You Feeling Lucky?

In The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, point of view plays an important role on how the story seems to play out. The third person objective view point leads the reader to believe that this is a happy story. It has a tone of peace and boredom. The act of piling the stones and pebbles seems harmless since children usually like to mess with rocks. It is not until Warner says, " 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon' " (Jackson, 268), that the reader begins to see that this is not a normal lottery. This view continues to be supported once Mrs. Hutchinson says that it was not fair. In a normal lottery, the winner and the family would be jubilant. In this case, the tone seems to become dark. By the end of the play, it is apparent that the lottery is a drawing for a sacrifice so that the corn grows well. The point of view allows for a surprising twist in this seemingly harmless story.