“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson Jackson reveals how ignorant and inhuman the society can be when clinging to an old and violent tradition. The plot is set into a small village in the 20th century. The main described event, the lottery, is conducted by the socially and economically dominant men in the town. The whole tradition of the drawing slips of paper from a black wooden box has its roots in anci

ent history and people already forgot the original reason of it. There are characters who are willing to make some changes about this tradition (e.g. Mr. Summers, the official of the lottery) but they are not successful because the conservatism of other villagers does not allow them any changes. On the other hand there are also people who are against any changes concerning this tradition. When the lottery is about to begin, people are assembled on the square between the post office and the bank. Everybody is there except Tessie Hutchinson who arrives as the last one. Soon after her arrival the lottery begins. Heads of families, men, draw at first. Mr. Hutchinson gets a paper with a black point which means that he and other members of his family have to draw again. The slip of paper with a black point finally ends in the hands of Tessie Hutchinson. The sense of this ritual is that the person who gets this paper, is stoned to death by other villagers. So she almost forgets what day it is and finally she has to die.

the lottery because she almost forgets what day it was. This demonstrates that at first she also does not attach great weight to the lottery. After her arrival, she says: “Wouldn`t have me

Through these characters the author introduces two main conflicts of the story. Firstly, it it the division of society which means the conflict between poor and rich people and secondly, it is the contradiction between old and new things, between the tradition and the modernity and also conformity and nonconformity. The dominant part of society is presented by Mr. Summers who owns a coal company, Mr. Graves who is a postmaster and Mr. Martin, a grocer. As already stated, they have the economical power and therefore they stand at the top of the village while the rest of the townspeople, especially women who are housewifes dependent on their husbands- mostly farmers, represents the lower class of the society. The next conflict of the progress and the stagnation is used by Shirley Jackson in order to describe character`s attitude to the tradition; whether they are willing to accept some new features in the ritual and in this way show that they are prepared for progress or whether they rather remain narrow- minded and not willing to agree with anything which is modern. So the villagers have a free choice whether to participate in the lottery or not. It is obvious that their

“ When certain traditions become so familiar that the reason behind them is forgotten, then actions can become perfunctory and give the impression of spirituality.” (GraceLife Ministry)

in other village talk of giving up the lottery, he says: “Pack of crazy fools. Listening to the young folks, nothing`s good enough for them.” (S. Jackson, New Yorker, 1948, p. 5)

The oldest participant of the lottery is Old Man Warner who has been seventy- seventh year in it so for him it isn`t anything unusual. Through this character the author gives us a picture of villagers who think that this tradition i

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