This specific part of the ritual has been linked to potential Islamic conflicts of the time period. Stoning is a very ancient tradition within the Islamic faith, and the process of collecting stones parallels the Islamic rite, Ramy Al Jamarat, in which pilgrims throw stones at Satan to show their defiance to the Devil (Al-Joulan 2010). Another parallel with Islam is the death penalty by stoning as punishment for adultery. This is the case because Tessie is stoned in a clearing, devoid of civilization, the fact that it was a woman who was stoned, and the dimensions of the stones described in Islamic tradition are also correctly represented within Jackson's lottery ritual (Al -Joulan 2010 ). Jackson also connects the violence and lost history of the lottery ritual, with the fact that the ritual itself has also changed over the course of seventy-seven years. This lottery represents Old Man Warner's seventy-seventh participation in the lottery, and to his dismay he has noticed that the lottery isn't what it used to be. He says, “It’s bad enough seeing young Joe Summers up there