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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition. The village lottery culminates in a violent murder each year, a bizarre ritual that suggests how dangerous tradition can be when people follow it blindly.
A short summary of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Lottery.
‘The Lottery’ is the best-known story of the American writer Shirley Jackson. Published in the New Yorker in 1948 and collected in The Lottery and Other Stories , the story is about a village where an annual lottery is drawn.
The story tells of a village in which the three hundred inhabitants gather once every year on 27 June to undertake the ritual of the lottery. The lottery involves each household drawing a slip of paper from a black box, and one household being identified as the ‘winner’ (as it were).
Jackson examines the basics of human nature in “The Lottery,” asking whether or not all humans are capable of violence and cruelty, and exploring how those natural inclinations can be masked, directed, or emphasized by the structure of society.
Themes and Colors Key. Summary. Analysis. The morning of June 27th is a sunny, summer day with blooming flowers and green grass. In an unnamed village, the inhabitants gather in the town square at ten o’clock for an event called “the lottery.”
Highlighting the distinct arrivals of the children, men, and women takes precedence over establishing any of the story’s main characters in the first few paragraphs. Although Tessie has yet to make an appearance, this introduction to the town and their mysterious lottery serves as the text’s inciting incident.
