the focus of the exercise.  The stool, like the black box that is falling apart, is an old tradition.  Although Mr. Summers officiates, Mr. Graves seems to have the real power.  From the beginning to the end, he is described as watching.  He swears in Mr. Summers, but never does much.  He does pry the paper out of little Dave Hutchinson’s hands, write before Tessie is killed by the crowd.

Mr. Graves opened the slip of paper and there was a general sigh through the crowd as he held it up and
everyone could see that it was blank.

The reader is aware that Mr. Graves is kept in the background for a reason.  He seems to be the mysterious supporter of tradition, stepping back and letting Mr. Summers be the figurehead.  His name alone is enough of an indication that he is the harbinger of death.

Author Shirley Jackson obviously chose many of the names of her characters for symbolic purposes. Mr. Graves, one of the officials of the lottery, has the responsibility of maintaining the black box in which the names of the villagers are drawn. The "winning" name will tragically signify which person will be stoned--and sent to their grave. His wife, Mrs. Graves, is right up front when the stones begin to fly. The richest man in town, Joe Summers is the head of the all-important lottery, which takes place on June 27th--in the early summer, hence his own name. Other names serve symbolic purposes:

• Tessie Hutchinson is based on the Puritan woman Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643), who was tried as a heretic and banished (but not stoned or burned) from Massachusetts colony for her religious beliefs.
• Dickie Delacroix's name is French for "of the cross."
• Old Man Warner constantly "warns" the villagers of the importance of the lottery--making him a "warner."
• The Adams' are the first family to draw from the box--symbolic of the first man created by God.

The lottery is an annual tradition. It is a communal event that occurs every year on June 27th. Mr. Summers is one of the two men who administer the lottery. It is perhaps significant that his name is Summers and the ritual sacrifice occurs in the summer. His name is therefore linked to the annual event. His name represents a repeating cycle and a repeating tradition which, to some people like Old Man Warner, is as natural as the summer season itself. 

Mr. Graves' name symbolizes death and/or a grave, a place where the dead are buried. The word "grave" can also be used as an adjective and it can mean to be serious, solemn, and threatening. This describes the way the townspeople feel about this barbaric ritual.

Mr. Graves is the postmaster, a civic job. It is also his civic duty to swear Mr. Summers in as the official of the lottery. The man named Graves literally delivers (like the mail) the man who will announce the sacrifice. 

When it is Mr. Graves' turn to pick from the box, Jackson emphasizes the symbolism of his name to show how solemn and dark this ritual is: 

"We're next," Mrs. Graves said. She watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely, and selected a slip of paper from the box. 

Each year, the whole town "greets summer gravely" because the lottery occurs in the summer. It is something they dread. Thus, when the lottery occurs, each person greets Mr. Summers gravely because he runs the lottery. 

The word "grave" can also be used to describe something that is likely to produce great harm or danger.  Obviously, since it leads to the violent, stoning death of an inhabitant of the town by the townspeople (including the victim's own family), we can describe the lottery itself as terribly grave.  Mr. Graves' demeanor as he takes part in this lottery mirrors the gravity of the tradition itself: "[Mrs. Graves] watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely and selected a slip of paper from the box." This is hardly the time or place for warm hugs and greetings between friends; one never knows if one will be called upon to participate in the murder of a friend on lottery day.  Mr. Graves clearly feels the gravity of the lottery and behaves accordingly.

"Grave" can likewise refer to something that warrants serious consideration.  A grave problem is one that merits significant reflection and deliberation.  One of the main themes of the story has to do with the moral laxity of maintaining outdated or unfair traditions without having any way of justifying them.  No one can recall the lottery's origins, but they are unwilling to get rid of it.  They cannot even bring themselves to replace the black box from which they draw slips because "no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by [it]."  If they cannot replace the box out of a sense of tradition, how could they begin to adapt or abolish something larger?  This lottery is a grave tradition, grave in the sense that it ought to warrant serious consideration and reflection, and, yet, no one seems to question the tradition until they "win" the lottery.  Mr. Graves is the one to collect the papers of the family who has drawn the blackened slip: "Mr. Graves had selected the five slips and put them in the box, and he dropped all the papers but those onto the ground where the breeze caught them and lifted them off."  Ironically, then, Mr. Graves does appear to understand the gravity of the lottery in terms of the damage it does to the "winner," but he does not appear to consider the gravity of the lottery as something which should be questioned and reflected upon.

Mr. Graves is the town postmaster and one of the most powerful men in the village and in the running of the lottery, second only to Mr. Summers. His name, "graves," provides a dark counterpart to that of Mr. Summers, with at least two layers of meaning. To begin with, he is a "grave" or serious man carrying out a serious task:

"We're next," Mrs. Graves said. She watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely, and selected a slip of paper from the box.

In the other sense of "grave," the place to dispose of a dead body, Mr. Graves' name is just as appropriate, since what he does with Mr. Summers does indeed fill "graves" during the "summers," the time of the lottery:

The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper [to choose the victim] and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of Mr. Summers' coal company....

When the Hutchinson family proves unlucky, Mr. Graves is also the person who leads the youngest of the Hutchinson children to the fateful box to draw again to determine the exact victim.

Authors often name their characters quite deliberately, using names that reflect ideas or themes in the story. Mr. Graves' name is based on the word "grave."  If you think about the meaning of the word "grave," you will make the connection with the story.  A grave is the place in which we bury a dead person, and the word can also describe someone who is serious and somber, in other words, someone who is not happy and cheerful.

As you read the story carefully, you will see that Mr. Graves is a postmaster, but on the day of the lottery he has some special duties.  Those duties result in someone ending up in a grave, and he carries his duties out in a grave way. 

Since there are many different versions of "The Lottery," page numbers for quotations will not be very useful to you. I have provided a link to an on-line version of the story, and if you use the "Find on this page" feature, you can find all of the sections of the story in which Mr. Graves is mentioned.  Then you can select a few quotes that you like.

Good luck to you.