The Story of Archaic Traditions in Jackson, Shirley's "The Lottery"

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Literature
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The Lottery
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, has got virtually all the elements of fiction well placed into play. The five most essential aspects of a fiction story are; characters, theme, plot, setting and conflict (ELLSA).The characters, led by Mr. Summers, fit quite perfectly with their respective roles and their traits. There is no time that one character threatens to gatecrash the roles of another. The setting of the story is also easy to relate with since it is in a local center with a countable number of villagers which bears the hallmarks of a typical American locality in the early years of the 1950s.The story's plot is one that's easy to follow through, as each paragraph builds upon the other in a manner that the flow of the story isn't affected or altered in any way.
The narration is exquisite, eliminating a lot of descriptions but still driving the point home in a brutally short and precise manner. The story's central theme revolves around tradition and just how rigid some traditions can make individuals. It highlights the real threats posed by a rigid culture and people who don't want to embrace change due to what can be termed as either sheer ignorance or absolute arrogance. First, they don't wish to stop the lottery, despite news that other villages have dealt away with it. Secondly, they still go as far as killing one of their own, just because she went against the lottery rules in some way. The direct writing style used here is rather more of a message that the author is trying to pass across. In some way, it came out as a direct criticism of some backward culture but coated in a steadily flowing series of description and narration. Whatever the author was aiming at, it comes out clearly and hits the reader straight in the face.The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a direct critique of retrogressive cultural practices.
The Lottery is setup in a small typical American village of a small population. It is a warm summer day, and the villagers have assembled to take part in the lottery. Normally, there is usually a representative of each family. The director of the lottery is Mr. Summers, flanked by Mr. Graves. The town elder, Old Man Warner, is also present. People gather as families, with their eldest male member being their representative. Children gather stones into a pile at the center. The papers that are to be used in playing the lottery are already in place and therefore, Mr. Summers repeats reading the rules to everyone before they go ahead to pick a paper. Once the papers have been chosen by the respe...