“The Lottery” was written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. The story is set in a village on June 27th and it is a beautiful sunny summer day. Around ten in the morning the villagers begin to meet near the town square. All the boys start picking up rocks and filling their pockets completely, while the girls keep to themselves. Men talk to each other about things like agriculture and the weather. Mr. Summers is the man responsible for all events in the village. He arrives in the town square, carrying a black wooden box. The same black box is used every year, and although it is very old and a little shabby, no one in the village wants it replaced because it is their annual tradition. Just as the lottery is about to begin, Mrs. Hutchinson, a village woman, runs into the town square, noticing that she was late because she had forgotten about the lottery until she realized that her children were not home. Then the lottery begins. The head of the family is summoned and extracts a single piece of paper from the black box until everyone has one. When all the slips of paper are opened, we learn that Mr. Hutchinson has "everything", and Mrs. Hutchinson immediately begins to protest. Because the Hutchinson family has five members, five new slips of paper and put them in the black box. Each family member must draw a piece of paper for themselves. Everyone opens their slips of paper and realizes that there is a black dot on Mrs. Hutchinson's. When the people of the village find out, they immediately surround her. They gather the stones they collected during the day and attack Mrs. Hutchinson until she is stoned to death. Despite many fictitious elements......middle of paper......ancient murder weapon, and one can think or deduce that the tradition of the country comes from very ancient times. In addition to being a way to kill, being stoned to death is a symbol of communal punishment of an outsider or someone who is different. Therefore, whoever chooses the piece of paper with the black dot immediately becomes an outsider and must be punished. “The Lottery” has many elements involved and they all shape the story into what it truly is. Without the heavy symbolism of the black box, the three-legged stool and the stones, the story would lack depth. Without the many themes of society and class, tradition and customs, hypocrisy and family, the story would lack all its deeper meanings. Within “The Lottery,” the two most important elements of the narrative are theme and symbolism, and it is difficult to imagine the story any other way..