Evocation of an idyllic setting:small-town America
Subtle hints at uncanny situation: children
"uneasy", men's "jokes were quiet"; "the
children came reluctantly,having be called four
or five times"
Transition from trivial everyday business to solemnity of ritual
Lottery part of social life; part of
village's foundation myth: "the box ...
that had been constructed when the
first people settled to make a village
here."
Lottery as ritual under threat: abolition in other villages
"Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while."
Lottery as sign of a civilized life and integral to village's identity
pointless violence,cruelty and cowardice
Tessie's children: beaming and laughing when opening their slips of paper;someone giving stones to little Davy