In the beginning of the story, Jackson describes the lottery event as an expected tradition that occurs every year on the assigned date. After reading only the opening paragraph, the reader can gather that it is not a "normal" lottery taking place.

[I]n some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours.

This does not seem to infer that anything dangerous our harmful is going on, bu

As the story continues, the set up for the lottery to occur is explained, but the reader is still left on the outside looking for answers to figure out what truly is going on.

After Mr. Summers is all settled in with his tasks for the morning, the village crowd turns to silence. Mr. Summers announces, "Now I'll read the names-heads of families first-and the men come up and take a paper out of the box" (453). The whole procedure of "The Lottery" has just been explained to the reader directly without any hidden meanings. Jackson is no longer keeping the action of the event a secret, but the reader still cannot identify the outcome. This is an important part in the story because it gives the reader a sense of satisfaction that the procedure is now explained. The reader no longer needs to question what event the village is preparing for; however, the effect of the event about to take place in moments remains a mystery. This strategy is part of Jackson's creative way of portraying her subtle clues in the story.

As the crowd of villagers comes up individually, after their name is called, they draw from the black box and return to their previous location amongst the crowd. As Jack Watson's name is shouted out by Mr. Summers he walks up to the box and someone from the crowd says, "Don't be nervous, Jack" (455). This is the biggest clue to the reader that something unusual is occurring this day. There is always a great feeling of vulnerability while drawing out of a hat, or taking a chance but this comment, along with the clues seen before, indicates danger. By studying this comment of nervousness and looking back to the hesitant reaction about the crowd when the black box was first brought out supports this evidence.

To continue with the evidence, Jackson finally makes it clear to the reader that a tragedy is occurring when one of the members of the village screams, "It isn't fair, it isn't right" (457). This time there is no evid

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1310
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)