The author begins her story by allowing the reader to believe that it is about an ordinary town on an early summer day. It is suggested that the town is gathering for an event that is similar to a county fair, or a town picnic. It is an annual event and the children are assembling and running around collecting rocks.
We don't know what the event is, because the preparations and the assembly of people who gather do not give us any indication that they are gathering for a random execution.
The title of the story suggests that something is going to be raffled off and that there will be a winner in the truest sense.
The first time that the reader really gets the idea that the lottery is not a happy, positive event is when the slips of paper are chosen and a hush, a nervous quiet falls over the crowd as everyone waits till each family has chosen a slip.
When the Hutchinson family gets the black dot, and they have to pick again, the author foreshadows the true nature of the lottery because Mrs. Hutchinson complains that the selection process was rushed. It is clear that if there was a prize of value to go to the winner, she would not be complaining.
The ending is very surprising, for the level of cruelty that Shirley Jackson gives to the members of the town and the cold indifference they express as they stone Tessie Hutchinson to death, relieved that they have survived.
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