The Evils of Society Exposed in the LotteryIn Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," what seems like an ordinary day in a small town takes a turn for the worse twist when a woman is stoned after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, because through the actions of the city, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives. In today's society, we often have too casual an attitude towards misfortune; Jackson shows us this aspect of human nature through the town's casual attitude toward the lottery. The men talk about "rain and tractors and taxes" and the women chatter, knowing all the time that they are about to kill someone or maybe even be killed themselves (Jackson 863 ). The most important thing for them is to hurry up and finish so they can have lunch. Perhaps the feeling of being rushed makes what they are about to do easier; they don't have time to be bothered. How many times in today's society do we hear the phrase "hurry up and get it over with"? Townspeople seem to have mixed emotions about the lottery; they fear it and yet, on a very barbaric level, they enjoy it. By standing “away from the pile of stones” and keeping their distance from the black box, the villagers show their fear of the lottery (Jackson 863). However, once they find out who is going to be stoned, Tessie Hutchinson, they seem to actually enjoy the stoning. A villager picks up a stone so big she can barely carry it; someone even gives Tessie's youngest son a few rocks to throw at his mother. Their general attitude toward stoning is summed up by the phrase "and then they were... middle of paper... of their family" (Jackson 867). In everyday life, we possess the same selfish attitude. represented in history. What is one of a child's favorite words? It's "mine!" you realize that we are really selfish. “The lottery” is “the symbol of a number of social evils that humanity blindly commits” (Friedman 108). The story is very shocking, but the reality of humanity is not even more so. It's funny that Jackson gives us a description of our nature, and not only do we not recognize it for what it is, but it shocks us. Works Cited Jackson, Shirley "The Harper Anthology of Fiction Ed. New York: HarperCollins, 989. Friedman, Lenemgia Boston: Twayne Publishers., 1975.