Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story "The Lottery" is an exploration of what it means to belong, or not belong, to a culture and set of traditions. Jackson sets the scene comfortably, describing a small traditional village from the 1920s to the 1940s, where everyone knows everyone, children play together, women and men speak in a naturally segregated way due to differences in their daily lives . Men, in this traditional world, hold political power. It may not be ideal for a modern reader like you or me; however, to the average reader of the late 1940s and early 1950s, fresh out of two world wars and presented with a steadily stabilizing economy, this small, peaceful conservative village would have been considered idyllic. And that was the point. Although Shirley Jackson outlines what for many of her readers would have been a perfect life, she uses it to draw stark contrasts between our apparent civilization and the barbarism of unquestioned cultural traditions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe post-World War II culture was one that Americans were proud of. Today we consider ourselves a society that has overcome racial segregation, the oppression of women and the criminalization of homosexuality. And we are proud of ourselves for this: we have achieved a lot and we can look back and see progress. Likewise, people who lived in the period after the two world wars saw themselves as the proud victors of injustice. Rather than accept the new steps taken and seek further ways to improve, many people assumed they had achieved the right amount of justice and power. Shirley Jackson challenges this by designing a beautiful little town, what we now consider the 1950s ideal, where residents believe they have achieved the ideal measure of progress, despite engaging in a tradition that would be seen as barbaric by most. part of Jackson's audience. . He describes the natural life emerging from the earth on the “morning of June 27,” “the cool warmth of a summer day” in the air and the flowers “blooming profusely.” He goes on to describe people gathering in the square, in much the same way that some people gather for religious celebrations or political trials. They are calm, perhaps a little nervous, but they enjoy the good weather and each other's company. A true sense of community is built in just a few paragraphs before the raffle begins. The lottery itself is ambiguous; however, it inspires a feeling of distrust, of terror in most readers. This is mainly due to the fact that a modern reader is aware of this horror technique. We are very familiar with the "too good to be true" cliché, where sweet children are truly horrible monsters and the kindest person is the killer. For the intended audience in 1948, this story may have been a little disturbing, due to the depiction of a custom they did not understand. Yet they would have been much less likely to see where the story would end than we are today. Instead, the discomfort is created by xenophobia, a questioning of foreign cultures – which is exactly what Jackson intended. By making readers think about why they are uncomfortable with the town's traditions, Jackson begins to open them up to evaluating their own customs. This is further reinforced by the dissenting voices in the audience. Throughout history citizens express distrust of tradition, some questioning why it should be done and others.