The Lottery

3 Pages 796 Words

A Close Encounter with Shirley Jackson’s
“The Lottery”
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story in which the setting sets up the reader
to think of positive outcomes. This description of the setting foreshadows exactly the
opposite of what is to come. From the beggining Jackson takes great pains to present her
short story as a folk story. Slowly, it dawns on us, the terrible outcome of what she
describes. The theme learned at the end of the story leads us to think of where the sanity
of human beings lies. In addition, the most important conflict is betweeen subject matter
and the way the story is told.
From the very first sentence of the story, “The morning of June 27th was clear and
sunny, with the fresh warmth......” We are given the feeling of a rural world. Shirley
Jackson tells the reader what time of day (10:00) and what time of year (“summer”) the
story takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what a typical day it is in
a small town. She also describes that “School was recently over for the summer”, letting
the reader infer that the time of year is early summer. The beauty of the day and the
brilliance of nature is stressed by “clear and sunny,with fresh warmth....flowers were
blooming profusely and the grass was richly green.” This provides the positive outlook
and lets the reader relax into what seems a comfortable setting for the story.
The description of the people and their actions is very typical. Children play happily,
women gossip, and men casually talk about farming. Everyone is coming together for
what looks enjoyable, festive, even a celebratory occasion. However, the pleasant
description of the setting creates a facade within the story.
The setting covers the ritualistic and brutally, violent traditions such as the later
stoning of Ms. Hutchinson, who dared to defy tradition. The immediate conflict is the
passions of the townspeople who gath...