In Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, the concept is explored that a person can become desensitized to acts or values that he or she is raised with. The values of the people in the village have, at the time of the story’s telling, been in place for many years, as demonstrated by Old Man Warner’s remarks. “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery… Seventy-seventh time.” Given his position as the one of if not the single oldest person in the village, it is clear that Old Man Warner represents the perpetuity of the tradition of the lottery, such that no one alive in the village can recall it not taking place. Perhaps it is because of the length of this tradition that the inhabitants of the village are entirely convinced of the normalcy
