Originally printed in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker, Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” sparked controversy from the start. Magazine subscriptions were immediately canceled due to outrage over the brutal underlying message. Mrs. Jackson has demolished virtually every institution that American citizens hold dear. Jackson believes that we should not simply blindly follow authority or blindly participate in traditions that we may not fully understand. “Any human institution that is allowed to continue unchallenged and unconsidered until it becomes a destructive, rather than constructive, force in the lives of men…” “The Lottery” explains it in a way where you need to know the underlying message to understand the concept being presented to you. Mrs. Jackson has many insightful observations in her short story "The Lottery" if you can understand the underlying message. As with most stories, you can't really take “The Lottery” just at face value. You have to delve deeper into the story to reveal Mrs. Jackson's seemingly horrible story. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Ms. Jackson allegorizes and satirizes American society, beliefs, tradition, and their innate fear of change through her use of symbolism. The United States of America was founded on the concept of religious freedom. The first people left their home country to seek religious freedom and to escape the terror of the English Church. Even today “77% of Americans are Christians” (Newport). Jackson directly attacks Christianity with the “three-legged stool.” Jackson specifically mentions that the stool has three legs; these three legs are meant to represent the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one of the... middle of paper... York Times Book Review. August 28, 1988. GeneralOneFile.Http://galegroup.com>.Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. August 23, 2011. Classic Short Stories.http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html.Judd, Orrin C. “Shirley Jackson Lotry Review.” Judd Brothers Good books and recommended reading. April 3, 2003. http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/396>.Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Lottery” Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. Web. May 3, 2012. http://shmoop.com.Martin, Gary. “The blind leading the blind.” April 2009. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/67150.html.Newport, Frank. “This Easter, a Smaller Percentage of Americans Are Christian,” April 10, 2009. http://www.gallup.com/poll/117409/easter-smaller-percentage-americans-christian.aspx