The Lottery

8 Pages 2120 Words

“The Lottery” begins happily “clear and sunny, with (the) fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (255). The grass is describe as “richly green” and that “the flowers were blooming profusely” (255). These descriptions of the surroundings give the reader a nice feeling and nothing wrong with this unique town. It also pulls the unwary reader into a comfortable position by making the reader feel as if its going to be a story with a pleasant plot and happy ending. Since when one thinks ‘Lottery’ one thinks ‘lots of money’, but the reader is in store for an unexpected surprise full of changing setting, symbolism, tradition, and terrible acts.
The setting in the beginning of “The Lottery” creates peacefulness and tranquility; it creates an image in the mind of a typical town on a normal summer day and what time of the year the story takes place. The villagers are a seemingly ordinary people in an ordinary American town. Pleasant, friendly, and simple, the men talk about “tractors and taxes” (255) while the boys run around piling up stones. The time of day is obviously set in the morning and the time of year is early summer. There is also mention that school has just recently let out for summer break, which of course allows the children to run around at that time of day. The location of the town square is put into perspective, “between the post office and the bank” (255). This picture for the reader shows what a small town this is, since everything is in the center or near the center of the town square. This is a key point because the town square is the location for the remaining part of the story. The town square is an important location for the setting since the ending of the story takes place here. The comfortable atmosphere remains while the residents of the town are introduced. First the children are described as assembling an...