The Lottery
The lottery begins happily: clear and sunny, with [the] fresh warmth of a full- summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green”
(Jackson 1948: 674). Such a beginning lures the unwary reader into a comfortable lull. The villagers are ordinary people in an ordinary town. Pleasant, friendly and simple, the men talk about ,,tractors and taxes”(ebd.) while the boys run around piling up stones. It begins as the perfect day to be alive.
The setting set forth by Shirley Jackson in the beginning of ,,The Lottery” creates a mood of peacefulness and tranquillity. This setting creates an image in the mind of the reader of a typical town on a normal summer day.
With the very first words Jackson begins to establish her plot`s environment. To begin, she tells the reader what time of day and what time of year the story takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what a typical day it is in this small town. The time of day is set in the morning and the time of year is early summer. She also mentions that school has just recently let out for summer break, which
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