When people think of a lottery, some of the first words that pop into their mind are money, luck, and possibilities. However, those words would be contradictory to the lottery spoken of in this story. It becomes accustomed that time changes people's views; however, Shirley Jackson's The Lottery has a plot that invokes a certain small town sentiment that takes a dramatic unexpected climax at the end, overall showing the difficulty it is for people to change their ways towards an otherwise more acceptable conduct and deterring from the customs that they have perceived as being standard. The climax of this fiction story is at the end where a woman in stoned to death based on insular customs of the townspeople, which have been in place since the settlement of the village. Through minor details and affable situations the story will unfold as being pleasant until the harsh ending, which will bring into play how people get so caught up in tradition, they forgo change.
             The beginning of the story opens up as a pleasant summer morning in a small town while mentioning the lottery as if it was a common event. The plot begins describing the characters and setting to make it more personal, and actions that make it seem as the story will have a positive ending. Small quirks throughout, such as, "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones," and "the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them," when referring to the school children out for the summer; give inexplicable hints about the ending, yet might be missed by the careless reader (Jackson 235). The plot goes on to describe the amalgamation of people around the town square with conversation that would be common to find in this type of setting. As the men talked about the weather, farming, and taxes, the children played and the women chatted; all this giving a buildup to the commencement of the lottery, while instilling a sense that ...