Imagine this; it's 9 am, the sun is shining and even though the kids are playing, but before the day is over, someone will find themselves the winner of the lottery. However, it is not the lottery that many are familiar with. In 1988 author Judy Oppenheimer conducted an interview with author Shirley Jackson, author of ''The Lottery''. In this interview Shirley explained why she wrote the story in the following excerpt; “I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my village, to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the needless violence and general inhumanity in their lives” (Oppenheimer 1988). To identify the key elements of the story, it is necessary to illustrate and discuss how these certain elements influence the author's main purpose of this tale which was to shock the reader with horror. In the short story "The Lottery," author Shirley Jackson begins the story by painting a picture of serenity using the following quote: "The morning of June 27 was clear and sunny with the cool warmth of a summer day" (247; ch. 7 ). in question was just like any other day, however, his intentions were to make the reader comfortable with the thought of a sunny day. Most people were preparing for summer and all the benefits that come with it, like fishing. traveling or even visiting relatives somewhere else. Shirley continued to paint a vivid picture of the things happening at that particular time. He introduced the idea of ​​a lottery in the first paragraph of the story by stating that "in some cities there were so many people that the lottery took two days...... middle of paper......1/03/ 02/ritual-murder/>."The lottery" Analysis of the main characters." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, LLC. 2007. Network. 26 November 2013. Staff, Editorial. "human sacrifice". Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica, December 2013.sacrificio>.Oppenheimer, Judy. "Shirley Jackson." Shirley Jackson and "The Lottery". Np, nd Web. December 5, 2013. "43 Bible Verses About Human Sacrifice." What does the Bible say about human sacrifice?.NP, nd Web. December 5, 2013. . ("Holy Bible" English Standing Version(E SV)