what I got from "The Lottery"

The Tradition Shirley Jackson through “The Lottery” gives a description of how life could be so confusing or maybe we can say so mean and immoral. This story tells about one of the activities usually done by the people in one village, there is the lottery. The lottery in this village had been done in June 27th. It seems to be a tradition for the people in that village, because they could not avoid the lottery and each family must have their draw. The situation happened in the story is one of the implementation of the lottery activities. In the morning of June 27th, everybody gathered in the square, and they were all ready for the lottery. After did some steps, one of the families is chosen, there was the Hutchinsons. And from five members of the family, the mother, Tessie Hutchinson is chosen to face the tradition. And finally, everybody in the village; included her husband and children, took some stones and were starting to throw her with the stones, did not care to Tessie’s scream. Before we read the whole story, we would not know that the story is so scary and will end like that. It all because the setting described by Shirley which shows fun and cheerful situation. There are at least three kinds of setting found in this story; place, time, and situation. Shirley described the cheerful situation which is possible in the day of June 27th. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green…” From this first sentence, we could possibly imagine that the story would tell about some cheerful and fun story. Then Shirley continued to describe the place where the story took place. “The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank…” Maybe there will be some confusion about the choice of place setting where the lottery took place. Usually, when there were some events or activities where people gather together in one place, it could be done in place like saloon bar, but Shirley chose the square between the post office and the bank. And after we read the whole story, we know why Shirley chose that place, it is because that was not a usual lottery, there would be needed a large place. The time setting chosen is “around ten o’clock…” In the usual situation, in summer day around that time, people are usually still preparing for their activities that day. But in this story, the people are already prepared for the lottery. “The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them…” In this situation, it is described that the children were very happy because the school was over and they were in holiday. It is also shown from the describing in the next sentence, “The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys…”, the situations above clearly show a very relaxed and fun condition. The relaxed situation was not only described around the children, but also the adults, “Soon the men began to gather… They stood together… and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” Also the women, “The women, wearing faded house dresses and sweaters… They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip as they went to join their husbands.” But the relaxed and fun summer situation changed when the lottery was starting to begin, it is when Mr. Summers came out with the lottery black box. “When he arrived in the square, carrying the black wooden box, there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers…” This setting of situation shows us how they really did not like the situation when the lottery was starting, there were a feeling of anxiety among the people there. And it kept continue, “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool…” It makes sure that no one in the village likes in doing the lottery, but they had to.