Usually, when you win a lottery it changes your life for the better. In The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, this is not the case. Shirley Jackson was born in 1916. When she was older she moved to a small city in Vermont, where she was not accepted. Many believe her time in Vermont was where the bases of this story came from. This story shows a small town that follows a tradition called “the lottery” in which the chosen gets stoned to death as a sacrifice . In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.
Through her use of setting, which on the surface …show more content…
During the wait for the official start of the lottery, ”girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys. and the very small children rolled in the dust.” This shows the town has normal and peaceful. The women arrive also seemingly standard and ordinary. “The women, wearing faded house dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk. They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip.” They do what normal women do. Mr.Summers was the wealthy man who ran the lottery, “was very good at all this, in his clean white shirt and blue jeans…” No one will think that this supposedly nice and kind man would run something so sinister. The author use unordinary specifics with the characters to assert the unusual ending. After Tessie Hutchinson “wins” the lottery, “someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles.” This is disturbing because Tessie is his mom and now the townsfolk are expecting him to help them in kill her. Tessie’s own husband betray her. “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand." He was probably relieved that he was not the one who is going to be stoned to death. Before Mrs. Hutchinson find out that they haven't won they’ “ both beamed and laughed,” despite the fact one of their parents might die. Through their action the characters shows a sneak peak of the ending but still makes it seem