The Lottery

"The Lottery"
Shirley Jackson

WHOA!  This story was crazy and just so weird and disturbing!  However, it was very interesting and brought many different questions to my mind when I read it.  For the first few paragraphs, I thought this was a light-hearted story, but then I remembered that this unit had the theme of death so I lowered my standards. I first became suspicious of the nature of the lottery when the townspeople seemed distant and nervous, and it appeared that they did not want to win the lottery, which was weird.  Normally, everyone wants to win the lottery, but these people were relieved when they realized their slips of paper were clear.  The entire community was energized, though not with happiness or excitement, but their anticipation was evident in their behaviors and descriptions.  When I read this piece before class, I missed the reason for the lottery--"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" (Jackson, page 268).  That makes some sense, but I still couldn't believe they still practiced that particular tradition because the story seems like it's set in a modern era.  In several scenes, people claim that they don't really know why the lottery takes place, but that it's a good idea.  Like what?
      Also, a good literary technique in the story is the physical break which heightened anticipation for the name to be discovered.