Özet:

A member of the Southern Gothic tradition, Shirley Jackson's famous story "The Lottery" is about an annual lottery that is held regularly in an indefinite period of time in a town in Southern part of America. The story, which criticizes conformist and traditional society through symbolic and social elements, begins with the selection of a family with a card drawn from the ancient black box. After that, a second draw is made to determine who from the family will be stoned. The chosen one is stoned to death by all the townspeople. Jackson's irony, symbolism, and language add to the story's shocking impact. It is true that “The Lottery,” a widely critically and disturbingly dystopian tale, demonstrates the vulnerability of human nature to conformism by showing that even the most ordinary communities can be prone to violence. Analyzing the characters, place and narrative structure, this study aims to discuss the conflict of conformism and marginal thinking and the consequences of this conflict through a society that blindly follows traditions, by shedding light on the complex relationships between tradition, social dynamics and human nature depicted in the story.