Not all lotteries have a preferred prize. Sometimes, as in the short story reviewed here, it's better to lose. Author Shirley Jackson, a 1940 graduate of Syracuse University, was living in Vermont in 1948 when she wrote her most famous work, "The Lottery." She loved entertaining readers with psychological thrillers and suspenseful stories and wrote with a “special talent for the bizarre” (Ragland). His writing is described as "an emotionless narrative style". She "reveals that men and women are timid, conformist, insensitive and cruel" and gives a depressing view of human nature since she believed that people possess more evil than good and tend to resist change (Ragland ). Jackson shows how the villagers' reluctance to question tradition comes to a disastrous conclusion when the reader is shocked to learn that the winner of the lottery will be stoned to death. His short story begins on June 27 as villagers gather in the town square to participate in the annual lottery tradition. Each member draws a piece of paper and the one marked with a black dot represents the winner. The result and the unexpected tragedy is that this winner is immediately stoned to death. The men and women of the town seem to follow, without doubt, this ritual which has been practiced every year for much longer than the oldest villager has lived. In her shocking story "The Lottery," author Shirley Jackson reveals that following tradition without question can have horrific consequences through her characterization of the villagers and Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson and her clever use of foreshadowing and symbolism. For as long as they can remember. , the inhabitants of the village had to participate in the lottery. This long-standing tradition is middle of paper......works cited Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. The lottery and other stories. Ed. AM Houses. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. 291-302. Print.Ragland, Martha. “Shirley Jackson.” American Novelists Since World War II: Second Series. Ed. James E. Kibler. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Vol. 6 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Literary Resource Center. Internet. March 9, 2014. Schaub, Danielle. “Shirley Jackson's Use of Symbols in 'The Lottery'.” Journal of the Short Story in English 14 (1990): 79-86. Rep. in 20th century literary criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Flight. 187. Detroit: Gale, 2007. N. pag. Literary Resource Center. Internet. March 9, 2014. Wagner-Martin, Linda. ““The Lottery”: overview. Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literary Resource Center. Internet. March 9. 2014.