Setting according to Hugh H. Paschal, “is the consistence of the tangible and emotional environment in which the events of literary work occur. Setting includes the geographical location, historical epoch, and cultural conditions in which characters operate and which affect their behavior.” (45)One of the key components to a piece of literature is its setting. For setting is what sets the mood and environment for the reader to place himself inside the story. In other words, for the reader to feel like he / she is part of the story. It is through setting that the authors can create countless outcomes on their story. Paschal refers to setting as, “the background against which the action occurs.”(45) He continues saying that, “It is often overlooked or taken for granted, much as the scenery in a stage play or film.”(45) Keeping in mind this perception of setting one notes in “ The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, the setting makes the reader ask himself questions about what the lottery really is for. Have such lotteries existed or till this day still do? How is it that a tradition can be so horrifying when Ms. Hutchinson’s (character being sacrificed), little son Davy is given pebbles to stone his mother to death with
“ Lottery in June, crops be heavy soon.”This brings us to notice that this ritual of sacrifice is allied with the exploit of the crops for the season to come. According to Friedman Lenemaja, in Athens a similar ritual is performed. Instead of just one victim it evokes two, both a male and female to be stoned to death. Death by stoning was one of the most accepted and more popular methods of slaying victims. (63) It’s for the common practice of the lottery that the town’s people behave as if it wasn’t a horrifying act to stone an individual to death.
And in result she does shock the readers with her horrifying story “ The Lottery.”
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