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Environmental Factors In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

330 Words2 Pages

Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, carries a powerful message about environmental factors, and how these factors shape human behavior. In Jackson’s story, the people live in a rural setting. The beautiful nature surrounds the tiny village where only three hundred people reside. Here, there are no filthy streets. Yet, in such a small, claustrophobic environment, it appears the villagers cannot exist without a yearly tradition. This tradition is essential to this tiny society that maintains its balance by singling out one person to pay the price. In a way, it is easy to see that Jackson wanted to make a point, that this tradition is used to make the village cohesive no matter which group, religion, race, or ethnicity an individual comes from.

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