The Annual Tradition

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” an annual tradition is about to take place in small village. All three-hundred villagers gather in the main square and some gather rocks and pile them up besides them. Mr. Summers the tow’s, richest man, declares the Lottery open and starts to name a male representative of each family. The representatives each take a small piece of paper and stand in a line, the paper is opened and whoever has a black dot on their piece of paper is the winner. Mr. Hutchinson has drawn the paper with the black dot, but he does not seem exited that he’s won. Then each member of the Hutchinson family draws a paper; now Mrs. Hutchinson has drawn the paper with the black dot. She has won the lottery, but she complains that it is not fair, for some reason she does not want to win. Shortly after, the villagers pick up the rocks and start to throw them at her, after all she has won the lottery. The winner of the lottery his killed each year.

I enjoy how Shirley Jackson uses strong imagery in this story to explain the setting in which the story is happening. For example:

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”

Jackson appeals to the reader’s senses such as sight and touch. We can see that because of the phrase “fresh warmth,” which appeals to touch because the feeling of warmth is described. This quote also appeals to our sense of sight because of the description of the richly green grass and the blossoming flowers.

In this story the protagonist is Tessie Hutchinson. Tessie has quite a unique personality, she’s rather rude and selfish.

"Bill," he said, "you draw for the Hutchinson family. You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?" There's Don and Eva," Mrs. Hutchinson yelled. "Make them take their chance! “Daughters draw with their husbands' families, Tessie," Mr. Summers said gently.

Tessie’s selfishness is shown very well in this quote. Tessie wants her own daughters to draw a piece of paper, only for her to have less chances for her to win the lottery. We can see how rude Tessie is because of her way of shouting and yelling to other people, in this case Mr. Summers.

This is one of the best short stories I have ever read, I love how Jackson uses imagery for the reader to imagine the setting perfectly just as its described. The message behind this story is really strong and interesting. Tradition can lead people into doing horrible or crazy things without them questioning if it’s morally correct. This short story has it all; strong imagery, interesting characters and a very true and meaningful message.