The Lottery

In class, we were given the reading The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. As I was reading this story it was familiar to me, however, I can not remember if I have read it before or if it was something similar to it. I will admit that while reading I was confused about what type of lottery this town was conducting and why everyone had to be there for it. It is mentioned that this "lottery" happens every year and has been a part of this community forever. In this community, you can tell that people care about tradition, especially since they continue to go to this lottery and have been using the same black box that is now described as shabby and splintered. Thoughts of a new box have arisen but nothing is ever done about it. As the story goes on, the type of lottery still isn't mentioned. All that is mentioned is that every head of household will come to the black box and receive a paper and they are not allowed to look at this paper until everyone has been given one. I, personally, don't know if I'd be able to not look at my paper if I were given one. Personally, eagerness would overcome me and I would have a sneak peek. Once everyone has been given a piece of paper they would be able to open and look. As I was reading I was shocked that no one was ecstatic about winning the lottery, once everyone opened their paper no one was surprised or even speaking. It took someone from another family to say something. That is the point of the story that I knew it was not a good lottery. It wasn't anything like Mega Millions or Powerball or anything that we would know as a lottery now. Throughout this whole story, we do not know what exactly is happening. Although the townspeople know what is happening they are still unsure of the outcome. The story itself is basically about peer pressure. The families all come together and in the end, they end up targeting one family and down to one person in that family. Although it may be a friend of theirs they will still stone them to death because it is their tradition. The unknown is a very uncomfortable place to be in and while reading this story you can tell that you as a reader are stuck in an unknown place.