Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" leaves the reader feeling uncomfortably disturbed.
             It is a story about society, traditions and the way we follow them just because generations before us have. In general, a tradition is something that's been handed down from generation to generation. We often go along with them without questioning the meaning or perhaps even changing them for our own conveniences. Let's take for example our traditional holidays of Easter and Christmas; originally, these were religious holidays. These traditions were meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the rising of Jesus from the tomb after his death. What are these traditions today? They have changed and become commercially oriented with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Do we question this? Maybe some do, but for the most part, we just go along with it. Many of us have taught our own children to decorate the Christmas tree, or the Easter eggs. We may still put a manger under the tree, or put chocolate crosses in the Easter basket. Most of us have probably not taken the time to explain why. This is comparable to the way they give little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles (228) training him to carry on the tradition for future lotteries. In "The Lottery", people of the village blindly follow an outrageous tradition and are apparently numb to the violence it entails. Jackson uses the setting and symbols almost as contrasts to each other to establish this theme. The setting is used to lead you to believe the exact opposite of what is about to take place. They symbols in the story however, foreshadow exactly what is about to take place.
             In Jackson's description of the setting we are led to believe this is a normal happy little village on a beautiful summer day. "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blooming profusely and the ...