produces her marked slip, and joins the crowd that stones her. His involvement shifts him from bureaucrat to executioner, demonstrating how ordinary administrative complicity enables atrocity — he never singles Tessie out with malice, yet each task he performs leads her closer to death.
How does Mr. Graves compare to Old Man Warner in 'The Lottery'?
Both men are staunch defenders of the lottery tradition, yet they advocate for it in opposite ways: Old Man Warner voices his commitment loudly and nostalgically, while Mr. Graves communicates his through quiet, efficient action without any words of endorsement or protest. Together they illustrate how tradition is maintained from two directions — vocal conviction and silent, competent service — leaving no space for dissent.
Is Mr. Graves a villain in 'The Lottery'?
Mr. Graves is not a villain in any conventional sense — he shows no detectable cruelty, ideology, or personal grievance. His motivation lies in normalcy: he participates in the lottery for the same reason he sorts the village's mail. Jackson's unsettling point is that this makes him more disturbing than a traditional villain, as his respectability and civic reliability provide the ritual with its murderous legitimacy.
07·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles
The bureaucratisation of violence
Onomastic foreshadowing
Complicity through silence
The child and the functionary
Civic virtue as moral camouflage