The+Lottery

When you first start reading “The Lottery” you assume that it will be a happy story that takes place in a small New England town. Soon, you find out otherwise. The author, Shirley Jackson, uses foreshadowing and symbolism to explain how this is not just a regular New England town, and a regular lottery. Within the first two pages you already get a sense that something is not right with this lottery. “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example”, is an example of foreshadowing. As soon as I read this sentence I started to think. Why would boys be picking up stones in preparation of a lottery? Bobby Martin is a child, so i assumed that he had just stuffed his pockets with stones because little boys like to play with rocks. In this New England town there are three very important men that run the lottery. One of the men was Mr.Summers. He was very involved in town activities, and he ran the coal business. The second man was Mr.Graves who was a postman for the town. The last man was Mr.Martin. Mr.Martin ran the local grocery store. These three men have a few things in common. First of all, without them the town would not succeed, and they all ran the lottery. I find it very coincidental that during the lottery these three men never seemed anxious or nervous, even though the townspeople were almost dreaded this lottery. “Some places have already quit lotteries, Mrs. Adams said. Nothing but trouble in that, Old Man Warner said stoutly.” When I think of lotteries I usually think of someone winning a reward of some sort. Usually when you are in a lottery something good is going to happen. Why would a town want to quit this? This seemed very peculiar. Also, when the Hutchinson family got the black dot, a girl said “I hope its not Nancy.” If one of my friends might win the lottery I would be happy for them. Why would this girl hope it is not Nancy? When I was finished reading “The Lottery”, every clue I mentioned above seemed very clear, and I understood why it happened.
 * The Lottery**