Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a short story with a memorable and chilling plot. It tells the tale of a town in which the random and systematic execution of a citizan has become a yearly occourrence. Beyond the horror of the plot lies an even more powerful theam: "great evil can be masked by mindless adherence to tradition." Even though parts of the ritual remain, the story clearly implies that the original purpose of the lottery has long been forgotten. "The original parphernalia.....had been lost long ago..... , (510) " but "..... at on ....