The short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is an excellent story that describes the shocking

and brutal truth about the lottery, in which the "winner" is stoned to death as a sacrifice to
guarantee a good harvest for the community. The author managed to emphasize the dangers of
blindly following tradition and the potential for brutality within society. This story reflects the
author's understanding of the cruelty hidden beneath seemingly kind customs.

On June 27, a small town's villagers gathered for a two-hour lottery run by Mr. Summers. Tessie
Hutchinson, flustered by her late arrival, joins the crowd. Mr. Summers reminds everyone about
the rules and draws slips of paper. Old Man Warner ridicules young people and suggests giving
up the lottery could lead to cave living. Bill Hutchinson wins, but Tessie argues it wasn't fair.
Mr. Summers dumps papers and puts five for the Hutchinsons, but they find Tessie's paper with
a black dot. Tessie is then hit in the head with a stone, leading to chaos.

In a historical perspective, the story depicts the persistence of rituals and traditions in human
societies throughout history, as well as the sometimes shocking and unpredictable nature of these
customs. The author might have drawn inspiration from historical practices such as human
sacrifice, public executions, or other communal rituals that were once common in various
cultures. By depicting the villagers' unquestioning cooperation to the lottery tradition. The story
reflects how societies have often preserved harmful or senseless customs without questioning
their origins or results.

In a structuralist perspective, the story depicts the village community as a tiny replica of society,
complete with power structures and hierarchies. The stoning of the chosen individual or the
winner illustrates the binary oppositions between the powerful and the powerless. The narrative
structure, which includes the anticipation of the readers built up by foreshadowing and suspense,
and the revelation, which challenges readers' expectations and forces them to reconsider their
understanding.

In a Marxist perspective, the story depicts the lottery as a representation of oppressive behavior
where the higher class exploit and manipulate the worker class, symbolized by the villagers. The
sacrifice of an individual for the supposed benefit of the community mirrors the sacrificicial
labor of workers under capitalism for the profit of the higher class. The villagers blind
acceptance of the lottery as an essential tradition mirrors the false mindset arised by the capitalist
ideology, wherein the oppressed internalize the values of their oppressors, thus preserving their
own exploitation in their victims.

In conclusion, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is an extraordinary work that involves beautiful
organization, creative symbolism, and structural elements. The shocking outcome of the lottery
serves as a reminder of the human capacity for violence and the consequences of mindless
obedience to authority. Ultimately, the story encourages readers to question and challenge
oppressive traditions and strive for critical thinking and self-expression despite all the obstacles.