Book Review of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

617 Words2 Pages

Shirley Jackson, the author, begins with a public gathering on a fine day. All the villagers gather in the square, waiting to draw their annual lots. I have been puzzled since the very beginning. Why do the boys fill their pockets with stones? Why are there piles of stones in the corner? What are they used for? As I went on, I kept wondering: why do people appear so serious and nervous? The lottery seems so unusual that it has a special impact on all the people presented. Having finished the story, I suddenly came to realize that the lottery is indeed unusual. It does have something to do with gambling except that the prize is not money, but a person's life! There does be a crowd, but they don't congratulate the winner, but stone him to death!

"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." From the old man, who has been in the lottery for seventy-seventh time, I came to know that the lottery is to some extent a ceremony. People hold the ceremony annually in the hope that there would be a good harvest in the year. And the winner of the lottery is the sacrifice! They use a person as a sacri...

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