The Box Owns Life
Potential danger is critical to the building of suspense in “The Lottery”. Before the lottery, the villagers seem nervous of the black box and the lottery in general, which bestows their fear of the consequences of the lottery. When the black box and stool is brought out, “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool, [and] there was a hesitation before two men [...] came forward to hold the box steady on the stool…” (Jackson 1). Even before the lottery occurs, two men are afraid of touching the lottery box and stool. When the children are playing outside before the lottery, they gather rocks in an innocent manner, but as the men gather, “away from the pile of stones…” (Jackson
Potential danger is critical to the building of suspense in “The Lottery”. Before the lottery, the villagers seem nervous of the black box and the lottery in general, which bestows their fear of the consequences of the lottery. When the black box and stool is brought out, “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool, [and] there was a hesitation before two men [...] came forward to hold the box steady on the stool…” (Jackson 1). Even before the lottery occurs, two men are afraid of touching the lottery box and stool. When the children are playing outside before the lottery, they gather rocks in an innocent manner, but as the men gather, “away from the pile of stones…” (Jackson