The Lottery by Shirley Jackson When we think of winning a lottery we normally think that this would be a good thing. Of course in Shirley Jackson's story The Lottery this is not the case. The principal irony of the story is that the winner of the lottery in the story gets stoned to death by everyone else in the town. The story is very effective because it examines certain aspects of human nature, and because the victim, with whom we identify, is one of the more developed characters. 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. This sort of resistence to change is seen in everyday life. An example is "rook term." The things that the first years put up with during their first few months at RMC are stupid, and serve no purpose, but it continues in the name of tradition. This aspect of human nature, because we are familiar with it, adds to the effectiveness of the story. 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,...
