The idea of winning a lottery is associated with luck, happiness and anticipation of good things. In Shirley Jackson's story, " The Lottery", this is not the case. The irony of the story is that the winner of the lottery gets stoned to death by everyone else in the town. The story is very effective because it examines certain aspects of human nature. One aspect of human nature that is examined, and that adds to the effectiveness of the story, is man's tendency to resist change. This is shown in more than one way. The first way is the way some villagers tolerate the lottery even though they know it is wrong, and it serves no purpose. They talk about how other towns have already stopped having lotteries, but they allow it to continue year after year. Old man Warner even says "there's nothing but trouble" in quitting lotteries. Townsfolk listen to him because he has been in the lottery seventy-seven years. The townsfolk feel helpless to change things because they have been going on for so long. The fact that the box is old and needs to be replaced but no one takes on the job of making a new one because that would be an alteration of the way things had been done for many years, also shows man's resistance to change. Another aspect of human nature that we see in the story, and that adds to the effectiveness of the story, is the ability of man to hide his fear by joking about danger. When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late, her husband jokes about "getting along without her," and she jokes back about leaving dishes in the sink. The whole town laughs. They must joke because someone they know will die very soon, and they have to cover their fear. This adds to the effectiveness of the story because we have all seen people act this way. The next aspect of human nature that the author looks at, and that adds to the effectiveness of the story, is denial. As soon as her husband has drawn the black dot, Mrs. Hutchinson begins to complain that her husban...
