Yoland Nasr ENC 1102 R. Gordon 2 November 2014 The Lottery Analysis “The lottery” by the Shirley Jackson opens up in the story in a peaceful scene in a small village with green grass, sunny skies, on a summer day. At this point, the reader would encounter the thought of a happy ending, perhaps someone winning the lottery. In the text, Shirley provided clues that foreshadows that was mentioned in the early part of the Lottery that the reader is being asked to envision. For example, we notice that were piles of stones packed in a corner that that adult men in the village tried to stay away from. We can notice that the pile of the stones gives us a remark of a negative event that might occur. Later in the story, the reader finds the tragedy …show more content…
Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.” This is one of the most important quotes in the story because it shows that the lottery was considered a civic activity by the people of the town, just like a dance club, or event. Speaking of Mr. Summers, wields a frightening amount of power in the village. Mr. Summers is considered a “jovial” and pitied by the people of the town because of his nagging wife. No one in the story tends to question Mr. Summers leadership in the lottery, and it seems that it was never challenged. Mr. Summers has the complete authority over the lottery. In fact, he is the one that writes the names of the people on the paper slip that goes in the black box. Moreover, he draws the name from the old black box of the person that ultimately condemns someone’s …show more content…
This wooden old black box plays a role in the story. The box was so aged, that is splintered and faded. The narrator tells us that the box was very old saying “the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.” This indicates that the lottery has been going on for a very long time. Old Man Warner is the oldest man in the town. He dismisses the people of the town who have stopped the lotteries as crazy fools, and he is threatened by the idea of change. He believes that people who are trying to stop the lottery will start living in caves because as though only the lottery keeps society stable. Old Mar Warner fears that if the lottery was stopped, the people will be forced to eat acorns. These illogical and irrational fears reveal that Old Man Warner harbored a strong belief in what to come in the future. He easily accepts the way things are because they have been always like this for such a long time, and trying to change it will lead to some kind of disaster. This kind of thinking shows the reader how dangerous it is to follow traditions blindly, not questioning beliefs that are passed down from generation to