Despite its title, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" leads us to think of winning money, but instead it portrays an innocent person denied life's chances, a victim of violence and cruelty by the community. On the morning of June 27th, a sunny pleasant summer day, the villagers are gathered in the village square as they did every year. They are carrying on normal conversations as if nothing of importance is going to happen. It is not very clear where this village is located. Mr. Summers, the lottery organizer, arrives with a black box containing slips of paper. One of the papers has a black dot marked on it. The fact that Mr. Summers is conducting the lottery, and runs the coal business; it is the only clue we have with which to date the story. In "The lottery", a human being is stoned to death in the name of a good crop. There is no explanation provided where the guarantee of a good crop is coming from.