The Lottery

The Lottery

The Lottery looks and sounds like a normal story, and up until the first couple of pages a reader would think this. But as you read deeper into the story the reader finds out the horrific ending to this short story. In the end, the woman who had supported it the most, mocked and told of how horrible unfair it was that she was chosen. The story ends with her being stoned to death because her name was selected in the lottery. When looking at this story, we see that there are many underlying themes, including tradition, compliance and conformity to other people. Tradition is very important in this story because it has such a large role. The villagers do not want to replace the box, even though it is warn out, and they still continue this barbaric act, even though most of the other villages surrounding them have given it up. Compliance is another major theme in this story, they all just "do what they are told by tradition" and nobody questions why they should do this. Conformity is another problem with the villagers, since no one wants to speak out against this tradition, they do as their told and continue with the ritualistic stoning of the lottery winner. Overall this story shows some very important ideas that follow any society, regardless of time and place.

Nick Rose