One of the most disastrous and skillful aspects of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is that it frequently upsets the readers assumptions about what should happen next or even at all. At first glance, the reader is given a story title that conjures, quite naturally, a sense of faith—the assumption that someone is going to be awarded something. The first few paragraphs further confirm the sense of faith; it is a gorgeous summer day, the grass is a deep green, the flowers are colorful and blooming, kids out of school are playing…but then we start to see that something is not right in this land of excellence, plenty, and hope. We are then told by the narrator of “The Lottery” that the official of the lottery is performing a “civic” duty, which we