The Lottery Analysis Essay The mortiful and dark short story The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, reveals the danger of blindly following tradition despite your personal preferences. In The Lottery, a group of townspeople are beginning the annual sacrifice of a citizen in order to maintain their crops. The townspeople truly dislike the tradition but the mayor maintains it out of the fear of the possibility that the town will resort to a primitive lifestyle. The tension throughout the community is apparent as they feel discomfort towards the old black box being used along with the whole tradition itself.