The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, is a narrative tale of life in one particular small town. The story implies that this is a friendly little town and begins introducing the villagers one by one. The story begins innocently but as it progresses many seemingly useless bits of information introduced in the beginning of the story begin to build the suspense centered on a violent ritual which becomes clear near the end of the story. The ritual held in this small town and other surrounding towns is an annual event that is taken in stride by all the town folk but leaves the reader wondering how such a violent event came to be and how it could continue through the years. Could people actually believe that by sacrificing one of their own that the corn crops would be plentiful the near year?
The author, Jackson, takes you to a particular day which annually affects this small town with a population of 300. Initially, the author introduces the villagers one by one and she writes of how the neighbors gather in the town square and begin conversing with one another about various details of their, what appears to be typical, day to day activities. The men talk about crops, the children are still celebrating the summer break from school and the women begin to gossip. Life appears to be what one would expect in a small town as the author describes how the boys in the village begin gathering rocks in an almost innocent manner. As the story progresses, it begins to focus more on the annual lottery which has been tradition in the town throughout the years. The author makes it seem like winning the lottery is a good thing until its true implications begin to unravel within the story.
The locale town folk ritualistically gather in the center town on June 27th of each year to participate in the annual lottery event. As the families begin to assemble in town there are