The lottery

"The Lottery" is a short story written by Shirley Jackson and first published in The New Yorker magazine in 1948. The story takes place in a small American town, where the townspeople gather every year to participate in a lottery. However, the lottery is not a typical lottery, but rather a barbaric tradition that involves stoning one of the town's residents to death.

The story begins on the morning of June 27th, a day that the town has been preparing for for weeks. The townspeople start gathering in the town square, talking to each other and getting ready for the lottery. The men, who are in charge of the lottery, arrive with a black box, which they place on a stool in the center of the square. The box has been used for the lottery for as long as anyone can remember, and it is old and battered.

The townspeople start arriving at the square, and the children are the first to arrive. They start collecting stones and putting them in piles, getting ready for the lottery. The men start calling the townspeople to order, and Mr. Summers, the man who runs the lottery, arrives. He is a jovial man who is well-liked by everyone in the town.

The lottery begins, and Mr. Summers starts calling out the names of the families who will participate. As each family's name is called, the head of the family steps forward and draws a slip of paper from the black box. Everyone watches in silence as the families draw their papers.

The Hutchinson family is the last to draw. Mrs. Hutchinson is running late, and she arrives just as her family's name is called. She hurries forward, and Mr. Summers hands her the slip of paper. When she opens it, she realizes that her family has drawn the black spot, which means that someone in her family will be stoned to death.

At first, Mrs. Hutchinson protests that the lottery isn't fair, but the townspeople ignore her. She pleads with her husband, but he tells her to be quiet. The lottery must go on, and the family members draw again to determine who will be the victim. It is Mrs. Hutchinson who draws the slip with the black spot, and the townspeople close in on her.

The townspeople, who were once friendly and neighborly, now turn into a mob. They pick up stones and start throwing them at Mrs. Hutchinson, who tries to run away. She is quickly caught, and the townspeople continue to throw stones at her until she is dead.

The story ends with the townspeople picking up their stones and going home. They act as if nothing unusual has happened, and they are already planning for next year's lottery. The reader is left to ponder the senseless violence that has just taken place, and the absurdity of the tradition that the townspeople continue to follow.

"The Lottery" is a chilling commentary on the dangers of blindly following tradition. The townspeople in the story are willing to commit murder simply because it is part of their annual tradition. They do not question the morality of what they are doing, but simply go along with it because it is what they have always done.

The story is also a commentary on the dangers of mob mentality. The townspeople start out as individuals, but they quickly become a mob when they realize that someone is going to be stoned to death. They become caught up in the frenzy of the moment, and they do not stop to think about what they are doing.

Shirley Jackson wrote "The Lottery" in the wake of World War II, and the story can be seen as a commentary on the dangers of conformity and blind obedience. In a time when people were being persecuted for their beliefs and their differences, Jackson's story is a warning about