The opening scenes are deceptively cheerful and innocent, and lead the reader to believe this is a heartwarming story of a country lottery. Also, that this town lottery is a country tradition, a drawing for a tractor or something of that sort. There is nothing sinister in the description of how Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Martin manage the lottery. One gets the impression that they are prosperous and powerful men contributing to the happiness of the village, year after year. You would ass

This story appeared shortly after World War II and the revelations of the Holocaust. Looking back, Shirley Jackson appears to be cautioning that good people everywhere can be enticed into evil behavior if given “justification”. It’s a sad idea but many atrocious events of scapegoating have taken place in the past, and still arise in the world we live in today. The leaders of the lottery unconsciously terrorize the villagers by coercing them to accept the lottery in spite of their suspicions that the lottery is wrong. People like Tessie, who rebelled against the lottery, pay the price because their whole society is scared to face the truth that is actually wrong. Individuals like this are the small steps for humanity to realize what is right from wrong. If we don’t learn about our past, the same events might happen again in the future. Because of the fact that these acts still occur today, and will continue on to tomorrow, does not mean we failed. Rather, knowledge of our great history greatly reduces the chances of catastrophic events.

On the day of the drawing, the villagers gather, eager to find out whom the black box and the black spot picked. The behavior of the villagers during the drawing as well as how Mr. Summers conducts the drawing,

Some topics in this essay:
Germany’s Jewish, Shirley Jackson, Graves Martin, Jim Crow, People Tessie, Holocaust Nazi, Summers Graves, War II, shirley jackson, gathering stones, boys boys, boys gathering, stone death, summers graves, boys gathering stones, jewish population,