Tradition? The Lottery- Questions 1 & 4

    The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is not quite as it seems. Most people would think of a lottery as some sort of reward that one is lucky to win. This is not the case for this short story as we are soon introduced to a wicked twist on that word. However, if one does not pick up on the clues, there is quite the surprise waiting for Mrs. Hutchinson at the end. In just the second paragraph, Jackson writes, "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones". This is a subtle hint that this lottery is  different than what we may have originally thought. Also, the fact that no on is excited, but just kind of there waiting for things to start up as we see when Jackson states, "their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed". There is a certain tense feeling in the town. 

    Though the tradition is clearly an important part of the town- seeing that no one has cared to stop it over the years- we must try to understand how something as crazy as a human sacrifice might have come about. The answer is in paragraph 32 when we hear Old Man Warner say, "'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon'". They had started this tradition years back when they believed that a human sacrifice would help the harvest. Now, we see that the tradition probably won't be ending anytime soon.