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Conflict of the Lottery

In: English and Literature

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Conflict of The Lottery Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, portrays the old, barbaric practices of culture. The story was truly horrifying and shocked many readers. The piece reflected one of the most horrible practices of human history that traces back to the beginning of mankind.
Winning a lottery is usually a great accomplishment, in this story it is completely opposite. The story began with a beautiful setting “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” (247). As the story begins to develop the story becomes more and more strange. When Mr. Summers arrives and enters the town square “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool, and when Mr. Summers said, "Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?" there was a hesitation before two men” (247). Tessie Hutchinson had forgotten that the lottery was being held that day and arrived late and joined her family in the front. The townspeople humouredly welcomed her into the lottery. The lottery had begun and Mr. Summers addressed the crowd "Now, I'll read the names--heads of families first--and the men come up and take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn. Everything clear?" (248). The lottery began and the townspeople became nervous, “The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions: most of them were quiet. wetting their lips not looking around” (248). A discussion began in the crowd about how some towns were doing away with the old tradition of the lottery. "They do say," Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, "that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery." Old Man Warner snorted. "Pack of

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