The Lottery; Themes

In the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, there are lots of different themes that greatly express how different lotteries were back in the nineteen-forties compared to the present. Each town had a lottery where names were put into a box and pulled out for the winner to earn something. This story shows how people felt about this  and how it became a tradition in their particular city.

Of course there are lots of people even in a in a town square and most all of them know each other. There are the Delacroix's, Martin's, Summers', and Grave's. These are some of the main families in this story. Some of the themes in this story are tradition, luck, and danger. Tradition is a theme because this is a monthly deal that everyone is forced to attend. Also, at every lottery the oldest son (16 or older) or father get to choose the card. Luck is another theme because there is no way of knowing if your family will be 'cursed' or not by getting the unlucky card with the black spot on it. Finally, Danger is a theme because one member in your family will be stoned if you choose the wrong card and there is no way of knowing which card is which.