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Brutality In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

598 Words3 Pages
In Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery”, a small village of three hundred people holds its annual lottery. Everyone must attend men, women and children. The men, as heads of household, draw for their families. Each individual takes a single slip of paper. The winner's paper has a black dot made with a heavy pencil. The town and its people are completely ordinary, but the prize is shocking and gruesome : a stoning. The author cleverly uses setting and narration to demonstrate the brutality of human nature. Terrible acts of violence can come from anyone and anywhere. The town's description is very vague and stereotypical of small towns. The village could be anywhere and everywhere at once. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny.”
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