The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

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Recommended: Literary analysis of the lottery

The Lottery is a short story about a town who still participates in the annual "Lottery" drawing. Everyone is laughing and conversing like any other day. Children and adults alike are collecting stones. At last the time comes for the drawing and Mr. Summers pulls out the black box with the papers in it. The head of the household, the men, all must pull out a piece of paper. The townsfolk talk about how the lottery is done for in nearby towns but others such as Old Man Warner scoff at the idea and say that is not possible young people don't know what they are talking about, the lottery will continue in this town. The drawing starts and people all around are waiting to find out who pulls out the dreaded slip, and it was pulled by Tessie Hutchinson. She tries to avoid being murdered and she even calls attention to her own daughter saying that she should draw from the box also. She is then stoned to death. “The Lottery” is a very gruesome story about peoples survival to live. There are many themes that take place during this story and one major theme that should be addressed is the symb...

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