"The Lottery"

In “the lottery” Shirley Jackson tell a story of a village annual ritual sacrifice in which one member of the family is picked to be stoned for the annual tradition. She uses the leading role of Mrs. Hutchinson to describe how she question the fairness of the drawing after her family draws the unlucky slip with a black mark on it. Mrs. Hutchinson tried to persuade others from carrying out the lottery. "I think we ought to start over," Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. "I tell you it wasn't fair. You didn't give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that” (pg. 410)The village square connotes the center of attraction whereby all the people in the village will have the opportunity to participate in the drawing of the lottery, and also given equal chances to pick the next person to be stoned. The apron signifies Mrs. Hutchinson’s unreadyness and eagerness to see who the next victim is, but unfortunately, she got picked as the next person to be stoned. The old man Warner signifies the tradition, which means the lottery is been carried on from generations to generations. "Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery," Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd” (pg. 409). The significance of the slip of paper is to clarify who get picked among the member of the family, as every member takes their chance. The black spot indicates death, for whoever has the slip with the black shot pay the ultimate price of being stone to death.