Plot and Central Idea: “The Lottery” The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson begins with the idealistic image of children playing in town on a summer morning. Eventually, their fathers and mothers began to congregate followed by Mr.Summers, who was in charge of the assembly, carrying a large black box. The attention of the villagers was quickly redirected to aid Mr.Summers in creating and confirming a list of all the families in the village. As this occurred, the town's oldest participant in the lottery, Old Man Warner began to discuss the importance of the tradition of the lottery and how foolish it was that surrounding towns were getting rid of it. Amidst all of these events, the remaining villagers arrive, Mrs.Hutchinson, being