Shirley Jackson-The Lottery

Shirley Jackson
The Lottery

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” (p.567)


This sentence may not be the most important sentence in the short story but I think it represents the insaneness that existed throughout this community. These people held lotteries and the winner of the lottery was ultimately stoned, I think this ritual in some way is a nihilistic way of life. The friendliness throughout the story even leading up to the stoning of Mrs.Hitchinson shows that the everyone accepted the lottery and it was practiced throughout the town by every member, and no one complained. That’s astonishing to me, because it has been going on for over 70 years, and no one complained. If everyone practiced this ritual it must mean that their community existed just for the lottery, the absence of god and religion must have been prevalent throughout the town.