And today we'll start our drawing with the pick 3...

This was not the first time I read The Lottery, but I was able to appreciate it much more this time around. I like how Jackson is able to make the characters in the story so real and life like in the manner that they still follow this barbaric tradition of the lottery because they are so inept to change. Many people do have a hard time changing and this is an exaggeration of everyday life to make the point that change is okay and can be good. Had the villagers been open minded, they would not have continued to kill off one of their own every year. Overall, I really like the story and appreciated the manner in which the author sought to get her message across.
The ending of the Lottery is extremely bizarre and unexpected for the first time reader. The citizens live in what appears to be a well standing, modern society. They talk of the annual lottery almost as if it were a fair. It was something everyone looked forward to and the character’s descriptions did not seem out of place. The only question that the reader is left asking himself (throughout the entire story nonetheless) is what does the person who wins the lottery win? It is ironic because the reader soon understands that they don’t win at all, but are immediately stoned to death. Looking back, Jackson used several foreshadowing techniques to give subtle clues about the bizarre ending. In the second paragraph, Bobby Martin and other boys gathered stones. The reason is unknown and the reader can forget about this easily, but at the end, after the lottery is over, every goes and grabs stones the boys gathered earlier. Jackson also foreshadows Tessie’s death by making her the last person to arrive. She stands out in the reader’s mind and then by the end, it’s unexpected but not surprising when she is killed. There is also foreshadowing when the heads of the households nervously hold the papers which is immediately followed by talk of towns giving up the lottery. If towns are giving it up, then is it bad? If people are nervous and towns are giving it up, then it’s almost certainly bad. Then after the drawing, when Tessie is deeply upset that her husband drew the paper with the black spot, the reader knows trouble must be coming, which it does as Tessie and her family have to draw again, resulting in the death of Tessie. Jackson leaves several clues throughout the story that hint to the reader the darkness of the ending. The author wants the reader to understand that sometimes it is good to go against the crowd and question what is normal. When this type of action occurs, then progress is made. That is how slavery was ended and how women gained equal rights. People need to question tradition in order to see if there is a better way.