The Lottery By Shirley Jackson; The Short Story Plot

Going through the short story “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson” makes me wonder what all this story about, and I could not find an answer. I found this story very complex which must be read and repeated more than one time to be fully understood. Reading this short story for the first time, I had no clue what was happening. Everything was going normally in a small town, however, in the end, I discovered that the “winner” of the game is the death of a friend or family.

My reflection about the story was strange even without reaching the end.

After a couple of times of reading the story, it started to make sense, and little by little, I was able to figure out what the story means. The start of the story starts with a showing the wonderful weather and the people, the thing that was like any other story where everyone is friendly and nice. The writer Shirley Jackson, used at the beginning a happy tone, which made it super hard for anyone to guess the crazy end.

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She made the end more tragic by adding such a happy setting all over the story. The kids were playing, and I could not guess the upcoming event. Even though Shirly said several times that no one knows why they take part in it. Also, I relied on that Mr. Summer’s name was a happy name that made me thank happily about her, however, the assistant name was Mr. Graves, maybe to establish how every person has a hidden evil inside them.

I had to read the story many times to pick this concept up. Later, when Mrs. Hutchinson got there, I can tell that her reason for lateness to be a plea of not showing up. Especially when she says, “Clean forgot what day it was. Thought my old man was out back stacking wood and then I looked out the window and the kids were gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-seven and came a-running”. I think that she knew exactly where everyone was and what day it was, but she did not want to give why she was late. She knew all along what was happening and know that it to be harsh, but she just did not want to say it. I think that there are a sudden uncertainty and fear of the people who were there. When she is finally called to move forward for the prize of the lottery, she gets exceptionally high-strung and afraid. She gave several excuses as she was picked and how it is unfair, as she says, “You didn’t give him [Bill] time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair”.

She was telling all the people that it is unfair. She did not agree with how everyone had that chance. To me, it is weird that the person who stands up for what is right is the one who gets killed in the lottery. I do not know what this game is for, and they do it because their parents did it. No one even tried to think about it and about this strange tradition. If these people in the town think for a second, they will see that this prize crazy and does not make any sense.

I think that this story was written to show how every person has a vulnerability and a hidden evil. To this day, people still doing what is done their parents without them thinking about their reactions.