Shirley Jackson, born in San Francisco in 1919, spent most of her early years in Burlingame, California. She was always interested in writing and even won a prize for poetry at the age of twelve. She started college at the University of Rochester but left after a period of depression, that would come back to haunt her throughout her adult life. She later attended Syracuse University; she was able to write for the student literary magazine. She finished her degree and married Stanley Human in 1940. They both had active literary careers and resettled in Vermont where Jackson's husband taught literature at Bennington College. Their first child was born in 1941; they eventually had four children.
             Jackson is best known for her short story "The Lottery." Some reports say that the setting for the story is the village where she and her family settled, in Vermont. The main character of the story is Mrs. Hutchinson, or "Tessie". She is a non-descript housewife with no defining characteristics setting her apart from the other women. All of the women in the story are portrayed as subordinate to their husbands; playing a lesser role in the community. This is illustrated, by women who are described as wearing "faded house dresses" and arriving shortly after
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             "their menfolk." In addition, the women are all referred to as "Mrs." showing ownership by their husbands. While the boys busy themselves with gathering stones, the girls stand by and watch. Exclusively, only men carry out the activities of the lottery itself. The reader is first introduced to Tessie Hutchinson when she arrives late to the village square. In the beginning of the story Tessie is in good spirits and jokes with Joe Summers and the rest of the crowd by offering the excuse, "wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?" However, b...