Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a short story illustrating the struggle between tradition and life. At the story's heart is a masterful characterization of the protagonist, the townspeople. Jackson's portrayal of the lottery depends mainly on her use of three artistic tools: setting, symbolism, and point of view. A brief examination of these three tools will show how "The Lottery" achieves its disturbing effect.
             The first tool contributing to the portrayal of the lottery is the setting. The narrator chooses to explain the setting in depth to show the normality of the situation. "The lottery was conducted-as were the square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program-by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities (Jackson 245). The idea of human sacrifice is usually considered to be cruel and unusual, but in this story it is something that happens every year. This town was based on the cultural ideals that population growth needed to be controlled. The setting shows normal people with normal lives in a not so normal situation.
             The second artistic tool is the key to the lotteries existence: symbolism. A closer look at the story's central image, the black box, suggests death. With the first mention of the box the townspeople are terrified. Mr. Summers just asked for a little help and with "hesitation" two lonely soles came forward (245). The fact that black is the color of death doesn't help at all. The people know that their fate lies in the hands of who picks what out of the black box. Whether they draw a slip with a black dot on it or not determines if they live or die.
             The black box also symbolizes tradition. "Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done" (495). The townspeople had even come u...