The Lottery

            the lottery It is hard to believe that the author could turn such a seemingly pleasurable and exhilarating thing, a lottery, around to a terrible and non-delightful act. I think that the description of the setting has a lot to do with how people will perceive the story. .
             Shirley Jackson takes great care in creating a setting for the story, "The Lottery". She gives the reader a sense of comfort and stability from the very beginning. It begins, "clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." The setting throughout "The Lottery" creates a sense of peacefulness and tranquility, while portraying a typical town on a normal summer day. With the very first words, Jackson begins to establish the environment for her plot. To begin with, she tells the reader that the story takes place on an early summer morning. This helps in providing a focus of the typical small town, a normal rural community. She also mentions that school has just recently let out for summer break, which of course allows the children to run around at that time of day. Furthermore, she describes the grass as, "richly green and the flowers were blooming profusely." The descriptions of the surroundings give the reader a serene feeling about the town. The location of the square, "between the post office and the bank," proves the compactness of this town. Everything centralizes at or near the town square. It acts as the primary location for the remaining part of the story, playing a significant role at the final setting for the story. Up to this point, nothing unordinary has happened, which might later reflect an ironic ending. Also, oddly enough, these people celebrate Halloween yet not Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving, which are the largest holidays that normal people celebrate. Halloween implicates a certain proneness to defiant, evil activities.